trade and AI

[tuopaolo]

In MTW 1.1 the AI never seems to trade via ships and ports even though the patch I thought was supposed to fix this.

This puts the AI at an extreme disadvantage since you can rake in tons of money by trading.

Does anyone have any ideas how to mod the game to fix this problem?

One idea I had was to just increase the cost and/or building time of the Merchant line of buildings.

[the Black Prince]

i wonder if maybe its not inthe building preferences or combinations that the AI uses. if not, then the AI will concentrate on other buildings first.

check the build_prod file with gnome editor.

[Yelping Godzilla]

The medmod, currently in 3.03 beta for VI, 1.85 final for those without the expansion, really does help with this problem. The AI build large fleets, often outnumbering your own and they don't seem to suffer a lack of finances.

Perhaps if you check it out you might like it.

EEUURAAH.

[tuopaolo]

Thanks guys for the responses so far http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

I read the MedMod 1.85 Readme file and it does change the build priority for ships and I may look into that but I according the Readme file it is "common" for the AI to remove ships from coastal waters which have been secured by ships in waters surrounding it. That obviously disrupts trade routes. The MedMod 1.85 solution to this was to delete some sea zones like the Adriatic Sea. I'd rather not have to delete sea zones but maybe I'll do that as a last resort http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

In the meantime I'm going to try to just give Merchants a fixed income like mines. I'm also going to try and make higher level Merchant buildings have a Port as a prerequisite. That way the provinces with Ports will be able to have a higher "trade" income than landlocked provinces. I'm hoping this will work http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

If anyone has any more ideas or sees pitfalls with mine please let me know http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[BDC]

MedMod really improves the game, I'd use it if I were you. Even better get VI and try the new 3.03... It's even better. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[tuopaolo]

Thanks for the recommendation I will one day give it a try http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif But I tend to like tweaking things myself.

I'm going to get VI once the patch comes out.

I thought of another idea to "fix" AI trading ... I think I'll just set the import rating so that imports generate income as much as exports

Edit: Nevermind. Apparently you can only do this with VI http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

[Razor1952]

Wes MM certainly helps a lot by improving how the ai uses trade. Nevertheless IMHO building a naval trading strat is so dominant a strat that other ways to play (eg. conquest only) is limited. Once achieving $$$$, the rest is easy.

I've posted my thoughts above in another thread on modding ideas, but basically I think naval trade needs to be downgraded while local trade and other non-trade income sources could be boosted for non sea-provinces in particular.

[Old Bald Guy]

tuopaolo, if you're waiting for a patch before getting VI, you're missing out. VI improves the game more than the need for the patch hurts it, if that makes sense. VI is worth getting, and I'm one of the agitators who has been demanding a patch. Simply, the patch of VI won't improve it as much as VI improves MTW.

Razor, agreed, completely. Imho, the need for sea trade over internal trade imbalances the game. To play, you must set up trade, first, spending valuable time and resources building ports and ships, otherwise, you die. I'm in favor of more than one way to victory.

OBG

[ToranagaSama]

MedMod for MTW 1.1. There's a "No Units" version if you don't want to use the modded units. Why not try the MedMod and see if you can tweak it even more

MedMod and my Harcore Rules goes a longggg way toward reducing the Player's monetary advantage.

[dancho]

I would like to use this opportunity to shamelessly plug my own mod, MOYA 2. Here is the download link:

Click Here to Download (http://home.earthlink.net/~trescia/Moya2forV11.zip)

I believe that this mod provide a number of important changes that give the AI a fighting chance. I play a very trade-centered game, but I am not always the richest. Other factions routinely out-perform me in trade. Really. One thing that helps is to provide all the factions with trading posts at the start of the game. The AI does not seem to be able to build these as it should.