Purpose: Analyze strategic AI behavior to help identify issues and hopefully help improve the game.

Scope: Basic block and tackle strategic actions such as exploration, expansion, city improvements, etc.

Scenario:

• Large custom map built from "Ovia" - created an island so I can cycle turns, reduced starting positions to 10 and spread them out
• Ridiculous across the board
• Max players
• Normal pacing
• Custom sov
• Playing as Capitar
• Used Ctrl-U cheat to see entire map
• Used Ctrl-Z cheat to cycle turns

Saves:

• S12: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19969679/Elemental/119a%20AITEST%20S12.EleSav
• S24: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19969679/Elemental/119a%20AITEST%20S24.EleSav
• S36: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19969679/Elemental/119a%20AITEST%20S36.EleSav
• S48: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19969679/Elemental/119a%20AITEST%20S48.EleSav
• S60: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19969679/Elemental/119a%20AITEST%20S60.EleSav

Faction Concerns:

• Pariden
  • S12 FP5 (1 city) - housing, goodie huts, unit queue
  • S24 FP5 (1 city) - goodie huts, unit queue
  • S36 FP9 (1 city) - goodie huts
  • S48 FP19 (2 cities) - goodie huts
  • S60 FP24 (2 cities) - goodie huts
• Kraxis
  • S12 FP5 (1 city) - housing, goodie huts, unit queue
  • S24 FP9 (1 city) - goodie huts
  • S36 FP12 (2 cities) - goodie huts, no unit defending additional settlement
  • S48 FP21 (3 cities) - goodie huts
  • S60 FP47 (4 cities) - goodie huts
• Gilden
  • S12 FP5 (1 city) - housing, goodie huts, unit queue, improvement queue
  • S24 FP5 (1 city) - housing, goodie huts, unit queue
  • S36 FP24 (1 city)  - goodie huts
  • S48 FP47 (2 cities) - none
  • S60 FP57 (2 cities) - available champions
• Resoln
  • S12 FP5 (1 city) - goodie huts, unit queue
  • S24 FP10 (1 city) - goodie huts
  • S36 FP11 (1 city) - goodie huts, pioneers (pathing?)
  • S48 FP27 (2 cities) - goodie huts, military units (pathing), available champions
  • S60 FP33 (3 cities) - goodie huts, military units (pathing), available champions
• Yithril
  • S12 FP3 (1 city) - goodie huts, unit queue
  • S24 FP5 (1 city) - goodie huts, unit queue
  • S36 FP10 (1 city) - goodie huts
  • S48 FP10 (2 cities) - goodie huts, available champions
  • S60 FP33 (2 cities) - goodie huts, available champions
• Magnar
  • S12 FP5 (1 city) - goodie huts, unit queue
  • S24 FP10 (1 city) - goodie huts, unit queue
  • S36 FP10 (1 city) - goodie huts, pioneers (not building)
  • S48 FP12 (2 cities) - goodie huts
  • S60 FP30 (3 cities) - goodie huts, available champions
• Tarth
  • S12 FP3 (1 city) - housing, goodie huts
  • S24 FP7 (1 city) - goodie huts
  • S36 FP15 (3 cities) - goodie huts
  • S48 FP31 (3 cities) - goodie huts
  • S60 FP38 (3 cities) - goodie huts, available champions
• Altar
  • S12 FP5 (1 city) - housing, goodie huts
  • S24 FP6 (2 cities) - housing, goodie huts, unit queues, no unit defending additional settlement
  • S36 FP18 (2 cities) - goodie huts, no unit defending additional settlement
  • S48 FP24 (4 cities) - goodie huts
  • S60 FP39 (4 cities) - goodie huts
• Umber
  • S12 FP4 (1 city) - housing, goodie huts
  • S24 FP6 (2 cities) - none
  • S36 FP17 (2 cities) - none
  • S48 FP36 (5 cities) - none
  • S60 FP69 (6 cities) - none

Summary of Observations:

• Neither soveriegns or spouses ever leave capital to explore, level, or grab goodie huts - the only factions grabbing goodie huts are those who hired champions. Recommend giving sovereigns and spouses xp per turn or have them explore the world (being careful of course)
• AI doesn't seem to weight housing as much as it should - i.e. on ridiculous why does it need a workshop or other improvement before housing when it has 10+ prestige a turn and all the other bonuses? Recommend AI on ridiculous is hardcoded to build x number of housing units or get population to y value before building anything else.
• AI seems to randomly leave the unit or improvement queues empty on occasion - they should be building nonstop on ridiculous due to the resource buffs. Recommend some kind of check is done to ensure those queues never remain empty.
• AI is not hiring all available champions - Umber, however, is hiring like crazy (it's also building like crazy). Recommend the second a champion is available to hire, they're hired (and kept geared of course).
• Resoln had some army pathing issues - maybe due to map location as Gilden was having a similar issue in the same location for my 1.19 analysis. Recommend exploring why that map location seems to cause the pathing concerns.
• All in all the fixed xml tags have certainly improved the AI over 1.19. Good job Stardock!

[Edit] Brad - If you choose to implement some or all of these changes you might start hearing how the ridiculous AI needs a nerf. That would be a good thing. 

For 1.19b analysis see here: https://forums.elementalgame.com/405148