Adv2: Sareln's Report

[Sareln]

My Build Order was Scout -> Scout -> Rush Buy Slinger with the warrior and scouts staying local.

I was eliminated by a 4 warrior rush from Germany on T24.

Pictures will go up later in the day.

[Sareln]

Some assist from northern barbs caused me to have damaged units out of place when the warriors showed up.

[Kylearan]

Haha, that's rough! But I actually like that you have to be careful and expect a potential early rush from the AI; keeps you from too easily going for a farmer's gambit every time.

[Athmos]

Oh yes, the first time you get surprised by the AI rush in higher difficulty is quite something :-). Above emperor level, It is very rare not to be declared war upon in the first 50 turns at most, in my experience anyway. It's a good idea to grab a few super cheap slinger and make sure you can get to archery fast if you need it, enough that I nearly always start with a slinger (a scout is the most interesting alternative IMO)
I think this is the first civ game where I'm always starting by building a unit (and usually more than one)

[Sullla]

Haha, my map claimed at least one victim!

More seriously though, that's a tough break. The AI definitely has a fondness for early rushes in Civ6, followed by inactivity in the late game - which is exactly the wrong setup. They should be programmed to give the player a grace period in the early turns, then pursue their victory agenda more aggressively in the later portions of the game. Those stupid warmongering era penalties have the AI creating some silly and rather unfair emergent behavior. I'm hoping this will be changed in time.

I've stopped building scouts in my recent games because they aren't useful as combat units, and I find that I need some kind of combat unit on hand in case the AI does decide to rush. (Or if the barbarians get too crazy; I had an Immortal game on stream where over a dozen of them attacked my capital in the first 25 turns. Not kidding.) I'm sorry that the double scout build order was countered by the AI equivalent of a zergling rush. Thanks for reporting though - it's always tough reporting a loss but it definitely helps the whole community learn more about a new game.

[MJW (ya that one)]

I find it amusing that the "Civ4 excel" has a 'Sareln rushed' component and you got rushed.

[Sareln]

I find it amusing that the "Civ4 excel" has a 'Sareln rushed' component and you got rushed.

Well, if you walk through a field and encounter a pile of stones balanced perfectly one atop the other, surely there must be a reason for them to be there yes? 

[T-hawk]

The AI definitely has a fondness for early rushes in Civ6, followed by inactivity in the late game - which is exactly the wrong setup. They should be programmed to give the player a grace period in the early turns, then pursue their victory agenda more aggressively in the later portions of the game.

But that's got its own problems.  You just described Civ 4.  Where everyone complains when the AI declares unwinnable wars in the later game that just consume time and attention from the player to no real impact.

The AI is doing the right thing for itself in Civ 6 if it's attacking the player early enough while it actually has a chance to win that war.  If it gives the player a grace period, it will have no chance later.

Yeah, we're running into the eternal argument of single-player AIs playing a role vs seeking to win.  Nobody's solved that yet.

[Athmos]

I think I like the early wars somehow. I get a sense of overcoming difficulties. Of course when you know it's coming, you can defend yourself and usually even make significant gains, but you still have to divert resources, handle your logistics, consider the risks of pinkdoting, etc...

[pindicator]

I don't know if I like the early wars as much as they're put on you by civ 6. It feels that with the increasing settler costs and how warmongering penalties are set up that rushing a neighbor is the one right move for quick expansion. I like that you have to build military early on, but it just seems like the pendulum has swung too far too the war side in this game.