AI for these types of games is really hard to balance. A lot of players have complained about the weakness of AI in all of the Civ games as far back as I can remember. The problem is that people don’t really want an AI that plays to win. For one thing, it means the AI leaders will be extremely tight and shrewd traders that you can never take advantage of in negotiations. It also means AIs will sign deals with you to size up your military situation and then just wipe you out in a surprise attack as soon as possible.
It means the computer players will no longer role play as historical leaders but instead behave like a bunch of ruthless, psychopathic, cyborg Hitler clones. Most of the historically-informed trade and diplomacy options will be useless because the AIs will just betray you at the worst moment. In essence, they’ll play like human players and honestly, Civ games are just not designed for that. There are much better games out there (mainly board games but also RTSes) for playing against humans who play to win.
It means the computer players will no longer role play as historical leaders but instead behave like a bunch of ruthless, psychopathic, cyborg Hitler clones. Most of the historically-informed trade and diplomacy options will be useless because the AIs will just betray you at the worst moment. In essence, they’ll play like human players and honestly, Civ games are just not designed for that. There are much better games out there (mainly board games but also RTSes) for playing against humans who play to win.