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[Pex]

I've been playing this game during the last few days and I have to say that I found it very interesting. I played it back in 90ies, but I didn't have the patch back then so the game would often crush (a couple of cases I remember were when there were a wraight or arch angel involved in the combat). It tended to be annoying especially if I forgot to save the game, so I believe I eventually gave up on playing it.

So far I finished the game at the lowest difficulty level and than the next one (easy?). In the first case it was absolutely no challenge, but in the second I actually had to load an older saved position and change a few things in order to pass that beginning stage when you are the most vulnerable. That happens to be a trait of the game at that level - you start really weak, but if you survive first 20 or so turns (and destroy the closest neighbour wizard in the process), you become soon invincible.

As for other observation, AI is decent but could've done with some improvements, both when it comes to the behaviour of enemy wizards and that of opponents during the tactical combat. In the case of wizards, they would sometimes attack me with much weaker force than mine to no obvious gain. Or they would leave me 'camping' next to their capital while I bring in enough reinfs to crush them instead of crushing the troops I have there first. As for tactical map, enemy is obviously programmed to go after missile troops first, which can be used agaist them by positioning your troops and casting a few chosen spells (earth to mud for example). I wonder if AI improves with the difficulty level, or is it just that lairs/nodes/towers/etc are defended by more units or more powerful ones.

But I guess I'm going to discover it soon, since I'm planning to try the game on some more difficult levels.

[Japo]

AI was the weak spot of Microprose strategy games, it's always very dumb, and higher difficulty levels are attained simply by granting AI opponents cheats more or less gross depending on the level.

[Borodin]

Originally Posted by Japo

AI was the weak spot of Microprose strategy games, it's always very dumb, and higher difficulty levels are attained simply by granting AI opponents cheats more or less gross depending on the level.

To be fair to Microprose, they put out incredibly complex strategy titles and didn't have the benefits of incredibly fast processing power and huge amounts of memory. Consider how dumb comparable chess games were at the time, and how much better they are, today. When the AI can process a far greater number of rules and judge possible outcomes much faster, the AI appears "smarter." That explains to an extent why Civ IV seems more intelligent than CIV I or II, despite the fact that Sid Meier was a superb AI creator.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Not only that, but Civ IV had the advantage of hindsight. It's not just how much possible outcomes the AI can analyze or how complex are the rules dictating its' behavior, but also how much data and experiments are those rules based on. With enough verification, they can be refined to be more effective and make the AI appear "smarter".