AI now commonly uses transport ships on skirmish water maps

[James3157]

I noticed this but only recently that the AI now commonly uses transport ships for sending not only military, but also villagers as well on water map skirmishes. My only disappointment at least on hard difficulty is the AI does not really seem to make enough cannon galleons, lou chuons, and dromons on water map skirmishes. They might make a few of them on hard difficulty, but that is it. And so my point is that I seem to be having more fun with skirmish water maps than previously, because the AI no longer stays stuck on some island where they were originally forced to heavily rely upon water instead of land.

[James3157]

I am just mentioning this because I am assuming other people will eventually notice this as well on water maps. I normally do not really enjoy water map skirmishes until recently which I am assuming it has at least partially something to do with the 20 carrying capacity for every civ starting from Feudal Age. This also means my allies on team games will not just sit there and do nothing to help me besides just making ships.

I tested this out twice on two different water maps where the land is not connected by shallows (which are hybrid maps) and I noticed on both games me having an ally eventually sending villagers and military across the water. On my second water map skirmish with team games on hard difficulty (2v4, but my first opponent I took out early because we were on the same island) I noticed that my enemies were also trying invade my island with villagers and military, but even though I won that skirmish I overall had fun with it. However, I did restart from a previous save at one point with the second water map skirmish, because I did not have a strong enough military on land to remove the threat from my big island.

[James3157]

The two water maps I am referring to are Isthmus and River Divide. River Divide is a water map, but sometimes it might have more than one civ on an island between the rivers. However, even though the transport ships are used the AI is not smart enough to collect relics from the shallow parts (but not connected to mainland) of the river. Isthmus is a water/hybrid map. I was playing 3v3, but myself (Koreans) and one of my allies (Byzantines) were not connected to the mainland at the start of game. If you can get relics or perhaps all of them before your opponent Isthmus gets easier especially towards late game, but it also has what appears to be sand that is actually water.

[ConantheContrarian]

I will have to test this. I am glad they fixed this if it is true. I wonder how much has changed playing vs AI on water then.

[James3157]

Originally posted by ConantheContrarian:

I will have to test this. I am glad they fixed this if it is true. I wonder how much has changed playing vs AI on water then.

Sometimes the AI will make cannon galleons, dromons, or lou chuans , but sometimes they do not. My only critism is that they do not seem to make enough of them after the update. My ally Wu for example on the 2v4 river divide map on hard difficulty never made any lou chuans despite them reaching the Imperial Age. I was playing as Khitans which despite me having an overall weak navy I still won.

[James3157]

I might be wrong, but I am under the overall impression that AI civs will sometimes make dromons and cannon galleons on water maps and hybrid maps, but for some strange reason and I do not know why is that civs with lou chuans never make those ships on skirmishes despite the fact they seem to be one of the best ships in the game right now.

[The Owlogram]

That probably won't help on team islands. The few times I did a big team game with a bunch of extreme AI I was alone in trying to land units early on so all my landings die out eventually, and when the AI tries to land in the late game it never lasts long because everyone has giants armies just out of reach of ships. I have to end these games with a wonder victory every time 11

[James3157]

Originally posted by The Owlogram:

That probably won't help on team islands. The few times I did a big team game with a bunch of extreme AI I was alone in trying to land units early on so all my landings die out eventually, and when the AI tries to land in the late game it never lasts long because everyone has giants armies just out of reach of ships. I have to end these games with a wonder victory every time 11

I have not played on hardest or extreme difficulty yet with team games if I remember correctly on water maps and hybrid maps from one of the more recent updates. Team islands is probably harder than other water maps as well. An island map for example where each civ gets their own island on a team game is probably easier and more fun than a team island map where every civ on the same team starts on the same island.

Overall I enjoyed playing Isthmus and River Divide maps, but how much someone can enjoy playing on a water or hybrid map depends on how it is designed even with the AI now commonly using transport ships. Important to keep in mind as well that I won on 2v4 with river divide map on hard difficulty without having to build a wonder, but I did restart the game once from a previous save because I had an opponent that landed and I was unable to remove the threat because they devastated my economy and kept on spamming transport ships to my island. When I play that game a second time from a previous save my ally eventually landed on my big island by sending villagers and military over in addition to me winning the skirmish.

[cdcool]

It does now but I'm seeing some are only loading one unit

[James3157]

Originally posted by cdcool:

It does now but I'm seeing some are only loading one unit

I did not know that, but I have never played on a difficulty setting easier than hard on water maps since the recent update at least partially because I still think that AI are worse on water maps than land maps and hybrid maps, but at least they are smart enough now to use transport ships rather than stay stuck on some island and if I were to make an exception of playing on moderate instead of hard it would probably be only on team islands or if playing on 1v7 or 2v6. I did however notice that the AI will in fact make cannon galleons, but it depends on the civ, difficulty setting (such as for example playing on hardest or extreme difficulty instead of hard), and how the map is designed. Highland for example is a water hybrid map meaning that the AI is smart enough to know that they do not need to make transport ships because of shallows connecting to the mainland, but apparently they will make dromons and cannon galleons at least on hardest difficulty. My only criticism towards the AI at least on water maps as opposed to hybrid maps on hard difficulty is that the Chinese civs with lou chuons will never make those ships despite the fact they are one of the best ships in this game right now.