Smartest thing the AI has ever done

[Tom DeMille]

OK, we all know the AI is not what you would call intelligent. The "Most dumb AI" thread got me to thinking if the AI has ever acted anything but dumb.

So, anyone been the subject of a brilliantly executed AI strategy? I can think of a few occasions when the AI has managed to launch a spaceship that is scheduled to land the year before mine. This could be considered smart, although to me it smells suspiciously like cheating.

The only smart AI move that comes to mind is while I was playtesting OCC15. I had parked a single legion in a fort close to the AIs capital, and next turn he brought up a unit and bribed my legion. Again, a cheat since all AI units can be used to bribe. But still, for the AI to bribe instead of just attack like it always does struck me as a great move.

[jpk]

The AI will often build a city close to one of the human player's cities and then position the workers so the city is invisible to the human player who does not scout around.

[DaveV]

I'll often have a fortified unit sealing off a chokepoint. The AI will often build a city near that unit, then demand that I honor my treaty by withdrawing. I either have to break the treaty, or withdraw my blocking unit.

Another cute AI trick - they'll send caravans past the chokepoint. These caravans then start pillaging my improvements! I have a choice between attacking the unit and breaking a treaty, or bribing it (usually for an outrageous amount of money).

[Bohlen]

The smartest thing the AI has done is to actually form an alliance with me. That makes them last on the hit list, unless they stab me in the back. That way their citizens can enjoy life for a while...at least until we swallow them up....

Seriously, now. I've seen the AI move barb leaders that are close to an AI civ in ways that they would never move when around my civ. When a leader is paired with one unit around a city, that leader usually stacks with the attacking unit at the end of the barb turn so that you have to wait until the attacking unit is destroyed by your defender before capturing the leader. I've seen the AI not use this stack around AI cities. What happens then is the AI civ attacks the attacking (now defending) unit with its own unit, then goes after the leader with a 2 movement unit. All of this because they didn't stack. The AI loves to help itself out by controlling how barbs move around its own civs. Doesn't seem fair, does it? Maybe not the smartest thing, but it's the only one I can think of right now.


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Proud Warrior of the O.W.L. Alliance

[SilverDragon]

The smartest thing an AI has ever done against me was:
In an OCC game, I had just got to 80 sheild production, and then the AI built a city on a mined hill in my radius. They grew it to size two, and then took the riflemen in it and sneak-attacked my city. It of course killed one of my alpine troops before dying . Then I was stuck at 76 sheild production because of an undefended size 2 city that I couldn't conquer because I was playing OCC! Then, here is the killer. They built a f***ing spy and stole space flight. I could not beat them because I was building a structural every turn. I ended up losing the space race because of that f***ing city!
[This message has been edited by SilverDragon (edited August 18, 2000).]

[cavebear]

The wall between "smart" AI play and "cheating" (through knowing things it cannot know) is a very thin one.

Still, I have to admire the way that the AI will sneak in a settler and establish a city in my midst. It is very careful not to use any resource squares that would give away its presence when I look at my adjacent city. And *that* is something worth considering in MP play with humans!

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Proud participant in GameLeague...

Proud Warrior of the O.W.L. Alliance...

[tonic]

OCC15 was full of AI "incidents" with the overlapping two cities in a very compact overcrowded island.

One could attribute "intelligence" to the
[list][*]constant sabotage activity by AI diplos including the stealing of the most advanced tech (smacks of cheating though) - impossible to avoid with all squares roaded and only two squares between the two cities. I guess the AI's use of diplos is so rare that when it happens we think it's intelligent.
[*]ability of the AI units to respect your occupation of the overlapping squares when at peace - no mean task considering how hemmed in they were. I don't think I had to use F3 to ask Nicosia to withdraw its troops.
[*]fact that late in the game after most of the AI city territory was railroaded its mobile units knew how to stop looping the RR-loop around the city!

However their settlers were not so smart - they terraformed the the overlapping forests to plains for my benefit!
[This message has been edited by tonic (edited August 18, 2000).]

[Smash]

In one of my very first trys at OCC, 2 different ais sabotaged 9 improvents in 1 turn with diplomats.They also stole 13 techs in 2 turns.That was cheating but smart.(my dips can only steal 1 per city).

side note-I started bribing and ended up with 17 diplomats in my city.After that I let them come thru uncontested.Every espionage attempt after that failed.
So if you want to stop diplomats,station 17 in your city(s)

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

I've seen the AI clean up pollution in my territory, too. The latest incident was cleanup of a contaminated square which had resulted from my nuking a 'chokepoint' city and then capturing it. Very nice. I wouldn't have got around to cleaning up for a while, what with AI armor running around loose on that side of the city.

I also notice that whenever I capture an large, developed AI city, there's never any pollution around it despite the dozen or more smokestacks... either that's a smart AI, or a cheating one.

STYOM

(Yes, I'm new here)

[Ming]

Since anything the AI has ever done that even appeared close to being smart was probably just luck...

The smartest thing the AI has ever done is PAY ME TRIBUTE so I don't kick his butt off the planet... but come to think of it, I usually do that after they pay anyway...

So never mind...

[Sten Sture]

The AI asking for a cease fire is pretty smart when their city is undefended (you ain't got no flag) of course being granted a cease fire under those conditions is somewhat rare...

[tonic]

jpk: if one could always depend on them to do that, OCC would be a cinch. In any case, in the game I mentioned they were so stuck on the silk-to-wheat conversion groove that much of my time was taken with my Armor terminating their Engineers in the late game.

Sten Sture: Except when you're in Democracy "Overruled by Senate, ceasefire accepted,".

[jpk]

tonic, I recall a game where an AI settler came over to one of my cities and started to clean up pollution. Very nice seeing as we were at war.

[jcarkey]

The AI handles ZOCs good at higher diffuculty.

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What if the Hokey-Pokey is really what its all about?

Contact me at cpoland@mail.win.org

[Sieve Too]

A couple smart things the AI does:

AI Caravans have infinite patience, always seeking out your city that is furtherest from their territory, yielding the maximum bonus.

AI Fighters are uncanny Engineer finder/killers.

Late in the game, AI always offers cease fire instead of peace so they can still roam around your territory and sit on your mined, railroaded wine squares.

If you have UN, the AI just simply won't talk to you so that you can't force peace when you want.

AI + UN = your worst nightmare. On the AI's turn: "The Mongols declare war". Bomber attack X 8, Armor attack X 8, take city. "The Mongols wish to talk to you" - No way you say? Too bad. "UN brokered peace treaty". Your turn: can't retake city without delcaring war and hurting rep. Can't do it at all under Democracy.

Nuke followed by Paratrooper.

So you have 12 of your units surrounding an AI city that you just took? Expect a nuke on the AI's turn. Pollution? That's your problem.