The AI cheats.

[Kryblade]

It's safe to say that the AI recieves some kind of Energy bonus on NORMAL!

The AI recieves some sort of early game energy bonus.

This needs to stop.

[Sinsling]

they get bonus eco on every difficulty except very easy.

they have maphacks on all difficulties.

[K'senia]

Um... That is only the way the AI can be competitive. Just keep trying and you will get better. Most wars same as in real life are won through attrition. For all the extra resources the AI gets initially, it wastes most of them building replacement units that it loses in nearly every battle it fights.

[Kryblade]

Wow. This suxs.

It makes certain playstyles impossible because of the AI early game rushing ruining everything.

[Darkfireslide]

Dude on my first game on normal I am thrashing a Normal AI. You need to expand more, and quicker, and build more units. It's really that simple. It doesn't matter how much the AI cheats if you have more cities and units than them

[blackhand_lost]

If by certain playstyles you mean doing nothing,that's not the way to play a strategy game, Krybaby. Each turn should be filled with meaning, just like in real life

[sandman25dcsss]

Yes, One City Challenge is impossible (without mods) and it is great.

[Prometheus]

This game is all about the combat. Don't try play it like Civ.

[Kryblade]

i know how to play the game. I’m just trying to figure out if “cheating” is built into the AI script or not.

After testing this several times the AI clearly gets an Energy bonus.

I just wish the devs were clear on what they get like on Civ they tell you the handicaps & bonuses.

[Sinsling]

It's a flat bonus on all global resources and map vision. So energy, tech, cosmite and influence.

[Kryblade]

Originally posted by Sinsling:

It's a flat bonus on all global resources and map vision. So energy, tech, cosmite and influence.

Does anyone have the numbers?

[Sinsling]

Well, I dont. I just know they are silly on very hard and still dont save the ai. I think it was brought up in a previous thread but I dont remember where to find it.

[Minionslayer [Tibbles]]

https://imgur.com/a/HIPqtsG
here you go, it's using the old names for the ai so squire to emperor.
Bottom line is how many more cities than the player it's allowed to have.

From StrategicAI.rpk

[Kryblade]

Originally posted by Minionslayer Tibbles:

https://imgur.com/a/HIPqtsG
here you go, it's using the old names for the ai so squire to emperor.
Bottom line is how many more cities than the player it's allowed to have.

From StrategicAI.rpk

Thanks! 👍🏿

[sandman25dcsss]

I stay corrected then. OCC is possible and even easy except on last difficulty level.

[CrUsHeR]

The AI always gets a resource bonus in these types of games. It's probably been like that since the 1990's, any kind of strategy with resource production = AI cheat.

In this game it is probably more prominent, because of how the battles work. Ever used auto-resolve in a "safe battle", only to find out that the AI loses 2 of 6 units? And then you play it yourself, walk out with 100% health and not even tactical ops used?

Well the AI is playing against itself - so whatever advantage you have as a human player because you can learn its weaknesses and try different tactics, is also the disadvantage of AI players. It uses the same risky or useless maneuvers all the time, losing lots of units just when clearing marauder camps.
Same reason why the AI wars are often a stalemate for dozens of turns, either they lose about equal amounts of units, or they sit around for decades because it doesn't attack army stacks of equal strength.

And despite the bonuses, the AI is also bad at managing the resources it has. Usually the AI can't even afford the energy costs of tactical ops, because it spends everything on more units. Same with cosmite, because it builds everything with as many mods as possible, it stops building new colonizers at some point. You may see large/enormous maps at turn ~100 where entire continents are still mostly unclaimed.