Does the AI cheat?

[rags]

I find the Normal AI is too easy, but the Hard AI is BS with its cheating.

I started a game against 3 Hard to see what the fuss was about, We all advanced to settlers about the same time. Igor and I both went for the same island as our second. He declares war on me. He has 1 warehouse just built, as I do on this island. So I sail my explorer ship over there to take it out. I get there and start firing, He promptly builds 4 cattle farms, 2 butchers, and 4 watch towers. There was no delivery of good before this took place.

It seems like there should be another level of AI between Normal and Hard. One that acts more like the normal one but isn't capped to the players advancement level.

-rags

[djoeTHApooh]

Yeah, well ... it's artificial intelligence. So, it doesn't live as such. It merely independently reacts.

As a matter of fact, the AI in Anno just seems to follow you for a big part of the game (I haven't progressed that far yet) - they won't upgrade their pioneers until you do for example. And it's true that it cheats on the level of tools and golds. Just to keep up with the flow of the game I guess. It doesn't really bother me really, except maybe for the fact that their settlements seem to withstand natural disaster much better.

Last game, I built a warehouse on a southern island, where an AI player had already settled in also. No probs, yeah ? We just split the thing up, enough resources anyways. Then the volcano became active, and you can probably already guess who lost half his buildings and who didn't lose a single bloody thing.

Well, I'm not letting it spoil the fun, actually ...

[Dobber]

Who was the closest to the volcano? The closest one should sustain the brunt of the damage.