tried to learn, but the AI is sus

[Arcadian Del Sol]

every turn, every game, the AI is turning in endless resources for 6 and 7 VPs. The best I can ever muster is 2. what the heck.

[Benkyo]

What do you mean by "sus"? The AI is a decent opponent in this game, unlike many others. It does not cheat, just usually makes good decisions.

[Bou]

The AI is one of the best I have seen. That's probably because they select the 2x VP consume action. If 2 is the best you can muster then you do not know how to play the game yet.

[Farcast]

The game is deeper than it seems. Way deeper.
One of the key aspects, though, is learning to set your strategy in such a way that you will benefit from the opponent's actions, while said opponent gains as little as possible from yours.

If you don't do this, the opponent will crush you, because he/she/it will play basically at twice the speed.

[Isbjorn]

AI is not sus, but the hard AI is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ smart.

[space0pilot]

Does this have easy AI levels for newbies? Hate games where the AI just murders you because you really don't get the chance to learn - and it's not fun!

[greysphere]

There are 3 levels of AI. The hardest is... hard! But yeah there's Easy and Medium too.

[space0pilot]

Thanks. So are easy and medium like - "walkover every time" once you've played a couple of games, or ever a challenge?

[Halcyon]

My stepdad (age 66, never a board gamer before) picked up this game at my recommendation and it took him a while to really grasp how it works. He would usually lose to easy at first. Now he wins about 80% of games against easy and has a similar win rate against medium as his beginning rate against easy.

In comparison, as a more experienced and more 'game minded' player, I win about 90% against medium and about 50% against hard. Easy is a pushover.

I think the three levels are very distinct in the challenge they provide, so it's possible to 'climb the ranks' with practice, but the easy ai is not going to be a complete pushover at first.

[space0pilot]

Thanks Halcyon for a really useful and informative reply!

[thormond]

I'm playing on par with hard AI (~50% wr) but very often I must wonder if the AI is calculating its decisions after I've already locked in mine. Had plenty of moments when I've tried to bait the AI into pressing produce by going settle+consume or develop+consume but it never took the bait.