How can I improve the AI's performance?

from GalCiv2 Forums
Does anyone know if there's a "sweet spot" in the game settings that gives the AI its best performance? I play DL 1.5 at Tough difficulty, usually in a Medium sized galaxy. I've been playing with all random settings in my last few games. Every one of them has been "over" long before victory is achieved. The AIs simply cannot match the strength of my economy. I start every game by deficit spending to stay at 100% morale until the cash runs out. Once I reach the "turnover" point I'll be middle of the pack in every category except population - I'm way ahead there. Having a much larger tax base allows me to win however I choose.

I really like the fact that the AI kept up with me at first without cheating. That's why I haven't bumped the difficulty level any higher than Tough. Should I invest in DA to get improved AI? Would having more/fewer planets help the AI along? For that matter, does number of opponents affect anything? Now, I'm not looking for the AI to actually beat me, but I would like it to keep pace a little longer. If I've conquered half the galaxy I'd like one of the players to have at least conquered somebody.
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
DA improves the ai
Ive also heard that the ai plays better with more planets
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Open clusters or w/e its called and lots of planets, to maximimize its ability to micromanage.
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Dude definately, once you play DA, you'll never go back to DL. Because the AI is much much better. I suspect the same will go with TA...once it is out. I usually play DA with one level above tough..because that only seems fair to let the AI cheat a little since, you have adaptiable human intelligence. The biggest flaw I see in the AI, is that they can't use sensory effectively. Most of the time my ships are not in orbit, but remain close to the planets or near the borders. The AI thinks that my planets are unprotected and wastes resources to sent ships to their doom.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Play funky yourself. IE, don't take the good bonuses at the start or the best races.

For DL, that would mean not picking economy/morale/pop. Play the iconians for example.

Play as good.

Try playing completely different from what you're used to.

It's a shame the AI isn't better in DL, but it does have an awefull lot of variation to deal with. Personally I wonder how much better the AI would be if it didn't have to deal with mod-ing. The reality is, every game you play it has to think about how to play the game and can never get any better. If the game was static, the designers would have had a much better opportunity to tune it in.

That said, it is nice that the game is so mod-able...
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi!
Does anyone know if there's a "sweet spot" in the game settings that gives the AI its best performance? I play DL 1.5 at Tough difficulty, usually in a Medium sized galaxy.
End of quote

AFAIK you already are at the "sweet spot" - AIs are optimized for medium galaxy with common planets. But DL is easier to play than DA, esp. because it gives significantly more money, either in form of 2500 BC anomalies, or 40% better tax income.

Once you get enough experience, is the game on tough no more a challenge. Then you need to play differently, or increase game difficulty level. AI will not get any more "brains", but it will get bonuses to almost everything (check wiki: Difficulty level. Going from tough to maso makes a very dfferent game...

BR, Iztok
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Is the option to maximize CPU usage for the AI available in DL? or is that only DA?

I've only played 1 or 2 DL games (I had DA drom the start), never bothered playing more because I found DL quite dull... (too easy).

It can help to make some opponents stronger than the others, two AI fighting eachother that are both "tough" will have a "tough" time beating eachother, but if one of the AI's is less intelligent, the Tough AI will be able to win much faster...
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yes I've been using the "enable CPU-intensive algorithms" option. I guess what I'd like to know now is whether the DA AI is more fun to play against than the DL AI. I realize that DA is a tougher game, but that should also make it tougher on the computer players. My biggest worry with DA is the computer opponents being unable to handle all the new features. Also, has the AI been updated in DA in a general sense, i.e., does the computer play better? I remember Brad saying that DL players were supposed to get all the AI updates that were common to both games, but I don't remember when that was going to happen.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The DA AI is better even with all the new features. It seems the only feature that really hurt the AIs are the colonization techs. The AI thinks they're great, and the reality is they usually are not critical. Other than that, the DA AI on average is much better.

The AIs tend to have the same overall failings as DL though, so don't expect any miracles. Perhaps TA will improve on those areas. I worry though that all the race customization will be too much for the AIs, but you never know... (too much to balance at least)