(P)REVIEWS - Civilization IV Preview by Solver
Know Thy Enemy...
And that enemy is CivIV's Artifical Intelligence (AI). I could actually talk forever about the AI, but this preview is already long enough, and your eyes must be bleeding. So, let's get straight to the point.
The AI in CivIV is significantly better than its predecessors… period. It is a more intelligent AI which chooses its actions much more carefully and generally achieves a better result for itself with it. Be forewarned that my explanations here cannot give you a fair idea of how the AI plays - for that, you need to actually play several games.
Overall, it is important to say that in CivIV the AI is closely tied in to the new diplomatic system. The AI does react according to the diplomatic situation in the world. The simplest examples are that it will not declare war on a best friend and trading partner, or that it will be unlikely for the AI to declare on a small civilization that has a Defensive Pact with a huge one. The AI's decision making is much improved by that alone.
The CivIV AI does a very fair job at managing the empires that it controls. It develops infrastructure properly, improves its land, and uses specialists to get Great People. The AI also builds an army of a formidable size and is able to use it well. In fact, I am very happy to state that the AI handles every concept in the game from civics to religions, promotions, diplomacy, resource trades et cetera quite well.
Military wise, gone are the days when you could park two strong units in good defensive terrain and watch the AI lose half its army in an attempt to wipe those two units out. The AI now has a fair threat assessment. If you have one unit in the middle of its land, it will be killed soon, but the AI will not go making suicide attacks to do that. If, however, you cross their border with a true invasion force, then the response will also be proper.
The AI can use unit tactics appropriately to deal with your incoming forces or other threats. In one of my games, I tried invading the AI CivIII style with a huge stack of units. By the time they reached an AI city, all units in my stack were significantly weakened because of the collateral damage done by the AI defensive siege weapons. And these weak units became easy pickings for the other AI defenders: I lost 15 units, the AI only 2.
Do not expect yourself to be able to conquer the AI cities just as you please. You will need to bring your siege weapons, you will need to use mixed arms, and you will need to make sure that you're using the advantages that particular terrain can provide you with.
The AI is not only a good defender, it is definitely able to mount fearsome invasions as well. You will not see the AI trying to take your heavily defended city with 2 units. If 2 units is all it has in your land, the AI will pillage instead. The AI is willing and able to wait for reinforcements, assemble a sizeable group and strike against your cities. It also knows how to use its promotions and siege weapons to make the task easier.
Also, don't expect the AI to fight all the time. In fact, you will probably see some AIs that don't fire a single shot in the whole game. What's more, these AIs are likely to be quite successful, even if they are going to have less land than some of the other civs in the game.
The AI in CivIV will raise a fair number of Great People, will not be easy to beat to Wonders and religions, and will be a much better adversary in diplomacy than ever before. Of course, the AI is not perfect, and no AI in a game can ever be as good as we would want it to be. Still, CivIV's AI is a big step ahead in that direction, and there is undoubtedly much fun to be had against this AI. Also keep in mind that when the Software Development Kit is released by Firaxis early next year, the community will be able to write custom AI modules to improve it to which I am very much looking forward.
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