The AI Will Be Tamed

[albiedamned]

I keep reading post after post about people getting their butts kicked on Chieftan and Warlord level. Yet we know from Soren that not only does the AI not cheat on Chieftan and Warlord, it actually penalizes itself (it cheats in favor of the player). So the only possible explanation for the AI beating players on those 2 levels is that we don't yet know how to play the game well. Whatever strategies the AI is using to jump out ahead, we haven't figured them out yet.

But I guarantee we will. The best tactics are not at all the same as they were in Civ2 or SMAC, but once we figure them out, there is no way an AI will be able to execute them better than us. So I predict the tide will start turning in a few weeks.

However, given that the AI does cheat on Monarch level and up, I do believe it might still be some time before we can consistently beat it on those levels.

[David Floyd]

Yes, I agree that losing on Chieften/Warlord is just inexperience - I'm almost to the level of mastering Regent, where both sides are even. I'm pretty much dead even with the biggest computer in expansion and tech, and much richer, more culture, etc.

Don't even bother playing more than a game or two below Regent, IMO - just enough to learn the mechanics if you MUST, but losing at first on Regent/Monarch then mastering those levels is more beneficial to the player IMO...