AI

Goldwolf wrote:

I am tired of the AI attacking me all the time, regardless of my Global Popularity. I take on a real person who is the second highest score on the server and the AI seems to think it has to get involved by attacking me even though my Popularity is 62%. You people need to do something to tone down the AI, it should not have the ability to pick sides and determine the out come of the game. AI interference takes the joy out of the game. I got no problem if real people decide to participate in my demise, but any AI killing me while I am busy attacking one or two other players is a load of BS. When you purposely and continuously take the fun out of the game then any reason to keep playing is lost. I am sure you think it is perfectly balanced but if I am wrong in my assessment, I guess some other people will tell me so. END OF RANT.

I've said the exact same thing many times. The A.I is like a pitbull in this game, even if you remain still and don't invade anyone eventually the entire world will still declare war on you.

peace=> trade Embargo=> total war from every A.I nation

That's the cycle with all A.I countries in this game.

Fox, your experience with AI and mine are not even close. If I kill off an AI, then 3 more attack me. Never in my experience have the AI’s ever “backed off”. You don’t see a difference between AI and a real person attacking you? The AI is easy to kill, if you only have one on you at a time. If all the real people you are playing against are as easy as AI’s to kill, I would say your completion must be all level one’s, or something, I am not sure. Another thing that bugs me is that AI can generate Units without even owning a city, that is, they cheat. I have seen this repeatedly. OK, they need to be able to do this in order to be more completive, but it still bugs me, or I just like to whine, I guess. I do not want the game to “waltz around”, if I understand your meaning. But I also do not want the computer to determine the out come of the game by attacking me when I am busy with real live people that are much difficult to defeat. At 11% Global Popularity you should have 3 or 4 AI’s on you by now based on the experience I have had, but you seem to have much different experience.

I see people expand in crazy ways all the time. Oh, here comes Greece, he beat Turkey and now he's marching into Persia with nothing left to defend his core. Come on, man. He's asking to be killed.

Expand in a way that minimizes shared borders with other nations. No matter human or AI, both can attack you. Why turn your back on them? Clear the area. Keep your borders short. Patrol your coast lines. Be vigilant.

Goldwolf wrote:

I am tired of the AI attacking me all the time, regardless of my Global Popularity. I take on a real person who is the second highest score on the server and the AI seems to think it has to get involved by attacking me even though my Popularity is 62%. You people need to do something to tone down the AI, it should not have the ability to pick sides and determine the out come of the game. AI interference takes the joy out of the game. I got no problem if real people decide to participate in my demise, but any AI killing me while I am busy attacking one or two other players is a load of BS. When you purposely and continuously take the fun out of the game then any reason to keep playing is lost. I am sure you think it is perfectly balanced but if I am wrong in my assessment, I guess some other people will tell me so. END OF RANT.

they made the game more ugly every update , well let the BH lobby play with AI.

Goldwolf wrote:

Fox, your experience with AI and mine are not even close. If I kill off an AI, then 3 more attack me. Never in my experience have the AI’s ever “backed off”. You don’t see a difference between AI and a real person attacking you? The AI is easy to kill, if you only have one on you at a time. If all the real people you are playing against are as easy as AI’s to kill, I would say your completion must be all level one’s, or something, I am not sure. Another thing that bugs me is that AI can generate Units without even owning a city, that is, they cheat. I have seen this repeatedly. OK, they need to be able to do this in order to be more completive, but it still bugs me, or I just like to whine, I guess. I do not want the game to “waltz around”, if I understand your meaning. But I also do not want the computer to determine the out come of the game by attacking me when I am busy with real live people that are much difficult to defeat. At 11% Global Popularity you should have 3 or 4 AI’s on you by now based on the experience I have had, but you seem to have much different experience.

Fox, I generally have bought out all the resources available in the market before games end, and buy stuff from the beginning. This has never kept the AI’s at bay either. z00mz00m, your advice is good for people new to the game. However, I am not sure how to “keep your borders short” when you are going for a solo win. Your other advice is good, but no matter what you can’t build enough units to cover all the cities and provinces (I know, you don’t have to cover them all). I appreciate you guys trying to give advice, but the bottom line is that the AI is just too aggressive. I have played games to within a day of winning and had 5 or 6 AI’s declare war on me within a matter of an hour or so. At that point I just find something better to do with my time as there is zero chance of winning. I just think the balance is off and the developers are too stubborn to change the game, or to close to the situation to see the problem. The third option is I don’t know what I am talking about, but I have seen nothing so far to change my perception.

Goldwolf wrote:

Fox, I generally have bought out all the resources available in the market before games end, and buy stuff from the beginning. This has never kept the AI’s at bay either. z00mz00m, your advice is good for people new to the game. However, I am not sure how to “keep your borders short” when you are going for a solo win. Your other advice is good, but no matter what you can’t build enough units to cover all the cities and provinces (I know, you don’t have to cover them all). I appreciate you guys trying to give advice, but the bottom line is that the AI is just too aggressive. I have played games to within a day of winning and had 5 or 6 AI’s declare war on me within a matter of an hour or so. At that point I just find something better to do with my time as there is zero chance of winning. I just think the balance is off and the developers are too stubborn to change the game, or to close to the situation to see the problem. The third option is I don’t know what I am talking about, but I have seen nothing so far to change my perception.

We might be talking about different game situations.

Goldwolf, are you being attacked by AI countries in games where you've defeated your human opponents and are close to winning? I find this difficult to imagine. Who are these AI countries that can take apart your almost-winning empire? How can they be so powerful? What kind of army do you have at this stage of the game? What are your research levels, troops counts, and stack compositions? Do you have a developed air force? Please describe or screen capture a specific example. Thanks!

The point is that some aspects of the game are turning him off. I suspect that the way expansion, popularity and AI are implemented turns a lot of people off and hurts the game. The people that get to the point where these things are actually an issue are probably potential long term players. If I was Bytro I'd take a serious look at it, but maybe they are more focused on high turnover transient players.

Kyle Callam wrote:

I've said the exact same thing many times. The A.I is like a pitbull in this game, even if you remain still and don't invade anyone eventually the entire world will still declare war on you.

peace=> trade Embargo=> total war from every A.I nation

That's the cycle with all A.I countries in this game.

I agree that in some situations AI popularity or expansion penalties might be annoying and can be perceived as an issue. These mechanics have Pros and Cons, and were also discussed internally. Right now there are no plans however to fundamentally change this system. Perhaps it gets reviewed again at some point.

And of course, stick to the golden rule of RoW diplomacy: NEVER declare on anyone by just starting to shoot, ALWAYS do it by the diplomacy screen. The reputation penalty is much less that way. Even better is to boycot them, wait till after day change, and THEN declare on them, though you may not always have time for this.

Kyle Callam wrote:

I've said the exact same thing many times. The A.I is like a pitbull in this game, even if you remain still and don't invade anyone eventually the entire world will still declare war on you.

peace=> trade Embargo=> total war from every A.I nation

That's the cycle with all A.I countries in this game.

The AI is not a challenge, and wasn't intended to be. I agree occasionally the timing of their attacks can be very unfortunate, especially if you've moved your troops away from the border. All you need to do is leave a buffer so they don't border you. Just clear the enemies off a province and don't take it until you're ready to attack the AI yourself.