Is there any mods out there that expand the AI, or make it stronger?
Playing on Monarch, I frequently find my games look like this after about Turn 120;
There's not a lot of challenge after this point - with quadruple the AI's research power you end up vastly out-teching them, with double their food you have twice their population, and even with only a modest production edge you can turn huge tech & food advantages into hammers whenever you want. It becomes a matter of just deciding how you want to win, and while it's fun exploring the different ways - catapult pushes, rushing to Guilds for a knight conquest, or just a space race, it still wears thin.
the difficulties above Monarch are there, and I enjoy playing them sometimes, but they increase the difficulty by just giving the AI a bunch of cheat bonuses. Immortal, for example, just gives the AI two free starting settlers, and huge research discounts. I was hoping someone had made something that actually made the AI play better, rather than cheating. Anyone know?
So apparently someone didn’t hide something on steam they were supposed to and there was a new paid dlc and 10 new acheivements up on the database for a while... After they didn’t announce anything this winter it was assumed by most that civ6 was done, but this seems to indicate a new dlc of some sort is on the way.
Curious what they might do... I don’t feel like civ 6 needs a lot of massive new systems, I would be happy with tweaking a few things like the diplomatic victory (which can either be trivially easy or basically impossible), and cultural and religious victory paths. Other than that I would be fine with a civ or leader pack.
So apparently someone didn’t hide something on steam they were supposed to and there was a new paid dlc and 10 new acheivements up on the database for a while... After they didn’t announce anything this winter it was assumed by most that civ6 was done, but this seems to indicate a new dlc of some sort is on the way.
Curious what they might do... I don’t feel like civ 6 needs a lot of massive new systems, I would be happy with tweaking a few things like the diplomatic victory (which can either be trivially easy or basically impossible), and cultural and religious victory paths. Other than that I would be fine with a civ or leader pack.
I feel like they could touch up on a lot of UX elements as well.
So apparently someone didn’t hide something on steam they were supposed to and there was a new paid dlc and 10 new acheivements up on the database for a while... After they didn’t announce anything this winter it was assumed by most that civ6 was done, but this seems to indicate a new dlc of some sort is on the way.
Curious what they might do... I don’t feel like civ 6 needs a lot of massive new systems, I would be happy with tweaking a few things like the diplomatic victory (which can either be trivially easy or basically impossible), and cultural and religious victory paths. Other than that I would be fine with a civ or leader pack.
I feel like they could touch up on a lot of UX elements as well.
Certainly, in a lot of ways civ 6 is a lot more complicated than 5 with more to keep up with but the ui never really has kept up. That is moddable
but more default features would be nice.
Civ-wise I kind of like their dedication to dark horse civs and getting away from the usual suspects but that means there’s still a lot of room for expansion... We still have very little bronze/early iron age representation, for example, Babylonians or Assyrians would be great, or even Hittites... Mayans still aren’t in either, which is a bit weird, and there’s always room for another NA civ like a return of Iroquiois. Lots of room in Africa for Ethiopians or Zulus or even Swahili... Portuguese still aren’t in. I would live to see another south asian civ like Mughuls or Chola. Moving into SEA it’s pretty decent but Burma, Vietnam, and Thailand are obvious potential additions.
If they did do a 8-10 civ or leader pack with a more modest gameplay overhaul as would be the kind of thing you would expect with 10 new acheivements I think there’s a lot of room for that. Babylonians/Mayans/Zulus/Moguls/Portugese/Vietnam then say 4 leaders for existing civs would even be a pretty nice “Finisher” DLC.
I meant Moghuls of india(which actually have some art style tags in the files so maybe were something considered at some point). Was definitely having a brain fart with Shaka though.
Edit: You could swap out Ethiopians for them, though honestly the more I think about it subsaharan Africa is pretty well represented, and the north is a bit sparse, so maybe bring back Morroco or a berber civ. Or an islamic Andalusian civ.
Byzantines are also a big fan favorite I forgot about. Hebrews/Israelites have never been in and were hugely influential. And the Bronze/Iron age is so poorly represented I feel like you could justify both Babylonians and a more aggressive civ like Assyrians or Hittites.
Jealous Deva on
+2
AbsalonLands of Always WinterRegistered Userregular
Vietnam is a relatively tiny culture (but so is Korea) that has stuck around for a long time and defied a bunch of invaders. I also think Sogdiana, the Tiwanaku, the Zapotecs or the Cucuteni-Trypillia would be cool but I have no idea what their uniques would be.
Sogdians would be a great dark horse civ. They basically ran the silk road for a thousand years and were the link between the east and west, the steppes and civilization, etc. They are a bit closely related to the persians and scythians but were big in a different era so could have a lot different flavor. Still around, too, there are sogdian speakers in Tajikistan.
They would need to have some trade bonuses. I don’t know who the leader would be though. Unique unit would probably be a cataphract or heavy infantry unit.
I am pretty surprised honestly there has never been a vietnam civ. Seem like a natural inclusion. They are right up there with Israel in the “how have these guys never made it” category.
+1
Zavianuniversal peace sounds better than forever warRegistered Userregular
Ohhh I hope they use the Trung sisters! I've always wished they got more representation
So, reinstalled civ 6, played a random leader game on king, drew kupe, who I had never played before...
Holy shit. I love this guy, but he’s so OP. The fish bonuses are nice, but they’re a red herring, I ended up spamming as many cities as I could, going straight for theatre districts and Marae, and planting forests everywhere. The culture you get is straight out massive, like I’m developing modern age civics at the same time the world is in the renaissance age. Radio towers up before factories. And I have tons of faith for rock bands and naturalists. And the production is solid as well since you basically get free mills on those forests.
So much fun running around pretending to be Dierdre here.
So, reinstalled civ 6, played a random leader game on king, drew kupe, who I had never played before...
Holy shit. I love this guy, but he’s so OP. The fish bonuses are nice, but they’re a red herring, I ended up spamming as many cities as I could, going straight for theatre districts and Marae, and planting forests everywhere. The culture you get is straight out massive, like I’m developing modern age civics at the same time the world is in the renaissance age. Radio towers up before factories. And I have tons of faith for rock bands and naturalists. And the production is solid as well since you basically get free mills on those forests.
So much fun running around pretending to be Dierdre here.
Nice. Also how is Civ VI compared to IV and V? I haven't played VI at all yet, but I have been considering picking it up.
Definitely worth picking up. It’s not perfect and you can find things to like about 4 or 5 over 6, but the opposite is true also. I would probably put them all on equal terms at this point as far as quality but they are different enough that if you have played the crap out of 4 and 5, 6 will be a relatively new experience.
Get gathering storm with it, you can backfill other DLC (which mostly at this point only add civilizations and leaders since the gameplay elements of rise and fall are included in gathering storm) but gathering storm is a must.
Vi is definitely a good game, and is much better with the Gathering Storm expansion, but I still prefer V overall. Not a fan of the districts, nor the current city-spam wide only strategy ( liked being able to play tall in V if you wanted).
+1
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
It is honestly better now than it has been in vanilla. The ai can actually take cities now, for example.
I think some of fhe civ 5 mods had ai that actually was pretty competent. Like acken’s was pretty good (though he actually redesigned a few things to be easier for the ai to work with, like increasing melee unit strength vs cities and giving seige indirect fire so they are easier for the ai to position. As well as rebalancing social trees so the ai didn’t cripple itself by taking weaker choices.)
0
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
edited February 2020
Firaxis please me have the rest of the expansions for less than $70 you cowards
knitdan on
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
0
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
It makes them stronger but does nothing to address the fact that they can't present you with any interesting tactical decisions. AI in Civ 4 BTS will commonly threaten you with two stacks at once, one of 2 movers which can threaten two cities and another stack of 1 movers and cats to threaten a third city, forcing you to make decisions around how to distribute your defenses.
the basic problem with combat in five and six is just that they made it too complicated for the AI (at least, given whatever compromises they make to speed turns up); it gets really easy to chew up and AI advance with a relative handful of ranged units and a couple forts.
it's been a long while since I fired up civ4 but I don't think the AI is actually any better, it's just easier for it to point a couple stacks of units at your cities than it is to manage 5/6 style armies
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
+1
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
the basic problem with combat in five and six is just that they made it too complicated for the AI (at least, given whatever compromises they make to speed turns up); it gets really easy to chew up and AI advance with a relative handful of ranged units and a couple forts.
it's been a long while since I fired up civ4 but I don't think the AI is actually any better, it's just easier for it to point a couple stacks of units at your cities than it is to manage 5/6 style armies
Right, I wasn't saying the AI is smarter, it's just that the game lends itself to the AI giving you a tactical challenge even if it isn't smart.
Yeah I think for 7 they should look at mini-stacks - like allowing a melee and ranged or melee and bombard unit to share a tile. Would allow you to protect the ranged better and maybe help the AI out a little. I hated the doomstacks but 1UPT is a bit too extreme as well.
That, or adopt something like endless legend where you have an "army" which then battles another "army" in a different interface, where you can do tactial combat with mutliple units.
Yeah I think for 7 they should look at mini-stacks - like allowing a melee and ranged or melee and bombard unit to share a tile. Would allow you to protect the ranged better and maybe help the AI out a little. I hated the doomstacks but 1UPT is a bit too extreme as well.
That, or adopt something like endless legend where you have an "army" which then battles another "army" in a different interface, where you can do tactial combat with mutliple units.
I would honestly love for them to just steal the combat system from age of wonders: planetfall. Best of both worlds.
0
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Ran into a bullshit situation:
A declared friend invaded one of my city-states
1. This should not be something a declared friend can do
2. Because it was a declared friend, there was no way to stop them And no way to cancel the friendship
3. I couldnt even use a cass belli to get it back because once they capture the citystate the game no longer remembers you had any connection to it
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
0
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
Sounds a bit like Civ 4, where a vassal could run away with a cultural victory and there was no way to stop them as their master. A vassal could rebel, but a master could not punish a vassal. Super dumb mechanic, I always played with vassals off.
0
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Was working on a Religious Victory, had converted 6/7 civs but that last one was being stubborn as hell and churning out inquisitors faster than i could overpower them.
Ordinarily i would just declare war and pillage all their holy sites/kill all their holy warriors
But then I remembered my other favorite trick: giving away enough cities to trigger the win condition
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
So if anyone was thinking of buying this, there is a steam sale with deep discounts. Like 50 bucks for platinum edition with all dlc, or 40-75% off individual items.
0
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Took some tax return money and bought Gathering Storm. Theres a lot going on
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
0
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
Some very kind soul has put the entire Civ4 soundtrack on Youtube, even sorted by era!
This is my favourite Civ4 song, from the Classical era.
Though middle ages "Hard Times" might be my favorite in the series.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
+4
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
In 3 GS games, I won 2 with diplomatic victory around turn 300 and lost the 3rd to a religious victory around turn 150.
Seriously considering just disabling the religious victory if I’m ignoring religion, it’s not enough to hope a couple bug religious civs duke it out and neutralize each other.
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
It is pretty rare but it is possible especially on small maps to pull a selection of opponents that are generally uninterested in religion (ai won’t go for it unless they have a relevant civ bonus) except for one. It may have just been bad luck, usually I get 2 or 3 ai fighting and cancelling each other out.
0
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
So I really do like the gameplay changes Gathering Storm makes, particularly with the Science endgame. I do wish some of the better tech such as windmills showed up earlier. And i ran into an issue where i wanted to put a dam down but the game decided there wasn’t a legit spot for it even though i had one picked out thwt should have worked. Also i wish the conditions for building a canal weren’t so limited.
But on the plus side
Giant Death Robots
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
0
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
My word
Eleanor of Aquitaine is incredibly overpowered
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I always though the expansion every year concept wasn’t a great fit for civ, especially now that the game has “settled out” a bit. It sounds like they are going with a fighting game model for new civs which sounds pretty good.
Edit: looks like the first up is a dual pack with Maya and Gran Columbia in May, then we get Ethiopia and a pack exclusive “Alternate personality” version of Teddy and Catherine in July?
The Americas and Africa are going to be more fleshed out than they’ve ever been in civ before.
Posts
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/advanced-civ.614217/
Advanced civ - be wary that it does make some balance changes, nothing huge but they are there.
If you want pure civ 4 look for Better AI on the same site, but it hasn’t been updated in a long time.
Curious what they might do... I don’t feel like civ 6 needs a lot of massive new systems, I would be happy with tweaking a few things like the diplomatic victory (which can either be trivially easy or basically impossible), and cultural and religious victory paths. Other than that I would be fine with a civ or leader pack.
I feel like they could touch up on a lot of UX elements as well.
Certainly, in a lot of ways civ 6 is a lot more complicated than 5 with more to keep up with but the ui never really has kept up. That is moddable
but more default features would be nice.
Civ-wise I kind of like their dedication to dark horse civs and getting away from the usual suspects but that means there’s still a lot of room for expansion... We still have very little bronze/early iron age representation, for example, Babylonians or Assyrians would be great, or even Hittites... Mayans still aren’t in either, which is a bit weird, and there’s always room for another NA civ like a return of Iroquiois. Lots of room in Africa for Ethiopians or Zulus or even Swahili... Portuguese still aren’t in. I would live to see another south asian civ like Mughuls or Chola. Moving into SEA it’s pretty decent but Burma, Vietnam, and Thailand are obvious potential additions.
If they did do a 8-10 civ or leader pack with a more modest gameplay overhaul as would be the kind of thing you would expect with 10 new acheivements I think there’s a lot of room for that. Babylonians/Mayans/Zulus/Moguls/Portugese/Vietnam then say 4 leaders for existing civs would even be a pretty nice “Finisher” DLC.
Edit: You could swap out Ethiopians for them, though honestly the more I think about it subsaharan Africa is pretty well represented, and the north is a bit sparse, so maybe bring back Morroco or a berber civ. Or an islamic Andalusian civ.
Byzantines are also a big fan favorite I forgot about. Hebrews/Israelites have never been in and were hugely influential. And the Bronze/Iron age is so poorly represented I feel like you could justify both Babylonians and a more aggressive civ like Assyrians or Hittites.
They would need to have some trade bonuses. I don’t know who the leader would be though. Unique unit would probably be a cataphract or heavy infantry unit.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trưng_Sisters
Holy shit. I love this guy, but he’s so OP. The fish bonuses are nice, but they’re a red herring, I ended up spamming as many cities as I could, going straight for theatre districts and Marae, and planting forests everywhere. The culture you get is straight out massive, like I’m developing modern age civics at the same time the world is in the renaissance age. Radio towers up before factories. And I have tons of faith for rock bands and naturalists. And the production is solid as well since you basically get free mills on those forests.
So much fun running around pretending to be Dierdre here.
Nice. Also how is Civ VI compared to IV and V? I haven't played VI at all yet, but I have been considering picking it up.
Get gathering storm with it, you can backfill other DLC (which mostly at this point only add civilizations and leaders since the gameplay elements of rise and fall are included in gathering storm) but gathering storm is a must.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
If you like maximizing efficiency in a bunch of really elegant systems the AI has no idea how to handle, get 6 and its expansions.
Yeah I couldn't enjoy the other games for this reason. The AI just has no idea how to handle 1UPT, tactically, and it shows.
I think some of fhe civ 5 mods had ai that actually was pretty competent. Like acken’s was pretty good (though he actually redesigned a few things to be easier for the ai to work with, like increasing melee unit strength vs cities and giving seige indirect fire so they are easier for the ai to position. As well as rebalancing social trees so the ai didn’t cripple itself by taking weaker choices.)
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
it's been a long while since I fired up civ4 but I don't think the AI is actually any better, it's just easier for it to point a couple stacks of units at your cities than it is to manage 5/6 style armies
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Right, I wasn't saying the AI is smarter, it's just that the game lends itself to the AI giving you a tactical challenge even if it isn't smart.
That, or adopt something like endless legend where you have an "army" which then battles another "army" in a different interface, where you can do tactial combat with mutliple units.
I would honestly love for them to just steal the combat system from age of wonders: planetfall. Best of both worlds.
A declared friend invaded one of my city-states
1. This should not be something a declared friend can do
2. Because it was a declared friend, there was no way to stop them And no way to cancel the friendship
3. I couldnt even use a cass belli to get it back because once they capture the citystate the game no longer remembers you had any connection to it
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Ordinarily i would just declare war and pillage all their holy sites/kill all their holy warriors
But then I remembered my other favorite trick: giving away enough cities to trigger the win condition
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
This is my favourite Civ4 song, from the Classical era.
Though middle ages "Hard Times" might be my favorite in the series.
Seriously considering just disabling the religious victory if I’m ignoring religion, it’s not enough to hope a couple bug religious civs duke it out and neutralize each other.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
But on the plus side
Giant Death Robots
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Eleanor of Aquitaine is incredibly overpowered
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Civ 6: New Frontier Pass
I always though the expansion every year concept wasn’t a great fit for civ, especially now that the game has “settled out” a bit. It sounds like they are going with a fighting game model for new civs which sounds pretty good.
Edit: looks like the first up is a dual pack with Maya and Gran Columbia in May, then we get Ethiopia and a pack exclusive “Alternate personality” version of Teddy and Catherine in July?
The Americas and Africa are going to be more fleshed out than they’ve ever been in civ before.