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View Full Version : something i noticed about the strategic AI



zipnar
11-11-2002, 06:16
it will usually attack with a force approximatley the same as what you have in the defending provice. its like it tries to do its best to make 'close fights' even when it has the resources to score an overwhelming win. for some reason i dont like this...because i feel like the computer trying to "humor" me with close fights instead of trying to win. the computer needs superior forces to beat a human, but it wont use them.

maybe i'm imagining it...but after several campaigns, its happened many many times.

hrvojej
11-11-2002, 06:52
So, you're saying that you've never had those 9000 vs. 800 battles in a span of several campaigns? I'd say the AI does ok when attacking, but retreats from province/to castle when defending way too often.

Postino
11-11-2002, 06:55
what difficulty? wiht expert and the patch fixing the valor bonus for the comp, an even fight must be well played on your part.i.e. dont make any big mistakes in battle, i lost a few forgetting about that. also the comp, in battles, seems to rush more quickly, rather than its pre-patch standing around waiting for you to move your ranks.

zipnar
11-11-2002, 07:05
expert of course, when the AI does attack with large numbers it is always low quality troops...as if it compares the florin value of armies when deciding what to attack with.

no, i've never seen a 9000 vs 800 battle where i was the defender. infact i can't even recall ever being attacked by a force that outclassed mine. with the golden horde or the pope spawning being the exception.

notice how the computer always invades a peasant garrisoned province with 20 royal knights. it can't possibly assault your castle with that...or hope to prevent the seige from being lifted, its like it just makes a simple comparison and figured hey, 20 royal knights is ~ 200 peasants. (i use 200 peasants everywhere and see the 20 royal knights thing very very often)

Nobunaga0611
11-11-2002, 07:07
For some reason the AI likes to bring it against me. While playing as the English, the Almohads never even blinked during their execution of the Spanish. I was in financial trouble, and could only provide a certain amount of troops on the bordering province with them. Just for the hell of it, I replayed the save game many times the turn just before they attacked, seeing if it were actually possible to beat them in the ensuing battle. They always attacked the next turn, that never changed. At first I thought I'd throw more troops in the province, as most people would do. They still brought roughly 3 times the amount of men I had in the province. I'd throw in another 100 man Feudal Sergeants unit, and they'd bring an extra 3 units AUM. Then I started clearing out the province, and only leaving 1 unit of archers, they'd bring an archer unit and a unit of spearmen. Basically the AI was trying to piss me off. They succeeded. Next time I destroyed all the buildings, abandoned the province, built up a mass of soldiers, and slaughtered every Almohad soldier I could get my hands on.

hrvojej
11-11-2002, 07:20
A silly question, but do you rush the AI so that it doesn't have time to build up? I mean, does it have the troops available and just doesn't use them? I have at least one massive battle per campaign, usually in the desert. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif Other scenarios involve the Almohads, or when you herd all the remnants of a faction in a single province. Plus, there are multiple crusades, of course.

zipnar
11-11-2002, 07:29
hmm, i usually try to win before the golden horde emerges, but with spain and the danes...sometimes you lose momentum for various reasons early game. but to answer your question i think the longest a campaign has taken me is 1250ish. i think one reason for the AI's lack of good units is the fact that trade routes are an insane monetary advantage for the human player...i have approx 250k florins in the bank, 10-20k per turn income , with every province pumping out buildings and troops nonstop at 1200ad. (i get the starcraft mentality of "money does no good if you dont spend it", and build fortresses in places i will never even need them) the ai factions never have trade routes in my games it seems they get a navy then randomly attack one of my ships...which cuts us both off and i'm forced to destroy them.

but yes i am a very aggressive expansionist starting from turn 1, so that could be a possible reason for it.

hrvojej
11-11-2002, 07:35
I would say that it's a very different thing if the AI has the troops and doesn't use them, and you not allowing it to have any troops at all, don't you think? If I'm understanding what you're saying correctly, that is......

zipnar
11-11-2002, 07:41
oh it will have troops, i always play catholic factions and there will always be either byzantine, egypt, or turkey controlling the bottom right part of the map and they will have HUGE forces. however i've never had it attack me with one of those mega multi-stack armies w/9 star general.

an easy way to take them out btw (and this is probably an exploit so i have sworn off using it anymore) is land armies in every province of the AI that outnumbers them rediculously so that they will withdrawl...since it all happens in one turn there's nowhere for them to withdraw to so anything that can't fit in a castle is automatically your prisoner. at most you end up fighting the battle where the enemy monarch is, kill him. and either seige out the heirs...or seige out the resulting neutral rebels. not to mention if he had a fleet..its gone now, instead of having to chase stuff from sea zone to sea zone.

that last paragraph was off topic i know...but it relates to the mega stacks the computer wont fully devote to an attack...ever. at least on me.

hrvojej
11-11-2002, 07:47
Still, I would say that it's because you attack them first. Leave a garrison of ~1000 men on a border with a province that has 6-7 stacks, and they'll come. Or take the province next to it, they'll retreat, and then come the next turn. If you want huge battles, of course.....

Taojah
11-11-2002, 08:00
I noticed the same thing : attacking me with about the same number of troops as I have (on expert).
That's why I always use high-quality troops for defence : I think he attacks with the same number as I have, but doesn't match the quality.
The only really outnumbered battles seems to occur with the golden horde and when they try to retake their capital.

It can be that it is programmed ths way or that the AI is VERY carefull and always tries to defend his provinces with many troops, so that he hasn't lots of attackers.

Jaret
11-11-2002, 08:11
2.2k Spanish Elite Forces (mine) vs. 6.6k Egyptian Troublemakers (AI) ... and it attacked me ... but my Lancers saved the Day ... altho it was in the desert http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif.

Rosacrux
11-11-2002, 08:56
I've posted this in the previous forum, but what the hell, I still think it's the most impressive battle ever: 11.500 rebels vs a 1400 Byzantine army.

Very impressive and they didn't have a single peasant unit and very few urban militia. they had loads of spearmen, many, many Feud. seargents, steppe cavalry and horse archers and an assortment of other units.

I managed to fend them off but only because the fight was in Khazar and it involved a two-bridge defense.

Another very interesting battle was Turks (me) vs Almoheads: 2400 vs 9000+. I was on the offensive and the Elmos got me, even though I killed (including the killed prisoners http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif ) more than 4500 of them