March Madness: Civ4 AI Edition

[Brian Shanahan]

That game got weird fast. Never expected boobies to get so big and strong, she's usually a bit of a paper tiger in my games. And Louis really got caught up in his wonders, then deciding to declare on the big dog without any NUCLEAR WEAPONS* which with to back his words. I think if he didn't declare the game was Isabella's (shouldn't she be sparkly?)for the taking.

*well a proper army anyways.

[Jkaen]

That is a point actually. Does the wildcard spot have to go to a 3rd place finisher or is that up for judgement/voting?

[Sullla]

I'm sorry, I did not have a lot of time to work on the Survivor thing today. I'm just going to post the results from our prediction contest now, and get to the draw for Game Four tomorrow.



We had 37 predictions entered for this game, you guys really outdid yourselves. Thanks for making this whole thing much more interesting. Boudica was not a popular pick as the winner, give credit to David Corperial, tiredkitten, and Jowy as the only ones to nail that pick. Alexander as runner up was even less popular, with only Tyrmith and Amelia hitting that correctly. No one had both of the AI leaders moving onto the playoffs. Louis was slightly more popular as the first to die, but still only appeared on six prediction sheets. (EDIT: I see now that I missed Azoth's prediction for Louis. I'll make the correct in my spreadsheet and add the extra 5 points.)

Lots of people correctly predicted that 3 civs would still be alive at the end of the game. Hardly anyone picked Spaceship as the victory condition - a lot of you narrowly missed out on Domination, sorry! A couple submissions deserves special mention here:

* Commodore missed everything in the first four categories, then hit the winning condition PERFECTLY: Spaceship win on Turn 321. Impressive stuff! Bet we won't see that happening again too often.

* Tiredkitten had what was probably the best overall submission, getting Boudica as the game winner, Louis as the first to die, 3 civs surviving, and victory date to within seven turns. That added up to 18 total points, equaling Commodore for then best of the round and best we've seen overall.

* Pindicator submitted Brennus as the first to die, and he wasn't even competing in this game. I'm pretty sure that was intended to be Boudica, but since it didn't matter anyway for points, I left it as-written.

* Jowy predicted that no one would die and that the game would last until a Score victory on Turn 500. Certainly the most unorthodox submission of the round. Jowy still scored 5 points from getting Boudica correct.

In the overall standings, Tyrmith followed up the high score from Game Two with a very solid Game Three performance. He has a slight lead with 28 points. Commodore's perfect victory prediction has him trailing just behind, tied with David Corperial and slowcheetah, who have submitted identical scores through two rounds. Ceiliazul rounds out the top five. Tiredkitten nearly leaps into that group (despite not having a score for Game Two) with that impressive 18 point performance.

As I said, we'll put together the draw for Game Four tomorrow, and then have two more days for predictions after that. March Madness: AI Edition is still going strong.

[tiredkitten]

Oh my gosh! This is such a proud moment. I'd like to thank my parents, my scratching post, my ball of yarn, my... *yawn*



Nah, I just got lucky.

[Merovech]

This is a really great idea, Sullla. Wish I'd seen it earlier (been off the internet lately), but still enjoyed reading the first three game reports.

[Gavagai]

It looks like you use default AI which is much weaker than, for example, K-Mod AI. Is there any specific reason for this?

[Sullla]

Here's our new draw for Game Four. This one should be... interesting.


Genghis Khan Temujin

Oh boy. Right out of the gate, we're starting with the great khan himself. Temujin has Aggressive and Imperialistic traits in Civ4, well suited to rapid expansion and military conquest. His Mongol civilization has the Keshik as a unique horseman replacement, and the Ger as a unique building. Both of them are above average, and the Ger in particular could have a long shelf life in one of these games. Temujin the AI has exactly one flavor: MILITARY. He will heavily emphasize techs that add heavier swords and bigger guns. Temujin also has a strong preference for building units (8/10), he demands tribute constantly, and brings an aggression rating of 9.5 to the table. That's the 3rd highest out of the 52 leaders in this game, but he's not even the most aggressive leader in this game! Wow. In addition to the rest, Temujin also has Police State as his favorite civic. This guy is infamous for his warring ways, expect him to stir up plenty of trouble.


Gilgamesh

We rarely see Gilgamesh in our Multiplayer events, although his Sumerian civ is one of the most popular choices. Gilgamesh himself is Creative and Protective, that second trait being the main reason why he's persona non grata. (Protective is hands down the worst trait in Civ4.) His Sumerian civilization has the underwhelming Vulture as a unique unit, and the very nice Ziggurat as a unique building. Sumeria also has the nice benefit of starting with Agriculture and Wheel techs, sadly not really a factor for the Deity AIs and their free starting techs. Since everyone begins with Agriculture and Wheel techs (and Hunting and Archery), Gilgamesh is actually disadvantaged in this situation. Gilgamesh AI is another highly aggressive leader. He has military and culture flavors, and stands out a bit in this group of leaders for having a major preference for wonders (8/10 rating). That said, Gilgamesh AI still prioritizes units and has an aggression rating of 8/10. He's listed as the eighth most violent leader overall out of the full 52 leaders. This would put him at the top of the charts for most games, but he's only average in this one. It's a tough crowd.


Huayna Capac

Huayna Capac is the rare economic leader in this game of thugs. Huayna is often viewed as the strongest pick for Single Player games with restricted leaders, due to his excellent Financial and Industrious traits, alongside the Incan civ. The Quechua is very good at abusing the AI love of early game archers, especially on Marathon speed, while the Terrace is the best unique building in the entire game. A granary that also provides culture is simply broken from a design standpoint. Huayna the AI comes off as less formidable though; he has gold and production flavors, and likes to construct wonders (8/10 rating). Everything else is average across the board, right in the middle of the rating system. Predicting Huayna's performance is a bit tricky. He has the best economic setup amongst this group by far, but he needs to be alive to take advantage of it. With this collection of sociopaths, that's an open question.


Montezuma

If you've played Civ4 for any length of time, then you probably already know that Montezuma AI is completely and utterly insane. He's like a rabid dog let loose in the streets to cause as much trouble as possible before being put down. Montezuma has Aggressive and Spiritual traits, a pair that often seems to work well for the AI. His Aztec civilization has the Jaguar Warrior and the Sacrificial Altar, neither of which comes off as overly scary. It's not the traits or the civ that makes Montezuma dangerous - it's the man himself. Monty the AI has polarizing numbers all over the place. His flavors are military and religious, and along with the Mysticism starting tech of the Aztecs, this usually causes Montezuma to found his own religion and defend it to the death. Monty has a 0/10 rating for wonders - he won't waste time building them. Instead, he'll concentrate on training units (8/10), demanding tribute (10/10), and fighting wars of conquest. Montezuma's aggression rating sits at a perfect 10/10: he is the leader most likely to declare war in the entire game. With Monty around, life is always an adventure. Sure, he often falls behind technologically and gets dogpiled, but it's never a dull game with Montezuma in the field. Be afraid, be very afraid.


Shaka Zulu

Oh yeah, Shaka's in this game too. Because Genghis Khan and Montezuma weren't enough. As I said at the top, that's 3 of the top 4 aggressive leaders in this game, missing only Ragnar for the full set. Shaka has Aggressive and Expansive traits, a pairing that's caused him to see occasional use in some of our Pitboss games. Shaka's Zulu civ is often seen as one of the best in the game, packaging the fast-moving Impi along with the Ikhanda for a unique building. It's a shame that the AI doesn't know how to use these effectively, as Shaka was a universal ban on the Multiplayer ladder back in the days of the Warlords expansion. Shaka AI looks much like Temujin AI and Montezuma AI, with only a single flavor: MILITARY. He has a rating of 10/10 for unit emphasis, and an aggression rating of 9.2 out of 10, good enough for fourth place in the entire game. Like Temujin and Montezuma, he also has Police State as his favorite civic. If any of these leaders build or capture the Pyramids, they'll choose that civic for the rest of the game. Shaka's only real difference is that he doesn't make much in the way of demands. These guys are all totally nuts, and should be a sight to watch.


Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull is wildly out of place in this group of leaders, as a mostly peaceful figure who generally wants to be left alone. He has Philosophical and Protective traits, that second one again being the reason why we never see Sitting Bull played in Multiplayer stuff. The Native American civ has the Dog Soldier and Totem Pole unique items, neither of which has ever impressed me very much. Then again, given the AI's love of archers, Sitting Bull AI might get something out of his Protective + totem pole combination. As an AI, Sitting Bull has military and growth flavors. He's odd in the sense that his aggression rating is well below average (4.3 out of 10), but Sitting Bull trains a lot of units and tends to go after military techs. He doesn't start wars, but at the same time he doesn't like to be conquered. The other odd feature of Sitting Bull AI is his love of espionage spending and tribute demands, both of which he does all the time. I expect Sitting Bull to lose to one of our highly aggressive leaders, but to put up a good fight before he goes down.


Suleiman

Suleiman is the other Ottoman leader that no one ever plays because Mehmed's traits are so much better. Suleiman gets Imperialistic and Philosophical traits, a far cry from the Expansive and Organized pair of Mehmed. They share the Janissary and Hamman unique stuff by virtue of having the same Ottoman civ. Suleiman AI has culture and military flavors. Yes, that means 6 out of the 7 leaders here have military as one of their two flavors (and it's the only flavor for Temujin and Montzeuma). Suleiman is otherwise fairly average across the board, with middle of the road numbers in virtually every category. His aggression rating is slightly above average at 7/10, and that's about it. Suleiman seems destined to be overshadowed by the larger AI personalities in this game.

The net result is an unpredictable group of despots determined to take over the world at any cost. If any game is going to end by Domination, this would seem to be the one. Most of these leaders can plot war at "Pleased" rating, and they don't much like anyone other than themselves. The wars should come fast and furious, and they're unlikely to stop. Someone is going to reach the promised land, but only at the cost of climbing over piles of bodies to get there. Who can be the most ruthless and survive this brutal battle to the finish?

Screenshot of starting positions, spoilered for size:

Here is our current bracket:



Everyone has two days again to submit their predictions. I'll post the game results on Wednesday evening. Good luck to everyone.

[Dantski]

Winner: Huayna Capac
Runner Up: Montezuma
First to Die: Sitting Bull
Number of Civs Surviving: 3
Victory Type: Diplomatic
Victory Date: T331

[Gavagai]

Winner: Shaka
Runner Up: Huayna Capac
First to Die: Genghis Khan
Number of Civs Surviving: 3
Victory Type: Domination
Victory Date: T300

[Bobchillingworth]

Oh man, what an incredibly brutal field That game would be suicide to attempt in SP.


Winner: Shaka
Runner Up: Huyana
First to Die: Suleman
Number of Civs Surviving: 3
Victory Type and Victory Date: Domination, T330