How much does AI cheat?

[misterpiece]

I know it does cheat, although I would really like to understand how and how much.

The reason behind it is that I would like to play on hard difficulty, just because I assume the AI is smarter, but the cheating is just too obvious and this has always been a major letdown, in all pve games I've been playing lately.
Creating a "smart" AI that does not need cheats to be on par is a very challenging task, almost impossible if you consider all the possibilities this game offers, even knowing this I can't seem to enjoy myself when I play a game knowing that the field is not even. Heck, I prefer to handicap myself roleplaying with weird civilization combo to level the field.

Has anyone managed to figure out how the cheating changes/scales at the increasing of the difficulty?
Anyone aware of some mods changing this, or giving us options to tune it to our liking?
Should I just play on normal? If anything past normal is just free resources and such, I might aswell forget hard.

 

[Paralityk]

Quick copy/paste from game files.

difficulty_insane_ai
tile_resource_minerals_mult = 1
tile_resource_energy_mult = 1
tile_resource_physics_research_mult = 1
tile_resource_society_research_mult = 1
tile_resource_engineering_research_mult = 1
navy_size_mult = 1

difficulty_hard_ai
tile_resource_minerals_mult = 0.5
tile_resource_energy_mult = 0.5
tile_resource_physics_research_mult = 0.5
tile_resource_society_research_mult = 0.5
tile_resource_engineering_research_mult = 0.5
navy_size_mult = 0.5

 

[misterpiece]

That's weird.

Reading that, one would assume that anything lower than insane gives the AI a handicap

 

[Amightypie]

there ya go then ai doesnt cheat at higher levels its just handicapped at lower ones

 

[shierholzer]

Reading that, one would assume that anything lower than insane gives the AI a handicap

Not how modifiers work in Clausewitz - positive numbers are buffs, negative numbers debuffs.

[...] hard difficulty, just because I assume the AI is smarter [...]

This is not the case for Stellaris, nor has it been the case for any Clausewitz game in the past. The AI has a single level of smartness and the difficulty setting introduces only soft buffs/debuffs (as in more resources/research/etc).

Anyone aware of some mods changing this, or giving us options to tune it to our liking?

I'm aware of mods disabling the relations debuff (-25/-50 afair) for players associated with hard/insane. Hard AI cheating (as in buffs/debuffs) is fully moddable.

 

[misterpiece]

Not how modifiers work in Clausewitz - positive numbers are buffs, negative numbers debuffs.



This is not the case for Stellaris, nor has it been the case for any Clausewitz game in the past. The AI has a single level of smartness and the difficulty setting introduces only soft buffs/debuffs (as in more resources/research/etc).



I'm aware of mods disabling the relations debuff (-25/-50 afair) for players associated with hard/insane. Hard AI cheating (as in buffs/debuffs) is fully moddable.

I guess that I will stick to normal mode then. Maybe when sectors will learn how to properly develop a planet it will make AI empires more productive too.

there ya go then ai doesnt cheat at higher levels its just handicapped at lower ones

To make jsut one example of uneven playing field: After less than 2 years of gameplay, after having discovered 2 civilizations and built a colony ship; one of those 2 civilizations already hada fleet of 11 ships, an outpost seizing a couple of systems, 2 planets. It doesn't add up, can't have enough minarls in such a short time, to build all that stuff.

 

[RandomZach]

This is not the case for Stellaris, nor has it been the case for any Clausewitz game in the past. The AI has a single level of smartness and the difficulty setting introduces only soft buffs/debuffs (as in more resources/research/etc).

That is not true for all Clausewitz games. The hard AI in eu4 is more aggressive and has expanded use of certain features (eg, condottieri). In fact, the game use to have separate options for 'difficulty' and 'handicap' but recently they were combined into one.

 

[Zarine]

The civilizations with more ships and more planets are the advanced civilization you picked up at start.
They have some techs, POPs, planets and ships added to their start.

 

[bantad87]

That is not true. The hard AI in eu4 is more aggressive and has expanded use of certain features (eg, condottieri). In fact, the game use to have separate options for 'difficulty' and 'handicap' but recently they were combined into one.

That's because the Hard AI in Eu4 is given bonuses that directly affect their ability to be more aggressive. Lower AE, lower unrest, higher manpower pools, etc etc.

 

[RandomZach]

That's because the Hard AI in Eu4 is given bonuses that directly affect their ability to be more aggressive. Lower AE, lower unrest, higher manpower pools, etc etc.

No, it's not. They use to be entirely different settings.

 

[shierholzer]

In fact, the game use to have separate options for 'difficulty' and 'handicap' but recently they were combined into one.

Handicap impacted AI decision making in relation to a human opponent (mostly making a specific action more threatening if carried out by a human), not the AI's capabilities.

EU4's AI is not smarter on higher difficulty settings - it just values the players actions higher and gets soft buffs to several core variables.

 

[Vyktor]

AI colonies are established quicker and push out borders much more quickly than the 1 pop should.

 

[RandomZach]

Handicap impacted AI decision making in relation to a human opponent (mostly making a specific action more threatening if carried out by a human), not the AI's capabilities.

EU4's AI is not smarter on higher difficulty settings - it just values the players actions higher and gets soft buffs to several core variables.

I literally provided you with a specific example of the AI's capabilities being changed in EU4 on hard difficulty (Condotierri). The hard AI in EU4 is not, to use your exact phrasing, just 'soft buffs/debuffs'.

 

[Amightypie]

I guess that I will stick to normal mode then. Maybe when sectors will learn how to properly develop a planet it will make AI empires more productive too.



To make jsut one example of uneven playing field: After less than 2 years of gameplay, after having discovered 2 civilizations and built a colony ship; one of those 2 civilizations already hada fleet of 11 ships, an outpost seizing a couple of systems, 2 planets. It doesn't add up, can't have enough minarls in such a short time, to build all that stuff.

you must've met an advanced start ai then, they tend to start with larger fleets and with 2 colony ships and thats just in normal

Handicap impacted AI decision making in relation to a human opponent (mostly making a specific action more threatening if carried out by a human), not the AI's capabilities.

EU4's AI is not smarter on higher difficulty settings - it just values the players actions higher and gets soft buffs to several core variables.

Actually they ai is far more aggressive and on hard will seek condottoari from any other nation. in addition they ai will target you because you are the player making diplomacy more difficult

 

[Zelius]

Read the fine print carefully.

 

[Nirmara]

I literally provided you with a specific example of the AI's capabilities being changed in EU4 on hard difficulty (Condotierri). The hard AI in EU4 is not, to use your exact phrasing, just 'soft buffs/debuffs'.

The way Eu4 AI use Condotierri at higher difficulty is an exception for now though the devs have signified their intentions to add more specific improvement like this in the future.

 

[Myxztplk]

Quick copy/paste from game files.

difficulty_insane_ai
tile_resource_minerals_mult = 1
tile_resource_energy_mult = 1
tile_resource_physics_research_mult = 1
tile_resource_society_research_mult = 1
tile_resource_engineering_research_mult = 1
navy_size_mult = 1

difficulty_hard_ai
tile_resource_minerals_mult = 0.5
tile_resource_energy_mult = 0.5
tile_resource_physics_research_mult = 0.5
tile_resource_society_research_mult = 0.5
tile_resource_engineering_research_mult = 0.5
navy_size_mult = 0.5

Instead of this it would be much more interesting to see the algorythms which define the actions of the AI.
Giving the computer more ressources will not help to make a game more satisfying cause it brings some problems for a balanced game If AI can build ships and generate ressources 4 times as fast as you.
But adding to the Basic code some additional rows like -in this special situation you need to Focus on expansion or on upgrading this world- will help the AI to improve its game play without cheats.
Would be a Lot of sisyphus Work cause you have to teach the AI every Single Bit of advanced strategy to get a visible Effekt ingame but it could Work with enough input.

Any volunteer who will give his life for this task.

 

[Von Thoma]

I guess that I will stick to normal mode then. Maybe when sectors will learn how to properly develop a planet it will make AI empires more productive too.



To make jsut one example of uneven playing field: After less than 2 years of gameplay, after having discovered 2 civilizations and built a colony ship; one of those 2 civilizations already hada fleet of 11 ships, an outpost seizing a couple of systems, 2 planets. It doesn't add up, can't have enough minarls in such a short time, to build all that stuff.

Maybe you have overseen at Setup , that always 30% of your choosen AIs have an advanced start Position,
IF YOU FORGET to turn that off !

 

[IROverRated]

I'd slightly agree with OP, I was in the same boat, seeing AI have way more advanced Tech than I do and also a massive fleet size, AND nearly x2 as many Colonies as I do. And I always make it a habit to turn off Advanced Starts completely. The rate at which they 'grow' is astounding.

 

[Zarine]

I'd slightly agree with OP, I was in the same boat, seeing AI have way more advanced Tech than I do and also a massive fleet size, AND nearly x2 as many Colonies as I do. And I always make it a habit to turn off Advanced Starts completely. The rate at which they 'grow' is astounding.

In normal, I'm always way faster than the AI. I usualy reach 3 planets when they only get their second one.
In very hard, I'm a bit behind regarding colonisation... but tech and fleet size I'm kilometers away !