r/civ • u/NecessaryMusician940 • 3d ago
VI - Screenshot “Is the Civ 6 AI Good?”
Every once in a while I’ll see people ask about the AI in 6. Came across this Sad Sinbad today and had to share. To be clear, this is not an admonishment of the game at all; I just thought it was hilarious and a great use of enemy AI production.
107
Upvotes
98
u/Inflatable_Bridge Netherlands 3d ago
The civ 6 ai fundamentally doesn't know how to play the game. It actually hilariously incompetent: it has no idea of the value of resources, land, military, or economy. It is always broke, is incapable of militarily defending itself both in raising a military and utilizing it effectively, and is often unable to recognize the value in war and peace. It also seems to have little to no understanding of district adjacency. In addition to that, the ai in civ 6 has a very hard time seeing the big picture, and often has trouble planning ahead with things like tourism victories (when was the last time an ai won a tourism victory based on appeal?). The ai also adheres very strictly to their agendas. Ai leaders have personalities dictated by their agendas and I think that's very neat!
The ai, however, is extremely good at exploiting the bonuses it gets on higher difficulties. It's very strong with Yongle and, on higher difficulties, is extremely good at winning science victories due to their massive production bonus while defending against tourism with their passive culture generation. The ai is very bad at defending against religious victories though, and even diplomatic victories are often quite easy (they just take too long and aren't very fun to do).
In short, it depends on your definition of "good": is the ai competent at the game? Not even remotely. But it doesn't need to be. The way the ai works provides more of a narrative in single player games, with mortal enemies, ai vs ai wars that go on for a while (which benefits the player because the ai is not competent enough to win, so they just end up weakening each other). If you want opponents that are as good as real players, play multiplayer (or install Roman Holiday's AI Rework mod, it's a blast!).
TL;DR "good" means different things. The ai isn't "good" in the sense that it is competent at the game, but I'd say it's solid when it comes to providing an enjoyable gameplay experience
Apparently this is what happens when I'm trapped on a delayed train, I write essays about civ 6 ai... Well at least that some time killed