Does the AI know where "stuff" is?

from GalCiv2 Forums
By this I mean do they actually need to scout to find habitable planets and resources?
13,101 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
They need to scout, just like you. In this game the AI gets the exact same information that you have access to. The only "cheat" that the AI has is in the highest few skill levels, where it receives economic bonuses.
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
*shrugs* Ideally, that is true, but making such an incredible AI is not an easy task. If you want an AI that has no cheats, play at "Tough". The AI is at its smartest at that level and has no economic advantages or disadvantages.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
while it is true that a good ai needs no cheats u still want those ppl who are amazingly good experts to play this game and still feel challenge. plus the ai will continually be updated in the updates (we have already recieved a warning that those who complained bout the ai being dumb will not have the last laugh in version 1.1....) and im sure that it will get alot smarter when they release the expansion
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
plu on tough with all the ai set at intelligent the game is hard to beat as it is the fact that they have levels where the ai gets economic bounuses is not due to dumb ai but rather it is for those who fanatically play these games and need a huge challenge i personally think that when the ai is set on tough its hard enough to beat
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
All I know is I need to start playing on tough. Playing with the AI on bright and it still does a lot of dumb planetry mistakes. The way it sets up its planets really seems illogical and inefficient. I'd expect it on the easier settings, but it seems a bit excessive on bright.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Planetary management is really tough to do for the AI.

It's something I continually work on. But one of the things that makes GalCiv II's AI unique is that it's not scripted.  So it doesn't "know" that it should build X or Y. It does statistical analysis and makes judgements on what it thinks are good or bad outcomes.

But it also has to be able to do it with a minimum of CPU power.  Now that the game is out and we have a better gauge of performance, we can do more on this.

But still, it's not about optimal designs, it's about whether it's playing a good game. Few people can beat the game at intelligent or above.

In most strategy games, the AI is cheating at all levels.

Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Although the AI still makes a lot of stupid mistakes, I'd still say it is much better than what you see in most games. In my first game I almost lost at intelligent, and now I'm only barely able to win most of the time on crippling, and that is with the AI mistakes being made. When the AI learns to use starbases, to improve it's speed and how to manage it's planets I think it will be pretty challenging.

Besides, the way it cheats is not as annoying as in most games. Most, if not all, of the bonuses the AI gets are based on percentages of what it already has. So if you take their huge planet it will affect them just as much as it would have affected a player.