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Ever wonder why AI England is always laughable, while AI Egypt often dominates? Why Zululand rarely gets past the Middle Ages? Well, it’s more than just traits and UU. Ever wonder why the AI sometimes doesn’t have a marketplace in the industrial era, or why it doesn’t have factories well into the modern era? The answer is the build strategy that the AI follows in its cities.
Each civilization has a “build-often” and a “build-never” list. You can find this list under the civilizations tab in the editor. The build-never list is always empty, but the build-often list is as follows:
Looking at this list, it’s easy to explain why each AI behaves the way it does in the game. For example, England not only has bad traits and UU, but it also has Wealth and Naval Units in its build-often list. Every human player knows that a Navy is not really worth building on most maps, and that you should never build Wealth, even when you have nothing else to build! (It’s much more efficient to build a unit in a core city and disband it in a corrupt city than having the core city produce Wealth and rush-building in the corrupt city). Another example: Rome and Zululand produce units like crazy, at the expense of any kind of cultural improvements. They sometimes do well at the beginning of the game, but never last. Also, why don’t expansionist AI build scouts? Well, none of them except the Iroquois have the Explore Units in their build-often list. Why does France outperform their traits and UU? They are one of the few AI to have trade (marketplaces!) on their list, and don’t waste time building extra units.
Keep in mind that this list doesn’t mean that the AI doesn’t build other things. It builds other things, just at a lower priority.
I think the game could present a better challenge if the AI had build priorities closer to what we humans have found optimal. These build priorities are, of course, trait-dependent. Here’s a list of build priorities and aggression levels that I propose to make the AI better:
These are the build priorities and aggression that I would choose if I were playing those civs. I am not the best civ3 player in the world, so feel free to make suggestions on how to change these.
My philosophy was:
[Edit: removed useless bic file]
Each civilization has a “build-often” and a “build-never” list. You can find this list under the civilizations tab in the editor. The build-never list is always empty, but the build-often list is as follows:
Code:
Civilization Off Def Arty Setl Work Nav Air Grth Prod Hap Sci Wlth Trad Expl Cult ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rome (4) X X X X Egypt (3) X X X Greece (3) X X X X Babylon (4) X X Germany (5) X X X Russia (4) X X X China (2) X X X America (3) X X X X Japan (4) X X X France (1) X X X India (1) X X X X Persia (4) X X X Aztecs (4) X X Zulu (5) X Iroquois (2) X X X England (3) X X X X Off: Offensive Units Def: Defensive Units Arty: Ground Artillery Setl: Settlers Work: Workers Nav: Naval Units Air: Air Units Grth: Growth Improvements Prod: Production Improvements Hap: Happiness Improvements Sci: Science Improvements Wlth: Wealth! Trad: Trade Improvements Expl: Exploration Units Cult: Culture Improvements X = build often The number in brackets after the civilization name is its aggression level.
Keep in mind that this list doesn’t mean that the AI doesn’t build other things. It builds other things, just at a lower priority.
I think the game could present a better challenge if the AI had build priorities closer to what we humans have found optimal. These build priorities are, of course, trait-dependent. Here’s a list of build priorities and aggression levels that I propose to make the AI better:
Code:
Civilization Off Def Arty Setl Work Nav Air Grth Prod Hap Sci Wlth Trad Expl Cult ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rome (4) X X O X X Egypt (3) X X X O X Greece (2) X X O X X Babylon (1) X X X X O X Germany (5) X X X O X X Russia (3) X X O X X China (4) X X X O X X America (3) X X X O X X X Japan (4) X X X O X France (1) X X O X X India (1) X X X O X Persia (4) X X X X O X Aztecs (4) X X X O X Zulu (5) X X O X X X Iroquois (4) X X X O X X England (2) X X O X X X X = build often O = build never
My philosophy was:
- Trade is a top priority for everyone. Everyone should build marketplaces ASAP.
- Some form of cultural build is a priority for everyone. Scientific civs get scientific buildings, Religious get happiness buildings, and everyone else gets generic the cultural flag checked.
- Nobody ever builds wealth.
- Production (factories) is a top priority for everyone. Subsequent builds go faster after factories.
- Industrious and builder civs get growth (granaries) as a priority.
- Militaristic and good offensive UU civs (Persia, Iroquois) get offensive units as a priority, and have higher aggression.
- Builder civs have lower aggression.
- Expansionist civs make exploration units a priority.
[Edit: removed useless bic file]
There is probably only one chance they have at becoming a late superpower, and that is to be so aggresive in the early game that they outpower the closest neighbours many times. They do build culture and factories, just not as often as the Germans.
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