The AI would be dangerous if ...

[Golgo13]

Yes, the AI does not value upgrading its units. I think this is mainly because it doesn't take into account unit quality. Regarding the poor defense tactics...I belief this is largely due to the combat system. It seems that it is almost always better to be on the offensive than the defensive. However, I notice that the AI will avoid large stacks of troops even if they are closing in on their weakly guarded cities. They build attack units almost exclusively but then are afraid to use them against your armies even as they are about to lose a city. The AI needs to recognize when its territory is threatened and should respond by attacking your troops even if they are outnumbered.

[Redstar]

the ai is just a bit slow re: upgrading

but it does develop modern units.

a wee disclaimer first..i have only played a few games all the way into the modern era. that said, in my experience the AI does a good job at upgrading/building the right units.

for example by 2030:

eg..
the english have...

9) settlers
22) workers
15) Pikeman
1)Longbowmen
10)knights
1) rifleman
21)inf

55) tanks
79) mechs
21) modern tanks
8) cruise missles

a stack of sea units and a handful of bombers

2 armies.

the germans have...

5) settlers
25) workers
1) warrior
4) spearman
1) swordsman
8) longbow
2)riflemen
1)cav
3)inf

68) mech
27) armor
13) artillary
31) panzers
18) bombers / 9) jet fighters / 3) helios
1 army


each of these empires is slightly more than 1/4 my size. They only produce modern units now.

to compare what i have at this point then...

2 warriors
1 horse
1 musket
7 knight
4 rifle
15 cav
16 inf

21 tank
78 mech
228 modern tank
5 cruise
4 ICBM

9 cannon /97 artillary

18 bombers/22 stealth bombers and some fighters
minimal naval units.

SO they are producing almost exactly like me. Like me, they must find it tedious to track down the obsolete units and upgrade them. But over time, the upgrade processes approaches completion.

In all modern conflicts i have had so far...they develop the right units..they just do it slower.

[G.A]

AI will build modern units in one case:

It previously had a huge war, and lost most of his units of certain type, and at the same time, it has a required resource. Then, as it`ll start building units of that type, and these will be modern ones. E.g, if it lost most of it`s cavalry, and has oil, it`ll build a lot of tanks, cause it needs mobile unit, and tank is the only option.

As for upgrading, it really can`t do that, cause it never has enough money, but... In a couple of games, when we reached modern age on scientific parity (I wasn`t the strongest ), I have seen the AIs accumulating the fairly large (2,5 thousands the most) sums of money. It still wouldn`t upgrade units.

[Jodo Kast]

The AI is sufficient on Diety difficulty, but it cheats!

[Redstar]

just cause they have 0 cash..

does not mean they are broke.
Often, all of their income will be tied up in trades or something fishy.

I say this because i routinely make deals with ai's that have no money and yet can still offer me 240 o a turn on top of their other deals.

ya, i think it sounds fishy too. AI cheater. hehe

[Xentropy]

I think unit prices should be raised as the game goes from age to age.. This opinion comes from two facts:

1) The AI appears to place the total value of a nation or city's units in the total shield value (not attack value or anything else) of those units, and

2) With no stacked movement, there are WAY too many modern units running around, making late game tedious.

My change should have the following effects:

1) The AI will build more modern units because the AI's idea of their value will go up with their shield cost,

2) The AI will more accurately estimate varying power levels, and

3) There will be less OF the modern units running around, since at a higher cost, even the high output cities will be able to produce modern units at approximately the same speed as older age units were produced, rather than faster, helping to stave off late game tedium.

This is just an idea, not playtested at all. Has anyone tried making a mod like this? No other changes, no more attack rating on modern units or anything, JUST higher costs as the game progresses.

It may work, it may not, would require playtesting :>

[Redstar]

you need many units

because with empires of 150+ cities that each require 4 units to make people more happy (depend on gov), you can just imagine the overhead needed before one even think about attacking.

Besides the ai is perfectly aware of the unit value (how could it not be --its such a basic thing). The ai just needs to speed up its production depending on the level of difficulty.

[cassembler]

The very firt line of text in this thread, as posted by the Code Monkey-meister:

[The AI would be more dangerous if]... it spent more time attacking cities instead of roads.

I fight wars all the time that I have little to no interrest in AI cities. I'll send in troops for the sole purpose of pillaging and probably dying in the process...

Warfare doesn't have to be about expansion. It could be a brief tango over a strategic resource, or even a measure of diplomacy to just kinda "nudge" the opponent into a weaker spot...

I have yet to play a game of Civ3 that DIDN'T require both good diplomacy and good warfare... just hasn't happened yet.

[Code Monkey]

Originally posted by Xentropy
I think unit prices should be raised as the game goes from age to age..

This is just an idea, not playtested at all. Has anyone tried making a mod like this? No other changes, no more attack rating on modern units or anything, JUST higher costs as the game progresses.

It may work, it may not, would require playtesting :>

I'm playtesing a mod I made over the past 3 days (still in ancient era so no idea how well it works) sort of similar to what you mention.

I tweaked unit values and costs so that with minor exceptions they maintain their relative strengths within a given age but are significantly stronger than older counterparts. Accordingly, cost scales with a unit's strength. Some older units got cheaper, modern units got a lot more costly (260 shields for modern armor as an example but the stats are 46/24/3).

It's not exactly like your idea, I was trying to see if it were possible to make a more "realistic" representation of unit advances but balance the costs as well. A tank no longer goes down to a cavalry charge, but you can build more than 3 units of cav for the cost of one tank. I'm hoping the AI will upgrade and advance more aggressively as well as weigh modern units more importantly in military strength - we'll see.

[Xentropy]

Originally posted by Code Monkey
I'm playtesing a mod I made over the past 3 days (still in ancient era so no idea how well it works) sort of similar to what you mention.

I tweaked unit values and costs so that with minor exceptions they maintain their relative strengths within a given age but are significantly stronger than older counterparts. Accordingly, cost scales with a unit's strength. Some older units got cheaper, modern units got a lot more costly (260 shields for modern armor as an example but the stats are 46/24/3).

Sounds cool, CM! Please let us know how the AI plays under this mod (not to mention what other ways the game is affected) :>