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**samboy** · April 2, 2003, 19:27

How to fix this problem

You are not the only one who has reported this problem: See here, here (look for "Old but still very chalengeing"), and my comment here

I have a fix to the problem here

That said, I am at the point where I can defeat the AI at the "easy" setting without a tech handicap. Not that I still have handicaps: First of all, I have a patch which makes sure that the human always gets a better island than the AI when using generator 1. Second, I have some programs which generate statistics on the maps generator 1 creates; I use map seeds which generate maps where the AI's biggest island is 74% the size of my island and which generate a large number is isles.

My strategy is, basically, build as many cities as possible on as many islands as possible; "Map Making" (Tiremes) is just as important of a technology as "The Republic" (fast tech). Another strategy is to go to the poles as quickly as possible and pick up the huts there; huts sometimes give the player tech advances.

It is best to avoid going to war in the opening (before I have musketeers); War is expensive and slows down tech development. I usually only go to war late in the mid-game.

- Sam

**guldi** · April 3, 2003, 06:42

Thank you very much for your answer (and the patch) !

Funny to read exactly what we experienced :-)
Freeciv lost for me (us) every acceptation when we saw, that the AI is only capable of doing war, war, war,...
And even when sharing techs, the AI ist still faster in researching....miserable this cheating

This is not civ worthily !
But on the other hand, a big thanks to the developer !

I'll give your AI slow down pacht a try. Since we are def. not civ beginners (did anyone ever got over 340 % in Civ I ?), I hope to get a win without the other patches against the AI :-)

**Per** · April 7, 2003, 08:31

The 'hard' AI cheats a little, but not in the ways the first post suggests. It sees everything, it can switch production without penalty, it has no period of anarchy when changing government and it can use any tax settings. Other than that, it obeys the same rules as human players. AIs also do fight each other.

AI Diplomacy is planned for the next major release of Freeciv.

If you find the AI to be too difficult, even at 'easy', you should try play some more ;-) Build cities, cities and even more cities, and research Republic. Then go for Ironclads and diplomats to bust the AI.

**guldi** · April 7, 2003, 13:09

strange, I had a look through the source and could not find any "cheating" in "easy". Howerver, the AI is only going for War tech, something I'm not looking for in civ. Of course a bargainig AI would be very hard to implement.

And of course there are allways tactics you can win. I belive if people write they beaten hard AI. But I'm not looking into xx hours playing just to get the right (winning) strategy. I would like a nice multy game which I can play with friends without teaching them the winning strategy.

**samboy** · April 7, 2003, 21:00

Per, I have revised the patch

Per (and others),

Just to let you know, with the help of Vallimar, I have revised the tech handicap patch to make the handicap a user-defined parameter. Additionally, Vallimar has added code to allow the player to slow down the AI's growth.

I feel the patch is production ready at this point; in fact, I have just posted the patch to the FreeCiv development mailing list.

For people on the web forum, the revised patch is here.

- Sam

**Sparfell** · April 9, 2003, 13:36

Per,
Does this mean the "medium" setting for AI provides a more balanced AI, without advantages nor handicap for the AI (except of being a stupid AI

)?.

**Per** · April 13, 2003, 19:24

The 'easy' and 'medium' AIs cheat almost as much as 'hard', except that they cannot use any tax rates, and are restricted in how much they exploit their omniscience. The 'easy' AI will also not expand as much, and will not receive military units from huts.

In the cvs (eventually to become 1.15) code, the 'easy' and 'medium' AIs also will not use diplomats and aircraft aggressively.

Writing a fun AI is hard, since people who complain about the AI are divided into two camps: One that complains the AI is too hard, and one that complains that the AI is too easy. I am afraid that you'll find that the people who consistently win games on pubserver (multiplayer games) are in the latter camp...

**lethe** · April 14, 2003, 18:16

Per - Don't hesitate to build a great AI that makes all the right choices. It can be limited down for easy levels of play. (At worst just start pouring bonuses on the humans.)

But a stupid AI that is merely hard because it gets more industry isn't nearly as fun. Off course some minor boosts to the AI are needed, or it can't match a human playing at peak efficiency. (Or major boosts, like Civ 3.)

I find that the two most glaring faults of the AI in Civ 2 was that it never understood ICS nor the hollow center idea. Mobile warfare and a _small_ army has never been a great point for the AI.

**Per** · April 20, 2003, 12:48

What is the hollow center idea?

**lethe** · April 21, 2003, 08:33

Only garrison border cities, or perhaps the outermost two circles of cities.

If a city is surrounded by five cities of the same civ in every direction it doesn't need a garrison. Especially not after rail roads are installed.

**guldi** · June 18, 2003, 10:41

@samboy

Thank you for your patch. I was finaly able to compile the source (not the cvs).
After some testing I can conferm, it works :-)
thx

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