Matrix Games Forums

I like to play 'Civ' style - No Roads, One City, Stone Age. But I suspect that the AI is handicapped by the 'no roads' setting. They never seem to have roads up to the front and have their front lines slowly fade away due to supply issues.

I know AI is difficult to code in complex games like this, but I'm hoping someone might have a Mod or fix for this issue.

In my games the AI builds roads. It is stupid but it definitely builds (some) roads.

Definitely an AI issue. Sometimes the AI does build roads, even destroys bridges when I'm closing in. In other random games ( I play the same "Civ" style as you do) it does have problems when the map has too much rivers/jungle/rough terrain. Troops too far from the AI hometown get starved. I must say though that in my latest random AI+ game this issue has saved my butt sofar [:D] I'm facing hordes and hordes of Inf, even Inf guns II, no way I would be able to stop these *if* they had a sound supply route / phew. I have to add that in my first 20 turns or so I had no access too Raw or Oil, so I had to set my city to producing Raw instead... enabling my engineers to build at least some roads, not a good thing to start with.

ORIGINAL: Josh

I must say though that in my latest random AI+ game this issue has saved my butt sofar [:D] I'm facing hordes and hordes of Inf, even Inf guns II, no way I would be able to stop these *if* they had a sound supply route / phew.

heh, yeah - I just bumped up to AI+ and that's how I really noticed it. I should have gotten creamed at one front and instead he slowly just faded away.

I have to add that in my first 20 turns or so I had no access too Raw or Oil, so I had to set my city to producing Raw instead... enabling my engineers to build at least some roads, not a good thing to start with.

I hate those starts. Do you play versus 2+ AI so 'mirror' start is not an option? That's one of the reasons I stopped playing against more than one AI for awhile. Shaky uneven starts. Seems like a 'mirror' for a 4 Nation game wouldn't be too hard to make, but I'm not a coder

Uh yeah, 5 AI's, some AI+, I like a challenge LOL.
Although I have to say that once (and that can take a while) I've got a decent force there's not much stopping me from my goal. And that is take over the world, err, I mean Victory Points.
 

 
Ofcourse, that force tends to end up somewhere in say "Africa", while another huge AI force pops up in say "Russia"... then it's back to the drawing table hehehe. 

I've been using 4+ AI without the Map Loop so we each get a corner to start in. Quick question - Is there a way to change the starting Nations?

No, not that I'm aware of. [:(] 
It would certainly be nice to be able to do so though.

Speaking of Challenging Starts....ouch.

XX Large, Normal World, 8 Players, the 7 AI are +.

Hey you're playing the UK, you rule the waves, you can't lose.
Seriously though, there have been many random games where I thought... "Oh I can't possibly win this", but in the end, after a very long and hard struggle, I did win in the end. Most satisfying I say. So set your city to producing some Ore (very inefficient I know but you have no choice here), then produce some cargoships and engineers, and off you go exploring the wide world. Oh, just one cargoship is needed for recon and transporting an engineer unit. Make several cargoships, say 6-8 or so, so they can sail into every winddirection, one cargoship in each unit.
By the way, randomgame starts like your's used to be common, not so with the latest patches... haven't seen this one in quite some time.