In case anybody is out there and reading this, I just beat the AI on Toughest difficulty!
A few points:
The AI is actually only marginally better than the AI at Tough. The main difference is that they get a hefty resource bonus. I was able to stay within one age of the AI until Industrial, when I began to overtake it.
The AI builds rush groups fairly early, probably because it has the early resources to throw them at you. The rush tactics are not particularly sophisticated (not once did the AI have an anti-spy in its group) although I did notice the enemy Generals would activate their Quick March to retreat and regroup after a failed rush. Playing as the Chinese helped a lot - my cities, being Large, were resistant to rushes.
The AI builds Wonders fairly aggressively but only assigns a few builders to each. Even after the AI had started on a Wonder I found it easy to outpace it and steal the Wonder away as long as I started relatively soon afterwards and assigned a large number of Citizens to it.
The AI uses a bit more Fighter cover when you invade it, but the same tactics that I used to beat it at Tough also apply at Toughest. I got Versailles and Statue of Liberty and the AI was unable to stop my invasion force once it got underway.
The AI's bonus appears to be a resource bonus, not a collection bonus. I say this because I conquered all the cities save one, and the AI just puttered around aimlessly in this last city just like it did at Tough. If it had a collection bonus I'd imagine it would have done more building and faster.
That's all for now. I was trailing the AI by as much as 2000 points until Industrial, whereupon we raced for Statue of Liberty and I won. At that point, backed with airpower and a maximized army, I invaded and the AI couldn't do much to stop me.
The AI played as the Aztecs (randomly chosen) and I played as the Chinese (not randomly chosen). The map was Mediterranean, randomly chosen.
A few points:
The AI is actually only marginally better than the AI at Tough. The main difference is that they get a hefty resource bonus. I was able to stay within one age of the AI until Industrial, when I began to overtake it.
The AI builds rush groups fairly early, probably because it has the early resources to throw them at you. The rush tactics are not particularly sophisticated (not once did the AI have an anti-spy in its group) although I did notice the enemy Generals would activate their Quick March to retreat and regroup after a failed rush. Playing as the Chinese helped a lot - my cities, being Large, were resistant to rushes.
The AI builds Wonders fairly aggressively but only assigns a few builders to each. Even after the AI had started on a Wonder I found it easy to outpace it and steal the Wonder away as long as I started relatively soon afterwards and assigned a large number of Citizens to it.
The AI uses a bit more Fighter cover when you invade it, but the same tactics that I used to beat it at Tough also apply at Toughest. I got Versailles and Statue of Liberty and the AI was unable to stop my invasion force once it got underway.
The AI's bonus appears to be a resource bonus, not a collection bonus. I say this because I conquered all the cities save one, and the AI just puttered around aimlessly in this last city just like it did at Tough. If it had a collection bonus I'd imagine it would have done more building and faster.
That's all for now. I was trailing the AI by as much as 2000 points until Industrial, whereupon we raced for Statue of Liberty and I won. At that point, backed with airpower and a maximized army, I invaded and the AI couldn't do much to stop me.
The AI played as the Aztecs (randomly chosen) and I played as the Chinese (not randomly chosen). The map was Mediterranean, randomly chosen.
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