What are your settings against AI ?

[LienRag]

I played a lot of lame games against AI but now I begin to understand how to make 0ad games more interesting.

So I'd like to ask what settings players use to make their AI games interesting ?

The problem I have is that too little AIs make the game boring, but too much make their first attack nearly impossible to repel without cheating, so in both cases the gameplay is boring.

I guess that some cheating may be fine against more than 3 opponents (all allied; games against non-allied opponents are too random) but I don't know which exactly will make the game fun (basically, some wood with "bring me my axe" to get some palisades in order to survive the first attack and then counter-attack I guess, but how much would be reasonable ?).

[Deicide4u]

Nowadays, I always play against Hard Balanced AI. I've tried playing against the Hardest, but found no major difference in difficulty. There's also Petra Expert AI mod if you need more challenge.

The AI gets bonus gathering speed at levels greater than Medium. It also trains larger armies more quickly. However, you will beat it easily if you're a decent player.

[jwrona]

Hard AI - Random behavior. Pop either 200, 300 (testing strats for multiplayer), or unlimited (for just monster war fun). Starting RSS Low or Normal. 

1 hour ago, LienRag said:

The problem I have is that too little AIs make the game boring, but too much make their first attack nearly impossible to repel without cheating, so in both cases the gameplay is boring.

When it's on Hard mode - they've got a 25% gather buff, so they WILL have an army before you, 99% of the time. I find it helps to train a few cav (typically 5-7) at around 30-pop to do more hunting for food, but also to tank the first attack so archers/javs can knock it out. That first attack isn't usually more than a few units, so you can quickly grab everyone to fight it then return to work. 

I've found as well, after watching some people in my multiplayer games, town setup matters. A storehouse on a border woodline WILL distract any troops controlled by AI enough for you to gather the forces to repel. houses close together helps break up a formation and funnel troops in one-by-one rather than a mass blob. 

Hope that helps.