Why is the AI so stupid?

skdyer

Join Date 04/2009

Why is the AI so stupid?

From all the articles I've read about this game one of the strong points of Galciv II is the strength of the AI. However something I observed today during gameplay made the AI look COMPLETELY broken. Here's the scenario. I am playing on the "Tough" difficulty level, which according to the manual is the difficulty where neither the AI nor the player gets any advantages and the AI is supposed to be using ADVANCED algorithms. I am playing the second mission of the Dread Lords campaign. I am the Terrans and the only opponent is the Drengin. There is a research resource located within my influence boundaries that has not been claimed. I have placed a very simple military craft on sentry near this resource. This unit has 1 laser and zero defense. The Drengin AI has been sending an ENDLESS stream of constructors toward this resource that I without fail destroy with just my simple military craft.

Clearly this is TERRIBLE AI. To me the AI should either:

A. Stop sending constructors.

B. Send a constructor in a fleet with armed military craft that can destroy my LOWLY 1 laser military defense craft.

What in the world do I need to do to play against AI that isn't broken? Do I just need to increase the difficulty level? It seems like that wouldn't solve the problem since that would simply result in the AI getting bonuses and not necessarily thinking smarter.

This experience is making me lose all faith in this game. Someone out there, restore my faith.

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I've been playing this game off and on since DL was first released. Still enjoying it when I have time to play it.

I've always felt some of the races behave strangely in TA versus DL and DA. For example, I've seen the Thalans colonize like crazy with 1 colonist on many of their planets. Or, some races just sit there and do nothing. At first, as an experiment I, did a mod that reworked a couple of the tech trees to make them more DA like. It had a dramatic effect on the performance of the races. For example, the Iconians were often one of the races that would sit there and do nothing. With a new tree, they moved out like gangbusters. So, I went ahead and redid all the tech trees. The races are much more competetive with the new trees and behave similar (better) to the way they do in DA. It makes for a different TA game to say the least.

If you would like to check it out, following is a link. This is a TA only mod and works best on larger maps and higher difficulties. There's actually a ton of stuff that's been changed aside from the tech trees. Look at the INFO.txt and README.txt files in the zip archive for more information.

http://webpages.charter.net/chblock/Marklar.zip

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admiralWillyWilber

Join Date 05/2009

+99

Hi its me again thanks for the advise. The problem is the fact that this took place two years ago, and I didn't have the Internet. But if this would've happened I would've never played the dread lords which redeemed galactic civilizations, probably be only playing civilization or sins of a solar empire today. I just wished I could've realized the expansion [ack dread lords was harder. Because twilight of the Arnor rocks. I would recommend if your not customizing, and playing a sand boxed game switch the drengin AI for generic its way better. I do have to say thanks for the population advise. Your teaching me what not to do. It lowers your population. I think the reason the AI only does good for the first five years is a plot flaw. The universe is destroyed in 2030.

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Quoting CraigHB,

reply 26

I've been playing this game off and on since DL was first released. Still enjoying it when I have time to play it.

I've always felt some of the races behave strangely in TA versus DL and DA. For example, I've seen the Thalans colonize like crazy with 1 colonist on many of their planets. Or, some races just sit there and do nothing. At first, as an experiment I, did a mod that reworked a couple of the tech trees to make them more DA like. It had a dramatic effect on the performance of the races. For example, the Iconians were often one of the races that would sit there and do nothing. With a new tree, they moved out like gangbusters. So, I went ahead and redid all the tech trees. The races are much more competetive with the new trees and behave similar (better) to the way they do in DA. It makes for a different TA game to say the least.

If you would like to check it out, following is a link. This is a TA only mod and works best on larger maps and higher difficulties. There's actually a ton of stuff that's been changed aside from the tech trees. Look at the INFO.txt and README.txt files in the zip archive for more information.

http://webpages.charter.net/chblock/Marklar.zip

Wow thanks. So far this does indeed make TA games much more interesting and challenging. And challenging in a good way, because there doesn't appear to be any blatent stupidity amongst the AI's.

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Welcome, glad you like it.

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CraigHB

Great mod indeed!

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