Yep--too hard to beat!

Can't beat the AI? Is it too tame? Discuss the best strategies!
djconklin
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Yep--too hard to beat!

Post by djconklin »

I set it at novice and the orther civs are ahead of me!
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Alien Valkyrie
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Re: Yep--too hard to beat!

Post by Alien Valkyrie »

Maybe you should describe how you play so others can tell you what to improve. All I can say is that I try to research Masonry first so I can build the Great Wall, then I research Map Making to get ships, and then Construction for the Aqueduct and try to get more Great Wonders fast. And I mostly win against novice opponents.
~ AVL
cazfi
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Re: Yep--too hard to beat!

Post by cazfi »

The big problem is that there's not much difference in difficulty of different levels. Soon after you learn the tricks to beat the easiest level, even hardest level is not giving any challenge. The recipe to win all my games against AI opponents last 15 years has been mostly just defending in the early game where AI is strong, playing my own game and ignoring AI. Given that defending is so much easier than attacking, and AI is not concentrating forces, it's easy to play turtle while AI wastes resources to dying attacking units. After the initial phase AI gets a lot worse, and I get past it in research, and in every single category. Soon it's just boring to march through underdevelopet AI nations.
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Alien Valkyrie
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Re: Yep--too hard to beat!

Post by Alien Valkyrie »

Yeah, I usually play on Island-based maps(1 Player per Continent), so I don't even get in contact with the AI in the beginning. And as soon as they meet me, they offer a cease-fire, and when that's almost over, most of them accept peace, so I can buid up my empire without them doing anything. And then(I did that just yesterday) I can take about 100 Helicopters and run from city to city.
~ AVL
ipilowe
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Re: Yep--too hard to beat!

Post by ipilowe »

Yep, it is. I haven't ever played civ before I tested this Freeciv. I like this game idea and gameplay, but I hope you will make some different between hard and easy AI. ;)

I play with default settings. First I research pottery, then horseback riding and masonry. Then i put gunpowder to target. Allways I can make 8-12 towns and then problems start. I have few soldiers, few workers and someone come explore my lands. I don't accept it and kill explorer and after killing I accept cease-fire(?). After cease-fire every enemy doesn't accept peace or next cease-fire, they all attack against me and my few soldiers die allways in first battles, doesn't matter am I attacker or defender(I use F). Then they take my first towns and last when I have only few towns left, come pirates and destroy it. I have tried follow tutorials what i found from internet but still losing allways. Any Ideas? :?

Btw. I am sixteen years old boy from cold Finland and I study in high school. I think I'm mix of nerd and jock. Hi all! Tell me if you don't understand my english, I'll try explain my thing in some other way. 8-)
cazfi
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Re: Yep--too hard to beat!

Post by cazfi »

ipilowe wrote:Btw. I am sixteen years old boy from cold Finland
We Finns have good representation in Freeciv community. So, you have born around the time I started playing and hacking Freeciv. ;-)
My first patch was accepted Oct/Nov -97.

Do you defend your cities with City Walls? They triple you defense value against land units, and they are the only building that has no maintenance cost at all (you can build them without worrying about ruining your economy) Build also barracks at least to cities massproducing military units (for veterancy bonus) and ones near border or regularly attacked by pirates (for healing effect)
ipilowe
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Re: Yep--too hard to beat!

Post by ipilowe »

cazfi wrote:
ipilowe wrote:Btw. I am sixteen years old boy from cold Finland
Do you defend your cities with City Walls? They triple you defense value against land units, and they are the only building that has no maintenance cost at all (you can build them without worrying about ruining your economy) Build also barracks at least to cities massproducing military units (for veterancy bonus) and ones near border or regularly attacked by pirates (for healing effect)
Yes. I try do. I can get city walls only first towns. I have tried found good places for towns but production times are allways too long. Like 10-20 turns for barracks and 15-40 turns to City Walls. And second big problem: If I can get trought hard time like I am few times did, enemies are lots of advanced than me. I have legions and bowmans and horsemans when they have fusiliers(?). If I try research gunpowder first, they kill me before I can get it. :oops: Is/are there something technology what makes your progress faster?
cazfi wrote:So, you have born around the time I started playing and hacking Freeciv.
My first patch was accepted Oct/Nov -97.
I was one year old. I've born in October -96 :lol:
zorn
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Re: Yep--too hard to beat!

Post by zorn »

I've lost a few single player games recently. These are games where the AI players refuse to make peace and just launch one attack after another.

Playing the default game, you may end up on the same continent as AI players. They may find a legion in a hut, which they will attack you with as soon as the initial cease-fire expires, and it takes several warriors to fend it off. Later you need a decent land border, otherwise they will attack you with archers/legion or chariots.

Later they will get ironclads surprisingly early (they seem to be able to set 100% science regardless of government). The strongest AIs may become allies, and the biggest will end up with an enormous empire. They will surround your ocean with a very large fleet of ironclads and use them to empty your cities. You'd need musketeers and coastal defenses to avoid that. Thankfully they often fail to followup with invasions of land units. However soon they will have destroyers, cruisers , battleships and eventually howitzers, and at some point they will successfully invade you.

I'm curious if anybody can win the default game every time in versions 2.3 or 2.4, when setting AI difficulty to hard and rejecting all AI peace offers, if you are lucky enough to get them. Perhaps even rejecting every cease-fire request, if you want a greater challenge.
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Alien Valkyrie
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Re: Yep--too hard to beat!

Post by Alien Valkyrie »

If you make sure to nat have any contact and not crossing the AI's border after the first cease-fire treaty has been made, they'll usually accept a peace offering.
~ AVL
cazfi
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Re: Yep--too hard to beat!

Post by cazfi »

Nothing saves 2.3, and 2.4 receives only improvements that are considered bugfixes, but I'm quite pleased with some AI improvements I've managed to implement lately. I'm battling against myself - can I make AI good enough for it to challenge me as a player? Of course, improvements to one thing often comes with weakening of something else, so if you didn't know how to strike AI's weak points before but were overwhelmed by its strong points, it's in theory possible that it's getting easier for you...
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