Not having that problem at all and there’s almost no mention of it on Apolyton or Civfanatics, so it doesn’t seem like a widespread issue.
Had a blast playing a new game last night. This might be worth reading for anyone sitting on the fence about Civ V because I’m going to talk about both the good and the bad.
I started off as the Romans and in a really nice position - a couple of happiness resources and a couple more nearby. But I only had spots for maybe 3 cities. I had the English to the south, the Germans to the west and the Japanese to the SW. I realized early on that the English had to go as my terrain that way was entirely indefensible. Plus, I needed my lebensraum. So I opened up using the build order that I’ve previously mentioned and then went into full-scale war production.
Once I had 3 spearmen and 3 archers, I decided to make war on Elizabeth. The English had very defensible terrain, so I had to send my units all the way around their territory to attack from the south. It was very hard fought battlebut my troops emerged victorious. They key was using my archers to soften up my targets. Also, my spearmen had advantages over their warriors. There’s little doubt that a good human player would have beaten me, but I also know that if I hadn’t carefully considered the terrain and attacked from their south that I would have lost despite the less-than-decent tactical AI. So conquering the English got me to 3 cities and then I expanded to 5. My Empire was coming along nicely.
However, the Japanese and Germans were not amused. With those two warmongers on my borders, I knew that war was inevitable. I figured I could hold off the Japanese through a choke point, but then they took Oslo, which was on my (formerly English) border. Realizing they controlled the choke point and were very powerful, I quickly built up a defensive force - Army Group North and Army Group South.
Sure enough, they declared war. The initial attack came from the Germans, but my terrain that way is easily defensible. Furthermore, Bismark really didn’t have the power to fight me and he knew it. So beyond a couple of probing attacks, I didn’t have much of a problem. I eliminated 3 or so of his units as he probed my territory and waited.
The real attack came from the south, where the Japanese had amassed a large force of swordsmen and archers. Thank goodness they didn’t get Samuari yet. Knowing the Japanese attack at full strength even when damaged, I decided to target certain enemies to punch a hole in their lines. Unfortunately, you could see where the AI really needed tactical help because they split their force. That was a bit of a bummer because I know that even a moderately decent human player would have crushed me. But I also had the advantage in that I had just fought over that terrain and used it to the best of my advantage. I managed to mow down their swords with my archers and then countered with my horsemen to take out their archers.
After taking out their initial army, mine was down to half strength. Furthermore, I was falling further behind in the tech race. Also, the bastards made Allies with the city-state just to the east of my capital, now forcing me to fight on 3 fronts. So part of Army Group West became Army Group East. I was getting desperate to end the war quickly because I couldn’t sustain a 3 front war for long. So I rounded up what units I could from Army Group South and made the push to retake Oslo. At the same time, I took the dregs of Army Group West to try to sneak attack Berlin.
I ran into surprisingly light resistance in Oslo and took it easily. I flipped the city back to Oslo’s control and therefore bolstered my borders with an ally. So then I marched towards the Japanese empire. Meanwhile, my 5 unit Army Group West neared Berlin.
I guess the Japanese panicked, because they offered me peace, which I quickly took. Bismark also wanted peace, but I decided to punish him. My army came out of the woods and must have caught Bismark by surprise, because he didn’t have anyone there to greet me. I threw my units at Berlin in an effort to grab it before he could react and it worked…though just barely. I was only left with two heavily damaged units after the attack, but I sacked (not razed) his capital. Thoroughly defeated, Bismark offered my peace for a couple of his cities, which I turned into puppet states.
The long war is over and I’ve emerged victorious…but at what cost? I’m far behind in tech and I’m not sure I can catch up. I’m only breaking even at gold and my happiness is in sad shape. It should be interesting to see if I can bring my large Empire under control and win this game.
That was some of the best fun I’ve had in any Civilization game. The combat experience was pretty gripping at times and just one or two units made all the difference between victory and losing. Every move had to be carefully considered.
At the same time the above experience also shows some of the holes in the game. The AI could, and should, have beaten me. While I could have fought the Germans to a draw, a smarter AI would have better defended their capital. And the Japanese could have wiped the floor with me with that force, but they inexplicably split their forces to go after two different cities and that evened up the odds. The old AI would always go after an undefended city and I wonder if that’s why they split their forces. Also, the Germans could have retaken their capital but instead gave away the farm to get peace. The Japanese also made heavier concessions than they needed to. And I’m not sure if I could have done anything on the diplomacy front to avoid the attack.
So that pretty much summarizes the game play experience - both the good and the bad. I got enough enjoyment out of the game to overcome the poor tactical AI and opaque diplomacy. As such, it was a very enjoyable gaming session for me. But if something like that would absolutely ruin your sense of accomplishment, then perhaps you should wait for an AI patch prior to purchase. As always, YMMV. Personally, I’m still really enjoying the game.
