It might be useful to have a thread devoted to AI cheats that are discovered by players, along with strategies developed to counter unfair AI play.
I will kick it off with a good example from my latest game, in which I discovered a subtle way that the AI cheats in order to deprive the human player of available strategic resources.
I was playing an OCC game on a tiny map, where strategic resources are scarce, so when I discovered Rocketry first, it was important to see where the aluminum was. I had none within my borders, which was likely, and no surprise. There were 3 AI: the Romans who had 1 aluminum, the Egyptians who had 2, and the Americans who had none (actually they had an inaccessible source on a tiny islet they controlled).
It would seem that the Egyptians had an extra aluminum I could trade for, so I checked with my Trade Advisor using F2, and sure enough, aluminum appeared as a tradable item. So I opened the diplomatic window with the Egyptians to trade for their extra aluminum, and was surprised to see that they no longer had an extra copy. So I exited and checked the trade advisor again with F2, and the aluminum that had been there a moment ago was gone. Mind you, this extra aluminum disappeared during MY turn, and after doing some investigation, I discovered that it had been traded to the Americans the moment I decided to contact the Egyptians.
I’ve attached a save of the game for those who would like to see and verify this AI cheat for themselves. Load it and try the following:
1. Check the Trade Advisor with F2. Also use espionage to investigate the Egyptian and American capitols. Doing this will verify that the Egyptians have an extra aluminum and that the Americans have none.
2. Now open a diplomatic session with either the Egyptians or the Americans. Both will display aluminum(0) under Resources.
3. Repeat step 1 above to verify that the AI have made this cheating trade during the human player’s turn.
There is a way to counter this devious AI cheat. The attached save was made the turn after I had traded the Rocketry tech to each of the AI, so what I did in my actual game was reload the previous turn, to restore the situation as it was before these trades. This time, I traded Rocketry to the Egyptians and Romans, but held it back from the Americans, who lacked aluminum. On the following turn, Egypt showed an extra aluminum, and this time I was able to trade for it in the normal manner. Once I had aluminum it was safe to sell the Rocketry tech to the Americans, but I still had to be very careful for the rest of the game to renegotiate with the Egyptians every 20 turns to renew my supply of this vital commodity.
Anyone else have examples of AI cheats or suspected cheats that they would like to share?
I will kick it off with a good example from my latest game, in which I discovered a subtle way that the AI cheats in order to deprive the human player of available strategic resources.
I was playing an OCC game on a tiny map, where strategic resources are scarce, so when I discovered Rocketry first, it was important to see where the aluminum was. I had none within my borders, which was likely, and no surprise. There were 3 AI: the Romans who had 1 aluminum, the Egyptians who had 2, and the Americans who had none (actually they had an inaccessible source on a tiny islet they controlled).
It would seem that the Egyptians had an extra aluminum I could trade for, so I checked with my Trade Advisor using F2, and sure enough, aluminum appeared as a tradable item. So I opened the diplomatic window with the Egyptians to trade for their extra aluminum, and was surprised to see that they no longer had an extra copy. So I exited and checked the trade advisor again with F2, and the aluminum that had been there a moment ago was gone. Mind you, this extra aluminum disappeared during MY turn, and after doing some investigation, I discovered that it had been traded to the Americans the moment I decided to contact the Egyptians.
I’ve attached a save of the game for those who would like to see and verify this AI cheat for themselves. Load it and try the following:
1. Check the Trade Advisor with F2. Also use espionage to investigate the Egyptian and American capitols. Doing this will verify that the Egyptians have an extra aluminum and that the Americans have none.
2. Now open a diplomatic session with either the Egyptians or the Americans. Both will display aluminum(0) under Resources.
3. Repeat step 1 above to verify that the AI have made this cheating trade during the human player’s turn.
There is a way to counter this devious AI cheat. The attached save was made the turn after I had traded the Rocketry tech to each of the AI, so what I did in my actual game was reload the previous turn, to restore the situation as it was before these trades. This time, I traded Rocketry to the Egyptians and Romans, but held it back from the Americans, who lacked aluminum. On the following turn, Egypt showed an extra aluminum, and this time I was able to trade for it in the normal manner. Once I had aluminum it was safe to sell the Rocketry tech to the Americans, but I still had to be very careful for the rest of the game to renegotiate with the Egyptians every 20 turns to renew my supply of this vital commodity.
Anyone else have examples of AI cheats or suspected cheats that they would like to share?
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