Beat the tough AI

[Carch]

Replay here!

In a standard random quick battle, I got Maya and the AI got China. I beat back an early rush, and profited by the AI's error of losing an assault group to attrition by charging at me without a supply truck. About half way through the game, I pulled ahead in tech and the AI never caught up.

Including the rush, I'd say there were about 4 or 5 major engagements in this game, and I had superior tech for most of them, which made it pretty much cake.

The more I play, the more this is feeling like a tech race, which sucks. This game has swung the Civilization "phalanx beats a battleship" too far in the other direction IMHO. Get behind in tech = GG.

[A.Bettik]

Hi all, first message here

I'm playing this game for now a few days (demo version atm), and just won my first battle against TOugh AI, using bantus.

From what i've been experiencing there are serveral keys to victory :
- push science tech as quick as you can : this will lower all other researches, don't be afraid to reach max science and only middle age.
- try, by all means available (wonders mainly, rare resources too), to push your production caps, and reach them
- don't be afraid of not researching military further than 1 (for attrition) before mid game, you'll catch up real fast.
- always build the maximum number of cities, and max number of caravans
- push attrition at maximum, and don't let opponent build wonders which reduce it

I just feel strange, i had a hard time playing moderate for the few first games, and here everything went smooth

[Madine]

If you're not bantu you'll have to reasearch military to avoid hitting the pop cap

[MeaCulpa]

I have tried CTW in tough mode (after my first attempt at easy was no fun at all ).
First battle was ok (hold city 15 minutes). 2nd battle, duh, 2 comps at the gate (hold city 25 minutes). I did it, though a minute more would have been a minute too much. 3rd battle was me (China) vs. 3 Persian tribes. Game over. Diplomacy failed, and holding off three comps that keep pounding you with a lot of stuff was impossible.
Now I'm back to one difficulty below tough, and again it is still to easy.

Maybe your replay helps me to deal better with tough comps next time. Thanks.

[Stormboy]

Here are 2 games I played against a "tough" AI (standard settings, arena size map):

Bantu Boom
Japanese Spearmen Rush

In the first one I tried to boom a bit before attacking. I was behind in tech throughout the entire game, but my bigger economy allowed me to field a larger army. The AI put up a fight, but I never lost any ground and was able to push towards its capital without too many problems. Note how I never built any fortresses or wonders, I didn't even bother with granaries, lumber mills or smelters (I let the AI build them for me).

The second one is a spearmen rush. I went straight for the AI's capital. Game over in just under 7 minutes. If I wasn't such a klutz, I probably could have done it in 5.

I'm not claiming I played particularly well in these games, nor that they are good examples of how to play against the AI, but they clearly show how an experienced RTS player (even a mediocre one like me) will have little trouble beating a "tough" AI.

[albiedamned]

I just watched your Japanese one. The AI's response to your rush was very poor. When your heavy inf first showed up at his second city (on their way to the capital), he hadn't researched Military yet so he couldn't build a barracks or tower. This is probably not too uncommon at only 4:00 into the game. He had over 200 food, but instead of immediately researching Military, he spent it all on the Classical age upgrade. Because your stream of troops kept passing through his second town on the way to capital, he kept ringing the bell over and over in the second city, and the capital was belled the whole time you attacked. So he never got back up to the 120 food he needed to research military until it was too late - he actually started to research Military just about when you reduced his capital!

One comment on your opening - you built two farms too many at your second city. Normally, 5 farms at the first city plus 3 at the second city will max you out at +100 food (assuming you've researched Commerce level 1). However the Japanese get +13 food per farm, so with just one farm at the second city you would have been at +98.

[Lazerus]

I managed to copy that rush with the japanese but won in 6:30secs instead by taking his second city first and using the little plunder to get a few more spearmen upto the front and took out his capital alot quicker.
I've heard this rush can be done in 4mins, could some1 please show/tell me how


Just trimmed mine down to 5:50

[Shift.Eh]

I do get the horrible feeling it's a tech race. Either tech rush or Military rush. Kinda depressing, I was hoping for a more balanced game.

[kainzero]

I do get the horrible feeling it's a tech race. Either tech rush or Military rush. Kinda depressing, I was hoping for a more balanced game.

Uh, that's pretty much all RTS. Attack now or tech and attack later.

The game is not tech based but rather econ based. You want a strong economy to support your army or tech up. The way to advance the economy is twofold, you can either try by research and expand, or take the forces of the computer. I think the difference between ages is pretty much 2 points of attack. It adds up, but 3 riflemen will lose to 6-8 musketeers.

This tends to make the AI very weak, because the AI is primarily econ managed. If the AI were to rush with an army and lose it, it would immediately build a replacement army and then tech back up, at which point the opposing player would simply roll over the other army with econ and tech advantage. A good player could tech up after losing the army while holding back a city, and then send reinforcements.

So, the key to beating the computer is to hold back their first attack, and not to waste any units (don't attack unless you know you can win the battle). After that, you should have an econ/military advantage, and the game is cake from there.

[albiedamned]

The key to the game for me is basically to keep production as close to the commerce caps as possible without going over, and to keep raising the commerce caps. Everything else flows from there. If you do this, you'll will have the most resources, and thus the most flexibility to attack or research, whichever you want.

[brainman]

I partially disagree. My experience with RTS tell me that is not a matter of 'winning battles'. There's no such thing. It's a matter of resource usage efficency. Spend your resources to force him to spend his. Just make sure he spends more than you. On the long run you'll have significant advantage.

The game between 2 human experienced players is: both gather resources at the max rate, both are top at tecnology race. Both know each others races and special things and try to exploit, but both always manage to prevent them. Game reaches a point at which WAR will decide the winner. Being the rules balanced, its up to the players skill.

The impression that the game is a tech or military rush comes from the dumb AI and the low skill human oponents. As time goes by, our gameplay level will rise and I think the game will get even more interesting.

Regards,
brainman