[Curath]

Originally posted by Agrajag:
(Pffft, lots of quotes)
I don't know the games you are talking about, but in many games you can observe the computer cheating, and in many ways:
1. He has more units than he could afford with his current mines/income.
2. A vastly superiour army of yours "somehow" manages to lose to his inferior one (sometimes its just luck though :\)
3. In certain games the AI may get better starting units.
4. He acts REALLY dumb and still wins =P [/QB]

Heh, most of these "seem" to fit Civilization 3, which is a pretty good game too. The AI shuffles around troops that makes no sense whatsoever. As to number 2, it's actually a fault of the game mechanics. A tank division losing to a phalanx of spearmen isn't even bad luck as such. With all sorts of defensive bonuses the phalanx has something like 1 in 3 chance of winning a combat round, and all units have just a few "HP", enhanced with experience (unlike Civ 2 where more advanced units had lots more HP too).

If I recall correctly, in Civ 3 the highest difficulty gives the AIs a slight technology research advantage, plus they're generally more aggressive towards the player. Third highest difficulty the tables are even.