AI Media Companies run at a long term loss
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 11:49 am
I was running some tests of the scenario Media Empire and I noticed that the AIs (both Government and Company run) seem to irrationally price the cost of advertising well below the break-even point in low population cities.
If you open this save game you will notice that in high population cities the media companies are quite profitable but in the lower population cities (Bordeaux and Dublin) the media prices for ALL of the companies is very low and all of the firms are making losses even in the longer term.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ABLJjM ... sp=sharing
Even when I set my prices very high or very low the AI players generally don't move much around 1$ for advertising (Bordeaux) or 40 cents (Dublin), which causes all of the firms in those cities to make losses continuously. This is all the more annoying because they are mostly government firms and can't run out of money (but even when they are run by companies they still make losses).
I think the AI behaviour needs to be improved, to stop them from making constant losses in small cities and to not competitively lower their prices to the point that they ruin themselves.
Note: I tested the base game and the post release beta and the same behaviour occurs in both.
If you open this save game you will notice that in high population cities the media companies are quite profitable but in the lower population cities (Bordeaux and Dublin) the media prices for ALL of the companies is very low and all of the firms are making losses even in the longer term.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ABLJjM ... sp=sharing
Even when I set my prices very high or very low the AI players generally don't move much around 1$ for advertising (Bordeaux) or 40 cents (Dublin), which causes all of the firms in those cities to make losses continuously. This is all the more annoying because they are mostly government firms and can't run out of money (but even when they are run by companies they still make losses).
I think the AI behaviour needs to be improved, to stop them from making constant losses in small cities and to not competitively lower their prices to the point that they ruin themselves.
Note: I tested the base game and the post release beta and the same behaviour occurs in both.