AI Improvement options (2022)

Hi everyone,
As a regular player in cooperation with friends against expert AI, espacially treaty, I am very pleased of the numerous improvement (and love) the AI get from patches to patches since launch of the DE.

I can’t wait to see what are in the scope of dev on this topic in patch to come.

However, I think there is some improvements that sounds in mind pretty obvious that could be adressed.

Here are some ideas :

  1. Deck building link to game settings
    I have low knowlegde of how AI build the deck, but I see by experiment that only maps and teams compositions can adjust very slightly the deck.
    The map might affect ressources crates card, taking account if it’s a water map or not, and if the AI have mates he will add some teams cards to the mix. And…that’s it.
    Those deck making were improved, as before DE I’m not even sure they have factories and advanced arsenal, but it is far from being “good decks” from a human perspective.
    That make, more or less, this kind of deck (example with French) :

If it’s more or less relevant for a standard game with standard settings, it’s totally irrelevant for Treaty game for example, or with infinite ressources, handicap, or deathmatch.
I know that the February patch have to fix a “too much units” cards in deck that was introduce to last patch, but the problem is still the same : no deck variety, only based on standard games.

Having AI having more deck flexibility, based on settings as a barely minimum, instead of seeing with almost no exception the same deck per civ for every AI, with the same mindset of full crates and units.

  1. Canon spam in long games.
    If I feel like AI is a bit less “brainless” on army composition, and stop spam mounted artillery like before DE, the AI is still too prompt spam artillery against infantry compositions.
    It’s always fun to fight civ with no artillery (Aztec, Lakota…), all other civ tend to be very predictable in this regard.
    AI should have a kind an hidden cap of artillery building to avoid those mass artillery composition, and use other counter.

  2. Some weird behaviors
    I guess it’s still in progress because it’s linked to recent change, but there is still weird army movement from AI, who totally go pass some ennemy armies without fighting (to go back to base for example or a specific attack).

AI is also becoming totally crazy when facing artillery : it tend to “suicide” themself for get ennemy artillery killed, not considering the number of it, even when it’s not a direct threat to they army composition.
If it’s a good thing on paper, it feel very forced and too systematic, so it’s easy to play with.

It’s almost the same with defensive building. If they are now less tunnel vision by those since Update 54545, they are still drive crazy by them.

That’s it for my perspective, feel free to add some improvements you would like to see, or saying which one you prefer.
If I had to take only one, it would be the deck flexibility of AI.

Making a comparison with the TAD AI, the DE AI has improved a lot, it takes in its decks cards of economic and military improvements, before it only took resources and units, it also took the advanced arsenal card but did not use its technologies.
It would be interesting if the AI obeyed a certain pattern to build their armies, something like 40% infantry, 40% cavalry and 20% artillery (of course these numbers can be variable).

Indeed, like I said, AI in TAD and DE is almost day and night ! It was totally boring before, I was using back in the day some mod who improved those AI, that could build walls and was very challenging ! (The N3O Patch if I remember correctly)

Now a lot of improvement are official in DE for the better !
You are right, it finally take some eco and military improvements (I guess I choose the worst patch to study that in this regard), but it is still very oriented for only one standard game setup, ignoring totally all other game settings that supposed to change drastically any deck.