History TheComputerIsACheatingBastard / Civilization

** And then there's the rampant gold cheating. When you run out of money and are losing more than 5 gold per turn, you begin to lose units as you're unable to pay them. Fair enough, right? The AI doesn't have that problem, which can sometimes lead to a diplomacy screen where the AI has no money, thousands of gold lost per turn, and an army triple the size of your own. On the upside, their science per turn does get penalized from the negative gold, so they could still be in the Medieval Era when you arrive in 1900 AD.

[[AC:Official Games]]

** Also in Civilization 3, the AI have their production phase after their turn instead of at the start of the next turn; or more precisely, you always have the first turn, which means the turn order goes You -> [=AIs=] -> Your Production Phase -> [=AIs'=] Production Phases -> You Again, which means that they can hurry units and have them produced before your next move, while you can't, as the production phase for the units you hurried won't occur until after the AI takes their turn. You can tell when they did this because they haven't had the chance to fortify the unit yet. Sometimes, while you're fighting an AI civ, one of the cities you took will revolt back to them during your production phase, which spawns a defensive unit in that city- and they'll draft two more defensive units and rush a fourth that still completes before your turn.

* Computers in ''Civilization IV'' will always know what you have access to, what you have explored, etc, and use this to become massive cheapskates in trade. If you have no access to horses and thus decided not to research Horseback Riding for awhile, the computer will do everything in their power to push the technology down your throat while making off with as much of your gold and technology as they can. And you can be sure that the computer will ''never'' offer their world map at a halfway decent price unless you've already explored everything they have.

* ''Civilization V'':

[[AC:Civilization Revolution]]

[[AC:Fan Games]]
* ''VideoGame/FreeCiv'', the open source version of Civilization, has the AI settings "Experimental" and "Cheating".

* The original ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' for the PC has a lot of ways for the computer to get a huge advantage over you:

*** In Civilization IV this also works for you, the blue rings for city suggestions on your settler often uses the resources around to make it a good choice. In really rare occasions it will suggest empty fields, just to find iron, coal, uranium and oil once you have the appropriate techs.
** Also in Civilization 3, the [=AI=] have their production phase after their turn instead of at the start of the next turn; or more precisely, you always have the first turn, which means the turn order goes You -> [=AIs=] -> Your Production Phase -> [=AIs'=] Production Phases -> You Again, which means that they can hurry units and have them produced before your next move, while you can't, as the production phase for the units you hurried won't occur until after the AI takes their turn. You can tell when they did this because they haven't had the chance to fortify the unit yet. Sometimes, while you're fighting an AI civ, one of the cities you took will revolt back to them during your production phase, which spawns a defensive unit in that city- and they'll draft two more defensive units and rush a fourth that still completes before your turn.

** A subtle on is that you can't place a new city within 4 hexes of a pre-existing one. Your computer opponents? [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules Don't have that problem]].

** Wonders can be built almost instantly.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJcuQQ1eWWI Here]] is a video that explains the AI cheating of Civilization 3 and 4 in more depth (25 minutes in), as well as the reasons they were designed that way.

*** In Civilization 4 this also works for you, the blue rings for city suggestions on your settler often uses the resources around to make it a good choice. In really rare occasions it will suggest empty fields, just to find iron, coal, uranium and oil once you have the appropriate techs.

* ''Civilization 6'' has somewhat more subdued cheating, but it is there:

** World Congress votes have two buttons -- you can increase or decrease the total number of votes for or against a topic, but obviously there'd be no point in sending 8 for and 4 against instead of simply abstaining votes, right? The AI ''will'' [[TheComputerIsALyingBastard do this to get around a promise to vote for an issue that you traded for]]; they'll send some of their votes for an issue they would otherwise vote down, as promised, [[https://imgur.com/a/fkakCU2 and then vote down anyway]].

-->1) Improvements in the Emperor Level are about a third of the cost for the computer.
-->2) Technologies are discovered at alarming rates.
-->3) Wonders can be built almost instantly.
-->4) The computer's caravans are transported instantaneously.
-->5) The computer never has production penalties despite city-wide riots.
-->6) Your Triremes sink if they end their turn too far from shore. Computer controlled ones can sail across the Atlantic with no problem.
-->7) The computer can build spaceships without the required technology.
-->Et cetera.

** Also in Civilization 3, the [=AI=] have their production phase after their turn instead of at the start of the next turn; or more precisely, you always have the first turn, which means the turn order goes You->AI's->Your Production Phase->AI's Production Phases->You Again, which means that they can hurry units and have them produced before your next move, while you can't, as the production phase for the units you hurried won't occur until after the AI takes their turn. You can tell when they did this because they haven't had the chance to fortify the unit yet. Sometimes, while you're fighting an AI civ, one of the cities you took will revolt back to them during your production phase, which spawns a defensive unit in that city- and they'll draft two more defensive units and rush a fourth that still completes before your turn.

*** There's also an example of HoistByHisOwnPetard. In Civ 3, the computer can see through the fog of war and always attacks the city with the least defense. By moving units just outside of a city faraway, you can trick the AI into marching back and forth without attacking any cities.
** You can't see strategic resources on the map in Civ 3 until you have the skills to use them. The AI can see them all right from the start of the game though, and will make an effort to build cities next to them to give itself an advantage later on.

*** In Civ 4 this also works for you, the blue rings for city suggestions on your settler often uses the resources around to make it a good choice. In really rare occasions it will suggest empty fields, just to find iron, coal, uranium and oil once you have the appropriate techs.
** Also in Civ 3, the [=AI=] have their production phase after their turn instead of at the start of the next turn; or more precisely, you always have the first turn, which means the turn order goes You->AI's->Your Production Phase->AI's Production Phases->You Again, which means that they can hurry units and have them produced before your next move, while you can't, as the production phase for the units you hurried won't occur until after the AI takes their turn. You can tell when they did this because they haven't had the chance to fortify the unit yet. Sometimes, while you're fighting an AI civ, one of the cities you took will revolt back to them during your production phase, which spawns a defensive unit in that city- and they'll draft two more defensive units and rush a fourth that still completes before your turn.

* Computers in ''[=Civ4=]'' will always know what you have access to, what you have explored, etc, and use this to become massive cheapskates in trade. If you have no access to horses and thus decided not to research Horseback Riding for awhile, the computer will do everything in their power to push the technology down your throat while making off with as much of your gold and technology as they can. And you can be sure that the computer will ''never'' offer their world map at a halfway decent price unless you've already explored everything they have.

** Another one for Civ V, the computer can have ships that cannot cross oceans on deep sea tiles, like Civ 1. This creates a problem in Gods and Kings if you use a pirate ship to capture the enemy Trireme and then find you can't move it next turn.

* ''Civ6'' has somewhat more subdued cheating, but it is there:

* ''VideoGame/Civilization V'':

* ''[=Civ5=]'':

** Ever settle a city nowhere near an AI player's empire, yet still get the "they covet lands you hold" message under diplomacy? Or how convenient the placing of things like Oil and Uranium are within enemy territory? That's because all the resources in the game, including future ones that haven't been revealed yet, are pre-determined upon map generation. The AI players know from the get-go where the best resources in the game will be, and settle their cities accordingly, dodging strategic resources for city placements to the best of their ability.

* A subtle one in ''[=Civ5=]'': You can't place a new city within 4 hexes of a pre-existing one. Your computer opponents? [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules Don't have that problem]].

** Ever settle a city nowhere near an AI player's empire, yet still get the "they covet lands you hold" message under diplomacy? Or how convenient the placing of things like Oil and Uranium are within enemy territory? That's because all the resources in the game, including future ones that haven't been revealed yet, are pre-determined upon map generation. The AI players know from the get-go where the best resources in the game will be, and settle their cities accordingly.

** It also seems that the game tries to force averages to occur. Try using saves to make sure you always win. If your win chance is 50%, your chance of winning the first fight is 50%, right? Right. Second fight (after your unit is healed), displayed chance to win is still 50%--but try saving before it and loading. Your chances are closer to 25%. Winning a third fight in a row is likely to have even worse odds--but the displayed chance to win is still 50%. The question exists, does it work in reverse also? Sacrifice a dozen or so units for a run of good luck?
*** What you're seeing here is a bug in the game due to a programmer who doesn't understand probability theory. The displayed battle odds are calculated by the naive method of multiplying each unit's hitpoints by the odds of winning a single round of combat, and using that ratio as the odds of winning the battle. The actual odds of winning, based on the battle mechanics, are much harder to calculate, and can deviate significantly from the displayed odds: your "95% victory" fight might actually be a "0.1% victory". Once you do them right, though, it becomes clear that the computer isn't cheating in battle, just [[LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics lying through statistics]].
*** For context, units fight multiple rounds within a single combat until one dies. Thus winning one round in actuality only reduces the opponent by a certain amount of HP. So while a unit with low life may have a 50% chance of winning a round, if they can be killed with one hit, the first hit they take in combat (pretty likely at 50%) will kill them.