AI very passive?

[StormRangerX]

I'm playing in a sandbox game now and bumped up the AI to be stronger opponents, but they're not really doing anything? Every now and then they settle a new island but I've had no shortage of options for settling my own islands. I guess I'm making too much money for them to be trying to buy out my shares and I'm edging in on a lot of their shares myself. I've not even really been able to do much diplomacy with them as they don't even want trade agreements, though no one has declared war on me either despite me not investing anything into naval power. They're just very passively expanding their own islands, even a fair bit faster than I am, so I'm a bit confused why they don't really seem to be doing anything. Not even the pirates are being particularly pro-active, I've sent my flagship around sinking random gunboats and they don't pose any particular threat.

[Whispdragoon62]

Yea just wait until they randomly declare war due to low military score. It always comes down to paying them or fighting them.

Avoiding war is the best strategy. IE no alliances.

[StormRangerX]

I guess, I'm already nearly getting into engineers and the AI still hasn't really done anything.

[Gregomoto]

What AI opponents have you selected?

[StormRangerX]

Artur, Beryl, and George.

[Frequens]

Originally posted by StormRangerX:

Artur, Beryl, and George.

yeah those guys are rather passive indeed. George is an easy opponent and the other two are moderate, i.e. they are supposed to keep up with you without overwhelming you too much. Gasparov can freak out from time to time and even declare war on you irrationally but is not much of a threat.

If you're looking for a tougher challenge try Silva, von Malching, and Maragaret Hunt. If you manage to rack up a robust economy and a solid enough military within your first hour and a half in the game you should be fine. The three will constantly wage war against each other, with islands frequently changing ownership and ships sinking by the thousands, meaning the game world will feel much more alive and there will be plenty of useful items dropping as flotsam you can pick up.

Margaret and Silva are hard opponents and are totally out of whack regarding their rampant cheating, so make sure your most valuable possessions are well defended. Von Malching also expands rather quickly so try to secure some good islands for yourself (mixed fertilities and mines) early on. Once your position is entrenched well enough you can focus on protecting your trade routes should they declare war on you. Otherwise just enjoy the show, they will be busy with each other most of the time.

[StormRangerX]

Interesting.

[Whispdragoon62]

George always declares war on me because I open too many mines :(

I think Von Malching is more passive than George. He just likes money.

[Gregomoto]

Originally posted by StormRangerX:

Artur, Beryl, and George.

Like other already wrote these are „medium“ opponents. If you want more challenge go for the hard ones (Silva, Graves, Hunt).
Hint: via AI Shipyard mod (incl. in ingame modbrowser) you can also add them in an existing game (f.e. kill one of your AI‘s and „order“ a hard AI instead).