Does the game get stale without AI and pirates?

[AJYXQ]

You can't really go wrong in any way without any AI.
-Can't lose ships
-Don't need to fight for space and Islands
-Don't need to sink anything into military
-No urgent need to expand at a fast pace, micro-manage ships and re-buy shares
As long as needs are taken care of with respective services (Hospital, Police/Fire), you could probably go out for the day and your city will be fine when you come back with a ton of money.

I've played a few games without any AI and find after 25-35h or so, I have to start a new game because I become bored. 1* AI doesn't offer any challenge either as they wait on you to expand and pose no threat at all. They just seem to take up space and offer a few quests for early game money,

Do you play with or without AI?

[Tankfriend]

Both. There's one "peaceful" savegame without AI (but with pirates) where I can keep working on the Crown Falls of my dreams, and other games with varying degrees of AI for the more competitive game.

Imho, it's worth trying out both, because the way you play the game is different between the two.

[Silver Dragon]

You can have both with the A I shipyard mod, start by yourself than you can build an A I ship for the A I to join the game

[Chaosium]

I always play without AI so I can entirely focus on big endeavors like Crown falls without being bothered every 5 seconds

[Ranayna]

I have played with at most one AI almost from the beginning.
After falling into the default campaign trap with Beryl, i learned quickly that the AI is at best annoying.
I am not playing Anno for the combat. The AI cheats, so it is no true competition. It's just clutter, and maybe a source for a couple of items.
So i am playing without, at my own, slow, pace.

I am currently also running a game without pirates. Getting traderights with the pirates is trivially easy, if a bit time comsuming. And yes, up to the early midgame, the pirates are good tradepartners. Selling excess beer is way better than selling soap to Eli.
But once you hit investors, that becomes less and less important, and the pirates start to just clutter up the map. Then they get eliminated.
Playing without them actually makes early game a bit more difficult for me. But without AI opponents, the items i'm missing don't matter.

[Natsu Dragneel]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από AJYXQ:

You can't really go wrong in any way without any AI.
-Can't lose ships
-Don't need to fight for space and Islands
-Don't need to sink anything into military
-No urgent need to expand at a fast pace, micro-manage ships and re-buy shares
As long as needs are taken care of with respective services (Hospital, Police/Fire), you could probably go out for the day and your city will be fine when you come back with a ton of money.

I've played a few games without any AI and find after 25-35h or so, I have to start a new game because I become bored. 1* AI doesn't offer any challenge either as they wait on you to expand and pose no threat at all. They just seem to take up space and offer a few quests for early game money,

Do you play with or without AI?

And that's why this game is made for multiplayer mode too
Multiplayer mode is where actual fun begins ... but you gotta find
bunch of people who play that.. and me & my friends play multiplayer
if you wanna join us add me and I will add you to our discord too !!

[ElPrezCBF]

As others have said, the AI "cheats" since it doesn't play by the same rules. But 1 star AIs are good for early game money from their quests and even free money if they like you. Don't underestimate their value. I tried playing without AIs and the early game slowed to a crawl because there's no quick income from the AI and NPC quests don't appear frequently enough to make fast expansion practical due to very slow income boosts.

AI players also keep the pirates busy despite having frequent ceasefires, which means there's less pressure to defend trade routes against pirates unless you spawn next to a hideout. Sure, you can remove pirates, but that would make all naval ships and escorts pointless. Ultimately though, it comes down to personal preference imo. Do you like a very slow but completely peaceful game? Or enjoy defending trade routes and get lucky loot from sunk pirate ships occasionally?

[Gregomoto]

I usually start with 3 AI and kill them until endgame.

[Whispdragoon62]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Ranayna:

I have played with at most one AI almost from the beginning.
After falling into the default campaign trap with Beryl, i learned quickly that the AI is at best annoying.
I am not playing Anno for the combat. The AI cheats, so it is no true competition. It's just clutter, and maybe a source for a couple of items.
So i am playing without, at my own, slow, pace.

I am currently also running a game without pirates. Getting traderights with the pirates is trivially easy, if a bit time comsuming. And yes, up to the early midgame, the pirates are good tradepartners. Selling excess beer is way better than selling soap to Eli.
But once you hit investors, that becomes less and less important, and the pirates start to just clutter up the map. Then they get eliminated.
Playing without them actually makes early game a bit more difficult for me. But without AI opponents, the items i'm missing don't matter.

Yea I just miss the taglines. You'll always be a goody goody. I'd rather kiss a monkeys dungbie than play with AI in my game.

The pirates can't sell anything back to you so I don't like selling to pirates. They have good military items for sale, like certain pirate specialists for sale are useful but overall you don't need them.

I *know* its better to play without the pirates but I really miss buying the pirate ships and pirate specialists. Pirate frigates are amazing in terms of speed/firepower in a group.

[dan0812]

I killed off the AI and found the game felt lifeless. It also seemed too easy having every island free with every resource.