The AI Cheats

[Mr. Bubbles]

I fought an enemy AI, lost the battle but reduced him down to two units. I engage him again the VERY NEXT TURN, and he suddenly has 5 units, up from the two he had AT THE END OF THE LAST TURN.

I take an enemy city, I have to wait 5 turns to absorb it and make use of it's facilities.
Enemy AI takes a city, THEY IMMEDIATLY HAVE CONTROL OVER IT.

The AI in this game cheats, and the idea that this game could be in any way considered good when THAT is how their difficulty is modified, is ridiculous.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Yes, the AI cheats. They get bonus income, bonus happiness, etc. The higher the difficulty, the more cheats. This is true in virtually every 4X strategy game ever devised.

No, the AI does not get free units. (Except in one of the expansion campaigns. And it starts with a few extra units in random maps on the highest difficulties.)

No, the AI does not get immediate control over cities. They have to absorb them just like you do.

So. Something else happened.

AoW3 is a very complex game with a LOT of different rules and abilities. It's quite likely you'll get blind-sided by any of a dozen things you did not know existed. Chances are this was one of them.

From the top of my head: quite possibly the AI ALWAYS had those 5 units, but 3 of them were invisible. What were the 3 extra units they had?

Edit: Or he just moved those extra units in when they were not in sight. If you lost the city, you probably also lost vision and the extra units might just have walked up to the city.

You can test this quite easily: load the auto-save at the end of the previous turn and use cheats to lift the fog of war. See if you can spot the extra units lurking about. Or use the free movement cheat to attack immediately. I bet those extra units were around somewhere.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Ai cheats in age of wonders 3:
Lord 100 to happiness.
Extra income.
King: 200 to happiness.
Extra income.
Emperor 300 to happiness.
Extra income.

Necromancer ai units auto heal when not in line of sight.

The ai probley used its extra cash to rush several units and buildings.
As for instant capture.
I believe that is a great gaurd ability.
Or meaby it is the same spieces?
Its been awhile.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

The Grey Guard spec has an ability that lets you absorb a city twice as fast. There is also an ability that lets you migrate a city in a single turn. (Expander spec.)

Neither let you use the city on the turn you conquer it. 1 turn is the minimum.

The only exception is if a city is rebelling and asks to join another empire, or if a city was previously owned by you and has not been absorbed yet. (A city conquered by neutrals can be liberated and immediately controlled even after quite a long time.)

The rebellion thing happens most often if the Keeper of the Peace is involved with the "rally the populace" spell. That is a great way to speed up your conquest.