Crushing Freeciv AI is pretty easy, at least in 2.5 - 2.6 and the style of play I prefer (big maps, slow research, lots of nations).
How I play usually:
- Explore island/continent I'm on right away, and either assimilate any AI nations on it, or set up defenses on a chokepoint with mountains/hills/forest so I have ample room to expand through early game.
-Build at least two defensive troops on every city + some on good defensive points. Also build few attackers spread out and ready to be deployed, if there's suspectible threat around.
-Research for trireme (if room to expand is limited), or/then Monarchy as fast as possible.
-Never cease to expand, there's always settlers going out if there's a room to go.
-After Monarchy, get Knights, and use them with catapults (or Dragoons/cannons) to invade couple of cities quickly and get the war on enemy territory, if there's war.
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AI really suck with boats. They never ferry big invasion troops across water, so once you get the land routes secure, you're pretty safe. Not even Pirates and Barbarians bother you, if you keep ample defenders in cities.
AI does expand their settlers over water, but they don't put high preference for researching Map Making, so that slows them down a lot, when room to expand is limited. Similarly, they don't seem to care how much sticking with Despotism hurts their growth, so they don't put high value on researching Monarcy or Republic. Or target research for specific units, like Pikemen, if they're getting crushed by Knights.
Another issue is that AI always sticks with what they consider "best" defender based on cost/value. When it would be tactically better to have a garrisons of varied defenders (like archer, legion, pikemen or chariot, phalanx, phalanx etc..) to counter different strategies.
I'd like to hear these issues that make AI fumble are still relevant in 3.x? I'd hope it would be bit smarter, or there would be improvements coming?
How I play usually:
- Explore island/continent I'm on right away, and either assimilate any AI nations on it, or set up defenses on a chokepoint with mountains/hills/forest so I have ample room to expand through early game.
-Build at least two defensive troops on every city + some on good defensive points. Also build few attackers spread out and ready to be deployed, if there's suspectible threat around.
-Research for trireme (if room to expand is limited), or/then Monarchy as fast as possible.
-Never cease to expand, there's always settlers going out if there's a room to go.
-After Monarchy, get Knights, and use them with catapults (or Dragoons/cannons) to invade couple of cities quickly and get the war on enemy territory, if there's war.
-------
AI really suck with boats. They never ferry big invasion troops across water, so once you get the land routes secure, you're pretty safe. Not even Pirates and Barbarians bother you, if you keep ample defenders in cities.
AI does expand their settlers over water, but they don't put high preference for researching Map Making, so that slows them down a lot, when room to expand is limited. Similarly, they don't seem to care how much sticking with Despotism hurts their growth, so they don't put high value on researching Monarcy or Republic. Or target research for specific units, like Pikemen, if they're getting crushed by Knights.
Another issue is that AI always sticks with what they consider "best" defender based on cost/value. When it would be tactically better to have a garrisons of varied defenders (like archer, legion, pikemen or chariot, phalanx, phalanx etc..) to counter different strategies.
I'd like to hear these issues that make AI fumble are still relevant in 3.x? I'd hope it would be bit smarter, or there would be improvements coming?
Statistics: Posted by Jacew — Wed Aug 21, 2024 6:29 pm