Civ4 AI Survivor: Season Four

[Eauxps I. Fourgott]

What AIs did you pick for the game today? Did you make a 3rd and 4th place match?

It was a matchup between the eight leaders that were First to Die in the opening round, plus Monty just for fun. Fun game overall; thanks for it, Sullla!

[haphazard1]

Fun game overall; thanks for it, Sullla!

Seconded. That was an interesting game. A couple thoughts, spoilered for those who have not been able to watch the game yet:

I just do not understand Pacal. With his traits he really ought to do better, but his performance this season has been a disaster.

Montezuma was a fun addition to the First To Die Fiesta. For a while it looked like maybe he would actually manage to start a positive snowball from a successful early conquest. But his attack stalled out, and then his usual pattern of too much warring and not enough economy left him as easy pickings for more advanced civs. Someday perhaps Montezuma will put it all together and actually win one of these games. Perhaps.

[Eauxps I. Fourgott]

I feel like Pacal's overall a weaker leader than some of his past performances have suggested. He's made it to the championship twice, but he's been first two die in the other two tournaments, and he only had one really impressive game in those two seasons where he was successful (his Season 2 opening round game). In Season 3 especially he got lucky to survive to the wildcard game and then got two second-place finishes when the would-be second-placer did something stupid and got knocked down. At least in the context of Civ 4 Survivor, he really hasn't been all that good.

And while Mansa and Ramesses obviously dominated this game, Zara deserves special mention, finishing in a strong third place despite being so badly hamstrung by Monty and Pacal's attacks early on.

[Cyneheard]

IDK how to spoiler tag, so

[ spoiler ] and then [ / spoiler ] (remove the spaces)

So

This is a test

[Brian Shanahan]

IDK how to spoiler tag, so

SPOILER WARNING
SPOILER WARNING
SPOILER WARNING

I feel like Pacal's overall a weaker leader than some of his past performances have suggested. He's made it to the championship twice, but he's been first two die in the other two tournaments, and he only had one really impressive game in those two seasons where he was successful (his Season 2 opening round game). In Season 3 especially he got lucky to survive to the wildcard game and then got two second-place finishes when the would-be second-placer did something stupid and got knocked down. At least in the context of Civ 4 Survivor, he really hasn't been all that good.

And while Mansa and Ramesses obviously dominated this game, Zara deserves special mention, finishing in a strong third place despite being so badly hamstrung by Monty and Pacal's attacks early on.

The third last button on the right with what looks like three screens one in front of the next opens a mini menu the last option of which is the spoiler tag option. Or you can go the long winded route like Cyneheard suggested.

[Fluffball]

For the past couple years I've been doing mostly team games with the AI which gives me a great chance to observe them, and Pacal is just BAD. He expands well, his tech suggestions are subpar, and he doesn't build any military at all. I correct the tech and he expands well, so you'd think a dude with like 20 cities and rifles would war well, but he winds up just absolutely collapsing every time. Pacal is a travesty. He's honestly one of the worst AIs.

If I didn't help him he'd have no military and no military tech, which is his normal situation in AI Survivor.


Also bonus fact, I think Napoleon might actually be the best AI teammate. He turns his lands into an industrial wasteland and builds nothing but units. You could farmer's gambit the entire game and count on Napoleon to win multifront wars for you. The last game I played with him one of our oppoenents was forced to expand down 4 different peninsulas and Napoleon death stacked all 4 at the same time, including the one I was attacking. He actually raced ahead of my entire army while he was fighting a "4 front" war.

[Eauxps I. Fourgott]

Thanks Cyne and Brian!

[haphazard1]

For the past couple years I've been doing mostly team games with the AI which gives me a great chance to observe them

[...]

Also bonus fact, I think Napoleon might actually be the best AI teammate. He turns his lands into an industrial wasteland and builds nothing but units. You could farmer's gambit the entire game and count on Napoleon to win multifront wars for you.

Interesting insights on the AIs. I may have to try a few team games.

I think there are some differences in what makes a good AI team mate compared to a good AI Survivor AI. A good AI team mate will provide something your own play style is lacking. I tend to be too much of a builder, so a military-oriented AI like Napoleon would probably make a good team mate for me. I would provide most of the economy while the AI team mate would build the troops that I always mean to get around to but never seem to find the space in my build queues until someone attacks me. For someone with a more military-focused play style, an AI that could provide some economic power and research like Mansa Musa would probably make a good team mate. Or perhaps a culture and religion focused AI, to found and spread religion through your shared territory while the human player focuses on military.

For AI Survivor, it seems like the more balanced AIs usually do better. Going all in on a peaceful strategy sometimes wins big (Gandhi going for culture), but more often it leads to an early exit unless conditions and neighbors work out just right (Mansa's and Pacal's early exits in the opening round games this season when they were not given time to peacefully tech). And the all war strategy (Montezuma, Shaka) tends to result in a lagging economy and eventual elimination by a technologically superior rival.

Sullla has done analysis after the previous seasons with power rankings and civ traits. Maybe after this season finishes a fresh analysis can look at the expanded data for all four seasons, with info on research preferences as well. The AIs that have entirely peaceful research preferences just refuse to head for key military techs until they are so advanced that they no longer can avoid them, often dying as a result. It seems like having military tech preference plus one of the economic tech preferences (gold or production) may be critical. Hmmm, I need to check Sullla's web page and look through the data; been a while since I sliced and diced some data sets.

[Fluffball]

Interesting insights on the AIs. I may have to try a few team games.

I recommend lowering the difficulty past what you're used to. My go-to for team games is Monarch, although I have gotten used to AI allies I can probably comfortably up that.
When you're playing solo, you can "plot" by pre-building an army. But with AI allies, they build missionaries and grocers up till the turn after you declare war, which means you're going to be 1v2 or 3ing high difficulty level enemies until your allies can build an army. A lot of times I'll have to build 3 different armies to play zone defense across 3 empires and just wait for my allies to gear up. That's another reason AIs like Napoleon really shine in team games. Mansa is also a unit-building beast that almost always is ready to throw down, although playing with him as an ally tends to feel like cheating.
Anywho, a bit off-topic.

[Reverent]

Looks like Kublai Khan's so fed up with making the championships and promptly losing, he snuck himself a secret aluminum resource just off his coast! (Three tiles west of his capital's deer.) 

I glanced through the other screenshots and watched the video preview, but I didn't notice anything else amiss!