I play against the Hardest AI and its performance is super inconsistent and only seems to be getting worse. One game it will be entirely passive and play terribly, to the point that I’ll be in Imperial age with a maxed out population while it’s in Age 2 and only has a few units. Then the next game against the same civilization on the same map type I get rushed by an enormous army when I’ve barely made it to Age 2 and I don’t stand a chance. Please, I know the main focus is competitive multiplayer but I’d wager we’re many who play for the sake of coop against the AI as well. I know my friends and I do and this is highly frustrating.
On another note, in the AI’s description it also says that it has “many strategies” but from what I can tell it always builds the same army composition over and over.
Yeah, the hardest AI is really inconsistent.
On some maps it struggles more than on others.
When the AI is close to your base it will usually not develop that well and instead try some age 1 spear attacks and delay the age up forever.
But sometimes it plays a little smarter and attacks your weak spots and retreats. They tend to attack your supply troops between your army and your base, while also building towers or castles there which can be quite challenging.
It usually gets more aggressive when you go for sacred sites, my delhi games are more stressful compared to other civs.
Its use of villagers is often hit or miss. Sometimes it steals my ressources right in front of my base and it really really likes to go for several mining camps.
I feel like the developers don’t test it all that often or the person(s) testing it doesn’t have that much influence/time.
Oh - and hiding most of their army close to their main towncenter seems to be super popular with the AI - avoiding fights in the outskirts of their base.
This probably refers to boom/rush/turtle, which is why one game it feels like you’re getting a lot of pressure and the next it feels like they just sit in their base all game.
Sounds like they implemented it poorly, though, or failed to address quirks with lower difficulties. Shame they don’t let us read and edit their AI script like all the other Age games do.
Testing AI does take a very long time, though that shouldn’t be an excuse especially when you get tons of feedback from players to help you with it.
Even on the same map one game can be easy and the next completely impossible, it’s really broken. And yes it seems to prefer to just sit around its TC unless it’s going for sacred sites.
What I don’t understand is, the AI of the other AoE games is far more consistent so why is the one in 4 so broken?