Once in a while

[Hosakawa Tito]

Boy once in a while the AI will really impress you with a smart tactic.Wish it could act like this more often.I was playing a campaign as Oda on hard level.I managed to destroy all the eastern clans,all that were left was Shimazu and Imagawa on the western island and Takeda in his western provinces.Most of the east was either mine or ronin.Before I could mobilize my forces to the western border with Takeda he attacked me in Hoki province.I had 5 archers,1YA,2YS,3ND to defend against 7YC,3YS,2YA,4SA.No really useful wooded terrain to use so I set up on a hill.To my surprise the AI split his force and set up all his Cav on my flank and actually coordinated his attack with his YS,YA,SA frontal assault while the CAV rushed my flank.Talk about a desperate battle.I managed to barely repel him before my units routed but my forces were seriously depleted.
As I tried to press his routing army he managed to rally his Cav and flank me again giving his meelee and archers time to rally.Takeda then proceeded to destroy me.Not one of my warriors escaped.It was beautifully done and the scariest thing is it wasn't even Takeda Shingen who pulled it off.I've played many campaigns and have seen the AI do some foolish things and every now and then play it smart.This was one of the best I've seen yet.In multiplayer these tactics are commonplace with the good players,we need more of it with the AI in the single player campaigns.
Tito

[Gregoshi]

Cool battle! I've seen the AI do some impressive things but not that impressive. When I have similar type battles, win or lose, I'll lean back in my chair afterwards and say a few "wow"s while I replay the battle in my mind.

Savor the memory of that battle Hosakawa, you had a good one. It sure would be nice to watch a replay.

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Gregoshi
A Member of Clan Doragon

[ShaiHulud]

Yah, My last such surprise came when I was defending on a limited hill with forest in the center. This was his 3rd attack on that province. The first time he pressed my left, the second the center, the last he faked center and ran his entire army at my right. The forest delayed my shifting of troops. It was a 'victory' for me, at cost of 2/3's of my army. hehe He got the province when I retired for lack of troops.

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Wind fells blossoms, rain
fells steel,yet bamboo bends and drinks

[Irving]

hmmmmmm.
I hevent really seen the AI do anything intelligent yet.... sometimes 2 or 3 guys are left of the AI after the rest rout and i have to chase them around if i have no cavalry... that isn't really smart though...is it

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Chaos is born from order.
Cowardice is born from bravery.
Weakness is born from strength.
-Sun Tzu

[candidgamera]

HT:
Was it higher than 0 level general leading the AI troops? Sounds pretty impressive.
7 YC! that's a lot of cav and mobility.
Am always finding AI usually (like everyone else's experience) doing the old "hey diddle diddle, straight up the middle" or per Wellington: "They came on in the same old way . . .".

It would be cool if the game allowed a "video cam" option - I'd probably run out of hard drive in a hurry though - to get those on film.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Candid he was an honor 4 Yari Samurai general named Sanada Yukitaka.Wish I could have recorded this battle,I felt like Custer at the Little Bighorn LOL.I knew it was going to be special because as you said the AI usually puts it cav on the wings and charges right up the middle.This time the cav sets up on my right flank,out of bow range,while the meelee comes head on.The cav waits till I must engage the frontal assault and then charges enmass on my right flank.Very impressive,my most enjoyable defeat yet.I barely held off that 420 man cavalry charge with a 50 man YA unit,a 45 man YS unit,and a 60 man ND unit.Being out of arrows and with 1/2 my men dead I didn't think I could just hold the high ground and let the enemy rally for another assault.I tried to chase his routing cav and keep them running but they out-distanced me enough to rally and flanked me in the valley.I was dead meat then.It will be a long time before I forget that one,them little ashi's died like true samurai. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif
Tito

[candidgamera]

HT, hey neighbor:

How early/late was this in overall campaign?

Sounds like the "Gary Owen" sound file was in order.

Your account makes me want to look for high honor generals to engage - instead of the Volksturm, 6+1 (sorry, ASL reference there) crap am wading through all the time.

Sounds like you forgot the lesson Harold learned the hard way at Hastings - - beware the pursuit phase http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif.

(Maybe your smart alecky horse has been messing with your game code too http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif).

But seriously, wonder if there is some AI tweak when Takaeda uses cavalry.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Hey neighbor,the campaign year is 1556 and unless I get unlucky with disease this campaign should be in the bag.Takeda has about 6 western provinces,low koku except for Aki.Shimazu and Imagawa have split the western island but they are bottled up there.
I have the inevitable ronin mop up in Hojo's old provinces,about 5000 men in Musashi.They'll be tough but I can chip away at them.My impersonation of King Harold at Hastings was a good anology,damn frogs http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif.Too much open ground,too few yari,too many enemy cavalry.Now that you mention it I do recall seeing a horse with Beau Diddly's markings giving me a big horsey laugh and dumping a batch of "road apples" in my path to slip on. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gifSmart aleck horse!I guess it's time for me to whisper those two words in his ear when I want him to behave,"Glue Factory". http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif
Tito

[candidgamera]

Watch your back for the PETA folks there big guy http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif, up there in liberal NY http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif - better be careful you might have "Animal Farm" on your hands.

You know you're in big trouble when the dog and the cat are sitting, facing each other, staring intently and pushing little pieces of yard refuse around in turns.

Think one of the most basic things have picked up in STW is concentration: all about being locally superior, locally at advantage.

Have lost my battles against hordes in the pursuit too, especially wearing them out getting to the reinforcement areas in mountainous provinces.

I guess I haven't run my campaigns as fast, kind of "Powell Doctrine Complex", sounds like pretty good progress.

Your Imagawa and Shimazu sound awful passive too.

[Alastair]

I may be dumb, (see earlier post about how dumb) but who's Powell?

[edRonin]

I've seen the AI do some really smart stuff with their deployment on defence. Pulling me into a trap by showing me part of his force on a hill while hiding some troops in the woods to flank me. Occasionally you will see the AI do smart stuff on offense, but that is always when it has a high honor Taisho. The AI definitely improves dramatically based on the honor of the Taisho.

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All your base are belong to us

[candidgamera]

Alstair:
Its a reference to Colin Powell and the idea of: don't proceed unless you have overwhelming force to do so.

. . . As opposed to what I call the "British landing party/Falklands" philosophy - - achieving more with less.

EdRonin:
Have seen the sneaky split defense also:
Fighting up hill in the "Alps" of Kaga just about lost on account of this, skillful choices in defensive deployment. Have now learned to sweep all forests to avoid hidden unit syndrome - - how come they keep coming when I route them as fast as they enter.

[Moriboy]

Once upon a time in the northern most province of Shimazu land, there sat a blue general named Kenshin. The blue genius's father was wise enough to be allied with the aforementioned but hapless Shimazu, and thus had space to grow and plot revenge against the Takeda vermin (me) who'd seized all their lands in the east. In short, I hurled five decent generals against Kenshin in Hizen only to be soundly whipped every time. The AI deployed loads of archers scattered about in the center with some Yari samurai on their left. In the trees to the right was phalanx after phalanx of Yari Sam waiting to pounce. I tried flanking, marching up the middle, archery duels but no matter what I did, the AI responded beautifully. If I went to destroy the tree boys, the archers wheeled to launched a withering fire on my flankers. If I went straight up the middle after them, leaving a couple anti-flankers to deal with the Yari, the archers & would fight hth (pretty damn well I might add) & shoot while the yari on both flanks would pincer my boys. Yeah, I'm a wuss and save games before hand, but it usually doesn't matter because I rarely lose to the AI on expert. The damdest thing about this battle is that the enemy would behave like bees and scatter to attack the most vulnerable spots. I finally decided to screw the save, take my medicine and win with a few battles (make that 4). The arrows were so thick in the first engagement, that my 900mhz processor with 512 megs of ram bogged down to the dreaded motion & cursor freeze. Man! I've had easier times reducing monk hoards in Kaga!

[CaptMac]

Mori
sounds like you really got into a grinder! You probably took the best course and whittle them down with a number of battles....but sounds like his archers did some whittling of their own.

I have met a smart AI general now and then also. Like edRonin, I had the same problem (it was in Kaga, hard level, for me). When I focused my forces on routing the enemy units in the woods to left, AI would bring in remainder (larger force)from the right into my flanks.
If I was able to rout forest and turn the majority of my units to meet AI remaining units, he would retreat behind ridge/hills and forests...I follow and engage. What's this...his reinforcements from routed units enter to my rear (I swear there has to be more than 16 enemy units out there...or he is shoving them off the map to top right and reinforcing form top left http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/frown.gif )
Using save often technique and repeat I was finally able to get him by dividing my force to have 4 units swing far right and come up on his rear left while he was attacking my main groups turning flank. It was touch and go because those 4 units were tired and nervous being away from their taisho so long.
AI did manage a couple of good rallys before leaving the feild.....I wouldn't call it a rout; it definitely was a reluctant withdrawal. I would have not been able to hold off any fresh replacements..my units were all extremely tired with little/no fight left in them.

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The only thing you have to regret are the chances not taken.
Expect the unexpected and take in air.

[CaptMac]

Another thought.......
I would much rather face a "smarter" AI later in the game (throughout for that matter) than come face to face with whatever horde.....Hordes are mostly dumb and repetative....over and over, the same or nearly the same tactic..gets tiring.
A smart AI would be more challenging..a smart Horde AI would be scary http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/eek.gif

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The only thing you have to regret are the chances not taken.
Expect the unexpected and take in air.

[ShaiHulud]

Don't know if the AI is being clever, but when he is defending and has some badly depleted units (3-4 men) he puts them in first, gets them killed and his reinforcement comes in from another direction on the field. Had a bad time at Bungo, crossing from the Ronin island because of this. He'd set up on the mountain-side right, his reinforcements came from off to his left. I won 3 battles in a row there... and lost each battle. too. Killed off his first army, had to pursue to prevent a rally, and his reinforcements come in from the flank. (was late in game, he had 4-5 armies stacked up and LOTS of reinforcements to go thru!)

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Wind fells blossoms, rain
fells steel,yet bamboo bends and drinks