Question about ai!

[Swoosh So]

Is there any way to set the ai to expert but without giving it the combat bonuses? If not then i hope they have this feature in rome total war


Swoooosh

[Shahed]

Hope so too

[Shahed]

Or better still make the AI good enough that it does NOT need those bonuses.

[TosaInu]

Konnichiwa Swoosh san,

I hope so too, linking one thing with the other isn't very flexible.

No, it isn't possible, but you can give the AI some expert advantages by modding:

Campmap\Startpos springs to mind

Code Sample
//========================================
//Starting Treasury
//Sets the amount of cash available to
//each faction at the start of the game.
//you can specify 4 values for the four
//difficulty levels in the order EASY,
//NORMAL, HARD and EXPERT. Specify only one
//value to start all difficulty levels with
//the same size treasury.
//If you don't set this, the default
//is 2000 florins for all difficulty levels.
//========================================
SetTreasury:: FN_ALMOHAD 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_BYZANTINE 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_DANISH 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_EGYPTIAN 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_ENGLISH 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_FRENCH 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_GERMAN_HRE 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_ITALIAN 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_POLISH 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_RUSSIAN 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_SPANISH 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_TURKISH 10000 8000 6000 4000

SetTreasury:: FN_ARAGONESE 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_BURGUNDIAN 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_GOLDEN_HORDE 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_HUNGARIAN 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_PAPIST 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_SICILIAN 10000 8000 6000 4000
SetTreasury:: FN_NOVGOROD 10000 8000 6000 4000[/QUOTE]

And you could edit the vices of your own faction, edit playstyles.

Not exactely what a regular player is after though, nor is it exactely the same thing.

I guess some Mods do these things, WesW medmod?

[Dhepee]

I've also heard that you can mod the build priorities of a province and that will create more competitive units, however I can't seem to get the data on how to do it, the thread is pretty old.

[Swoosh So]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif i just want to play the expert ai without it having the combat bonuses, maybe they should make this an option in rome total war, The combat bonuses make the game feel weird with unit matchups being messed up http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif, i wonder if their is a command line switch they havent told us about?

I do mod my game quite often to make it a bit more difficult on normal but it never works out right and would need extensive playtesting to get a nice feel to a modded campaign. battle field ai as well as camp map ai i was talking about.

[Spino]

Swoosh, some time back the developers told us that Hard level is as good as the AI gets. The only differences between Hard and Expert levels are the starting florins and the large morale boost for all AI controlled troops.

[Nelson]

I would like the strategic and tactical difficulties to be separate so that you could have expert AI for the map strategy and normal unit strengths for the battles.

[NewJeffCT]

Actually, I would like just the opposite - harder battles, but easier diplomacy. I just don't see any realism in a small faction with 1 or 2 provinces attacking a well defended faction with 10 or 15 times that many provinces and, or the inevitable war that starts with the AI sinking one of your ships and then everybody cancelling their alliance with you...

But, an option to have multiple difficulties would solve both our problems

[Swoosh So]

So does anyone know the exact improvements the ai gets on hard and expert level? (no guesses please).

[Odyssey of War]

Something important should be brought up here that I believe some people are forgetting. Computer programs are written by people and cannot just be "smarter." Someone has to tell the program what to do in order for it to be smarter. On easier settings it may slowly build up and be less aggressive in unit building and in battles, whereas a tougher setting may set the computer to be more aggressive, and use tactics such as defence and structures building to complement its passivity or war-mongering. To try to make a program smarter, it is common practice to give the program advantages, which make it "smarter", by switching off these bonuses, they wouldnt be any "smarter." The programmer can rarely account for any and all circumstances that may arise from a human player. That is essentially why a human player is always going to be better than a computer player, because a human player can do the unexpected. I do think MTW does a good job of trying to predict what situations can arise in the game, but it doesnt have solutions for every possibility.

All in all, we need multiplayer on the strategic map to fully have expert on expert play. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[The Storyteller]

No kidding. Even in chess, with relatively rigid rules, computers still can't outperform the top players. Total War is so much more flexible...

The computer doesn't have the imagination to be a top player. It does, however, possess the brilliant stupidity to be a major pain sometimes. Staring slack jawed at an AI led invasion going 'no sane person would do that' can mess up a campaign as well. After all, we all make moves based on logical guesses about our opponent's thinking.

Logically speaking, should a small nation launch an all out suicidal attack on a large one? Well, no... but its been known to happen in real life, giving large nations the shock of their lives...

[Bevan of Hertfordshire]

Except in total war the small nation gets completly destroyed. And then returns years later and promptly invades everywhere.

It then loses all its men in moronic attacks and gets beaten again.

[Spino]

Quote[/b] ]No kidding. Even in chess, with relatively rigid rules, computers still can't outperform the top players. Total War is so much more flexible...

The computer doesn't have the imagination to be a top player. It does, however, possess the brilliant stupidity to be a major pain sometimes. Staring slack jawed at an AI led invasion going 'no sane person would do that' can mess up a campaign as well. After all, we all make moves based on logical guesses about our opponent's thinking.

Logically speaking, should a small nation launch an all out suicidal attack on a large one? Well, no... but its been known to happen in real life, giving large nations the shock of their lives...

True, history has witnessed the David and Goliath scenario played out time and time again but overall the frequency of incredibly stupid acts of aggression by a smaller nation against a much more powerful neighbor are fairly rare in real life. What I find the most frustrating about the strategic AI in the Total War series is that it lacks a very basic common sense that has existed in strategy games like the Civilization series and it's clones for years. In Civilization when you are the undisputed superpower on the block it is extremely rare to have one of the lesser nations pick a fight with you. In fact most of the time they are eager to seek your friendship and improve trade In the Total War series factions demonstrate a decidedly self-destructive path by consistently picking on the wrong faction and/or picking more than one fight at a time Despite my displeasure in playing against single minded AI opponents I DO understand the logic behind this design approach. After all, these are Total WAR games, not pure civilization simulators. Much of the joy derived from the TW games is derived from fighting, not building

[The Storyteller]

I let it go in Total War, because the Middle Ages were not known for producing brilliant statesmen. Most of the hereditary rulers were just plain stupid.

[Puzz3D]

longjohn2
Programmer


Posts: 135
From:UK
Registered: Nov 2000
posted 10-01-2002 06:35 PM
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I can't comment on the strat map.
On the battle map, the a.i. gets progressively better up to hard level. On expert level, the only behaviour difference I can think of, is that it gets a bit more leeway to camp near the map edge if a suitable position is available.

The combat strength of the a.i. units is affected by the difficulty level.
On easy its combat effectiveness is reduced by 30-40% (can't remember the exact figure).
On hard it's increased by 10-15%, and on experct its 30%. 30% being around 75% of the increase you'd get from 1 valour upgrade.
Additionally it gets +4 morale on expert, and the player gets +4 on easy.

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GilJaysmith

Code Panda



HOF Award 2002
Group: CA
Posts: 706
Joined: Aug. 2002
Creative Assembly / Littlehampton Posted: April 26 2003,13:00

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Feeling generous, so: here's a reasonably full list of what the battle AI will do at different game settings. This is based on a quick code search; whether some of these points come across in the game may depend on your playing style.

- On expert the AI gets a morale bonus - on easy the player gets one
- On hard and above, AI skirmishers will try to avoid being pincered
- On easy the AI will not consider going into loose formation to avoid being shot at
- On easy the AI will not consider outflanking, double-envelopment, or stop-and-shoot tactics
- On easy the AI won't move troops out of the way of castle walls which may be about to collapse
- On easy the AI will try to hide rather than flee if the battle is going badly
- On easy the AI will not try ambushes
- On easy the AI will not try the 'appear weak' battle plan
- The AI is more likely to deploy in woods on harder difficulties, and less likely to camp near the red zone on easier difficulties
- The AI is more likely to consider scouting the map to find the rest of your army if it can't see it all on higher difficulties
- On easy the AI will not skirmish
- On higher than easy, the AI will specifically consider shooting at your artillery
- On easy the AI will generally attack rather than defend, and will not consider withdrawing for a much longer time
- On higher than easy, the AI will check to see if it's marching into enfilade fire when attacking your main body
- On easy the AI may come out of a wall breach to chase you if you attack and are repulsed