Moments of AI intelligence

[Silence Hunter]

First of all I want you all to take a look at this campaign map picture:

https://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh32/Artax0214/RomeTW-ALX2009-03-3120-02-52-36.jpg

It is from my Hayasdan campaign on Alex.exe (Hard/Medium). The campaign was very enjoyable so far and seems to be even more entertaining because of the AI actually behaving in a rather intelligent way. I enabled toggle_fow so you can clearly see the campaign map.

The naval transportation is woth applause on it's own, but it's just a small piece of a masterful Ptolemaioi plan. The only enemy I had was Seleucids for a rather long time. I tried not to blitz and expand at a slow pace so I had to fight only Seleucids. After some events Palmyra rebelled from Seleucids to Saba, but soon it rebelled again and this time to Ptolemaioi. Soon Ptolemaioi decided to attack me and send some armies against me as my only real army was in the East fighting Seleucids. The Ptolemaioi were stopped by a small horse archer army and after a few years of minor engagements the same army captured Palmyra and I FD'ed it to Seleucids and got piece with Ptolemaioi.

It continued for some 5-7 years and I was campaigning in the East. Seleucids and Ptolemaioi were neutral since 250 so Ptolemaioi only had one enemy - Saba. this is where the fun starts. As you all know the AI just hates human player, but is not so good at actually opposing him. However take a look at the screenshot again.

You can see that Ptolemaioi are shipping an army which will land next to Tarsus. You can also see another large Ptolemaioi army marching over the mountains north of Antiochia. On the very top you can also see my rather new army. The thing is that this army already defeated a fullstack Ptolemaioi army at that mountain pass a turn ago. What's the most surprising it was shipped(!) to Tarsus and then marched over to my lands. The same thing happened with the army you see approaching and now the third(!) army is being shipped!

I was amazed when I realized that AI actually managed to not only transport it's troops so well but to plan(!) such an attack on me. And all of this happened while we had only this tiny piece of border and Ptolies had no land access over Seleucid lands. Ptolies having no one to fight and hating me so much masterfully attacked me where I would least expect. the thing that saved me was that newly raized army which was meant to attack Antioch. It had just arrived near Edessa a turn before my spies saw the approaching first army of Ptolemaioi. Had this army not been here it would have been seriously beaten as my other army was miles away fighting in the East.

Have you guys ever seen something like this happen? I am simply stunned.

[Nachtmeister]

Even more stunning is the fact that it's actually an army and not just a pile of assorted skirmisher units or maybe even just a FM with two badly depleted phalanx units...
Yes, I have seen proper tactics applied by the AI (using BI, though) in a recent, quickly boring Qarthadastim campaign: The romans prematurely started the first punic war in 270BC by taking the levy-garrisoned settlement on Sardin with an economically small detachment of 1FM+ 1xhastati, 1xprincipes, 1xtriarii.
My counter-attack series was too easy though - just mustered an army of libyans with a single unit of elephants and some cavalry, sacked Ariminum, withdrew to the sea, let them re-take it, did the same to Capua, withdrew again, then sacked Rome. That left them practically without recruitment options...

[anubis88]

Even more stunning is the fact that it's actually an army and not just a pile of assorted skirmisher units or maybe even just a FM with two badly depleted phalanx units...
Yes, I have seen proper tactics applied by the AI (using BI, though) in a recent, quickly boring Qarthadastim campaign: The romans prematurely started the first punic war in 270BC by taking the levy-garrisoned settlement on Sardin with an economically small detachment of 1FM+ 1xhastati, 1xprincipes, 1xtriarii.
My counter-attack series was too easy though - just mustered an army of libyans with a single unit of elephants and some cavalry, sacked Ariminum, withdrew to the sea, let them re-take it, did the same to Capua, withdrew again, then sacked Rome. That left them practically without recruitment options...

And you're wondering why the campaing became quickly boring? If you want to have fun with karthadast, you must allow rome to become strong and an economical superpower.... then fight with them at the peak of their powers....

I must agree though that BI and ALEX definetly improve both the campaing and battle ai

[Rilder]

withdrew again, then sacked Rome. That left them practically without recruitment options...

Not really, the script auto-places government buildings so Rome will have full recruitment options.

[Africanvs]

Not really, the script auto-places government buildings so Rome will have full recruitment options.

I imagine he probably destroyed the MICs.

As for the AI, that's really cool. I am thinking I need to go buy Alexander so I can use the exe for EB. I have heard a lot of good things about it.

[/Bean\]

Am I the only one who playing on just th RTW.exe gets, not regular, but not just occasional AI use of army transport by sea? Not invasions so often, but the KH often do, the Carthies move armies between Africa and Iberia later on in the game if they wage war with Lusos and still have a city or two over there. The Selekids and Ptolies sometimes transport troops to and from the Near East as well.

[Fluvius Camillus]

And you're wondering why the campaing became quickly boring? If you want to have fun with karthadast, you must allow rome to become strong and an economical superpower.... then fight with them at the peak of their powers....

I must agree though that BI and ALEX definetly improve both the campaing and battle ai

Dude, I can imagine the epic recreation of this awesome part of history, I would really love too.

The one thing that totally keeps me from trying this myself is the thougth of fighting numerous full stacks of troops drawn together from mercenaries levy and eventually triarii+pedites. Really how can the game stay fun when you have to fight full stack armies who dont seem to stop and keep coming, and coming, and coming and coming...:shame:

[satalexton]

well, romans ARE the 'lings of EB afterall...

[seienchin]

The parthian Empire is constantly trying to outflank me via armenia, but unfortunatly they dont recognize, that I have a bridge to defend there (Close to karthakiokerta). :book:
But I actually hate it, that in my romani campain the parthians just ignore the Seleukids, who have 2 cities left in the middle of the parthian empire just to atack me through foreign lands...

[Nachtmeister]

And you're wondering why the campaing became quickly boring? If you want to have fun with karthadast, you must allow rome to become strong and an economical superpower.... then fight with them at the peak of their powers....

I must agree though that BI and ALEX definetly improve both the campaing and battle ai

I was not wondering about it at all :laugh4:
Problem with BI.exe is, I messed something up or omitted something to get it to work properly; with EB, client rulers got FM traits with the only difference being that they did not enter the family tree. Thus, governing a type IV city, they piled up unrest instead of influence...


Not really, the script auto-places government buildings so Rome will have full recruitment options.


I imagine he probably destroyed the MICs.

As for the AI, that's really cool. I am thinking I need to go buy Alexander so I can use the exe for EB. I have heard a lot of good things about it.

Actually, I destroyed everything in those cities. That's what I call "sacking". Including the massacre exacted upon the population. I find it somewhat paradox that Qarthadast seems to require the MOT event to get reform troops.


Am I the only one who playing on just th RTW.exe gets, not regular, but not just occasional AI use of army transport by sea? Not invasions so often, but the KH often do, the Carthies move armies between Africa and Iberia later on in the game if they wage war with Lusos and still have a city or two over there. The Selekids and Ptolies sometimes transport troops to and from the Near East as well.

I'm back to RTW.exe now and I must say my most recent KH experience actually turned out to be quite the challenge: No mindless Makedonian retreat to Thessalia this time - instead, that full stack they start out with on the Peloponnesos went to the southern Thessalian border and then returned to go straight for Athenai! Actually I lost my faction leader in that epic battle where I was outnumbered 2:1 and even had severely split forces - Chremonides and the Athenian hoplites could not take part in the battle because they did not get up that huge mountain quick enough and an attempt to join forces in the middle would have resulted in total annihilation because the Makedonian phalanx (6xpikes, 2xhetairoi, div. assorted light units and hoplitai - compare to KH starting army after some battles to take Kydonia, Korinthos, Chalkis---) was denying me the space between the two forces. Only survived because the spartan forces started out on the higher ground...
So - yes, RTW.exe can be challenging at times.


Dude, I can imagine the epic recreation of this awesome part of history, I would really love too.

The one thing that totally keeps me from trying this myself is the thougth of fighting numerous full stacks of troops drawn together from mercenaries levy and eventually triarii+pedites. Really how can the game stay fun when you have to fight full stack armies who dont seem to stop and keep coming, and coming, and coming and coming...:shame:

I suppose there is just no way to force the AI to recruit realistic or at least well-balanced armies (recruitment focuses on countering the type of unit that is encountered most IIRC). I hate those fullstack elite armies too.


The parthian Empire is constantly trying to outflank me via armenia, but unfortunatly they dont recognize, that I have a bridge to defend there (Close to karthakiokerta). :book:
But I actually hate it, that in my romani campain the parthians just ignore the Seleukids, who have 2 cities left in the middle of the parthian empire just to atack me through foreign lands...

That's diplomatically rather realistic if you are playing the Romans... After all, what would you do if you were in command of an empire, had a small, weak "enemy" between you and them and that "enemy" was not actually sending troops to aid their armies? I for one would forge a temporary alliance and have them supply my armies while they cross through their lands. Dealing with them after fending off the greater threat is more convenient than going strictly by the concept of only attacking enemies on common land borders. Maybe after witnessing the destruction of that greater threat they would realize that resistance is futile and submit without a fight...