Does anyone know why....

[WhatThe!]

Is it just me, or is the AI a cheatin' fool?
The AI seems to be able to maintain very quick production of settlers while maintaining a high science and military output.
I seem to have to sacrifice science and military if I want to expand as fast as the AI. Of course I always end up paying for it when the AI decides to wipe my civ off the board because we're not advanced enough and have little in the way of a military.
It's a real struggle just to stay right behind the Jones', even on Regent setting.

[Franses]

On regent level the AI has to work with the same settings as you. On higher levels they get happier people, more free units, more free units per city and that kind of things. Just play some more games and you will get the hang of it. It is a matter of experience to beat them (on Regent that is, on emperor and especially Diety it often depends on the starting positions).

[Willem]

Re: Does anyone know why....

Originally posted by WhatThe!
Is it just me, or is the AI a cheatin' fool?
The AI seems to be able to maintain very quick production of settlers while maintaining a high science and military output.
I seem to have to sacrifice science and military if I want to expand as fast as the AI. Of course I always end up paying for it when the AI decides to wipe my civ off the board because we're not advanced enough and have little in the way of a military.
It's a real struggle just to stay right behind the Jones', even on Regent setting.

One thing I noticed, in the early part of the game the AI doesn't bother with escorts for it's settlers, it will just send them out. I always have someone along to guard my Settlers, which puts me at certain disadvantage.

And you're not sacrificing science by rapidly expanding. Every city you create helps out, especially when you start getting some people in it.

[WhatThe!]

Originally posted by Franses
On regent level the AI has to work with the same settings as you. On higher levels they get happier people, more free units, more free units per city and that kind of things. Just play some more games and you will get the hang of it. It is a matter of experience to beat them (on Regent that is, on emperor and especially Diety it often depends on the starting positions).

Free units? WhatThe! That is cheating. Here's a city and some free units. That's not right. That's not fair. One could say that life's not fair, and they'd be right. However, in games where there are strict rules things should be fair.

As far as expansion and science goes. I set up a city, I build a settler. Meanwhile the worker is out exploring. Settlers seem to take anywhere from 10 to 15 turns to build, also depending on city growth. Meanwhile the AI seems to be spitting out settlers left and right.
I did play one game where I built settlers until I couldn't expand anymore but with all the barbarians (yes i could set them to not being there) building at least one unit to protect the cities becomes a necessity. Meanwhile the AI had expanded faster, leaped into the Middle Ages, and had a massive army (a portion of which they apparently get for free, no assembly required!) that they trampled all over me with around 400 AD. Science also goes slowly when your cities never get beyond size 3 and end up back at size 1 when a settler is built. Also, having to build the ocassional building like a barracks seems to eat at the income.

[Sheik]

Free units? WhatThe! That is cheating. Here's a city and some free units. That's not right. That's not fair. One could say that life's not fair, and they'd be right. However, in games where there are strict rules things should be fair.

These are the harder levels. It is hard to make a great AI that can rival a great human player so they need a little boost. If you want fair play regent.

[WhatThe!]

Re: Re: Does anyone know why....

Originally posted by Willem


One thing I noticed, in the early part of the game the AI doesn't bother with escorts for it's settlers, it will just send them out. I always have someone along to guard my Settlers, which puts me at certain disadvantage.

And you're not sacrificing science by rapidly expanding. Every city you create helps out, especially when you start getting some people in it.

As far as escort go. I never send my settlers out with escorts. I haven't seem much need to do it.
The AI seems to leave settlers alone near the beginning of the game to maintain peace. Meanwhile, I try to build a unit or try to get one for free by snatching up a goody hut. I then use them to explore and clear out the barbarians while the settlers move in to set up cities.

Are you all on v1.29f?

[WhatThe!]

Originally posted by Sheik


These are the harder levels. It is hard to make a great AI that can rival a great human player so they need a little boost. If you want fair play regent.

I am playing Regent.

[Franses]

On regent they have no free units but the same settings as you have. Depending on the starting position it should generally be possible to expand as fast as they are. Make sure your first cities are located such that they grow sufficiently fast to pump out settlers (and of course have a nice environment for future development). Do not place them to far away.

[Willem]

Re: Re: Re: Does anyone know why....

Originally posted by WhatThe!


As far as escort go. I never send my settlers out with escorts. I haven't seem much need to do it.
The AI seems to leave settlers alone near the beginning of the game to maintain peace.

It's the barbarians I'm concerned about.

[vondrack]

Originally posted by WhatThe!
As far as expansion and science goes. I set up a city, I build a settler. Meanwhile the worker is out exploring.

WhatThe!, if you do not feel like learning a bit, do not read my post now. I have no intention to piss you off, rather suggest rethinking your playing habits, but if you do not feel like doing so, just ignore me...

What you posted indicated you had some pretty poor playing habits. Having your worker exploring is just dead wrong. Worker is supposed to work/improve, not explore. Right after founding your first city, the worker should start improving the best tiles in the inner (and soonafter, outer) ring of your capital. Building roads and mines, mostly. The first two or three units you build should be warriors that you send out exploring. Only then it's time for a settler.

There is a great thread by Theseus, which lists links to the most valuable threads a civ player should read here on Poly. I do recommend at least skimming through them, as you should be able to rock Regent in no time, if sticking to what you learn. Even an average player should be able to keep winning almost all Regent games. If you are not, then you are doing something fundamental wrong.

Happy New Year!

[Raion]

Also, it depends on what you research. If researching Alphabet, then it will take a complete 40 turns to get to that tech, and you can build up money, so to boost your research later to catch up.

Sorry, but the game, is that way, but it is, to keep up with the humans.

Afterall, you are playing the fourth version of the game in as much as 12-14 years the game has been coming out in the different version.

Civ II was hard to begin with, and people wanted a harder game, so with Civ III they did what they could to help out the computer.

You will be at an disadvantage throughout the game. Afterall, it is virtual reality, and as such, you are the game, the emperor, the leader, the one they want to eliminate. The computer, as in real life, may just try and do that someday, so that is part of the game.

Also, as a politician, the computer will lie, cheat, steal, and the game has been about the same way for the 12-14 years it been out.

Its not just a game, but a freaky adventure into why you should think it should be easy to play this game.

After all, it is Civilization, and it took 6000 years of history to get to this game, so people in this time could play it.

You will get use to it, or try and beat up the computer or something.

But, there you have all the emotions for a great game, now it is up to you ---- to win.

And after a while, you may even like all the hassle that the game is. This version is better, than previous versions.

[Hockeyyyyyyy]

Get a good civilization. I recommend the Persians they're Scientific and Industrious so they get jobs done fast. Also U should set ur scientific level of money to a good percentage at the beginning of the game.