AI auto merge units is lame

[Poison Arrow]

I just finished a battle with two units of Kat, they were not full strength to begin, around 30 each. I had a hard win against a large force, I had to use these tanks to mop up alot. They were both brought down to about 20 each, one being my general Prince. I look at the army after thinking it's ok, I can take from the standard unit and fill out my Prince unit. But no, the AI has already done that but in reverse. Filling out the regular unit and leaving my prince with 3 men. WTF?

I also am getting attacked by Sicily (Byz camp), and the same thing happened after defeating an attacking army. The AI left my general by himself. The AI should prioritze by rank and valor. What it uses now is beyond me.

[JAG]

A problem I too found annoying. However you can turn it off. If you click the grey left arrow type thing near the mini map, you will see all the tickable options. Simply turn it off. Also you can reorganise your own units, just crag the unit of the same type of the other unit of the same type you want it to go into. Say you have the 3 man price knight regiment and a 5 unit knight regiment. Simply click and drag the 5 man unit onto the Princes 3 man and you'll get an 8 man uni with the Prince at it's head. Should sort your problem.

[Poison Arrow]

Yeah, I found tidy up units box, now unchecked. Now I can do what you suggest when units are not at full strength but are with units of same type. The problem was that the Princes unit had 4, the other was a full 40. Dropping the 40 on the 4 didn't work, it didn't transfer the men. Course I kinda knew that wasn't gonna work, but I had to try.

Tidy up units baaaaaad.......

[Poison Arrow]

Unchecking that box solves my problem, but the AI's system of deciding which units to fill is flawed. It should fill the top of the chain of command first, based on command stars and in a situation of no stars, valor first.

[motorhead]

Quote[/b] ]Dropping the 40 on the 4 didn't work, it didn't transfer the men.
This always works for me. You have both units in the same stack? Go to the bottom unit display and drag the 40 onto the prince. See Ichi's excellent post Combining Units, Maximize Fun and Profit (http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=7;t=15129)


edit: The game engines priorities are different. It doesn't like to commit its general's unit to combat, so it maximizes non-general units, which it is more likely to actually send into battle. Think how many times you've seen the AI withdraw it's 1-man general unit at the beginning of a battle. It preserves the valor bonus the general endows by withdrawing the general, so to it's way of playing, minimizing the men with the general is smarter.

[Poison Arrow]

Motorhead, it may not have worked because I hadn't unchecked tidy up units yet. I then fought another battle with that army and the 40 unit lost some men and then the prince was auto added. So now the unit is 36 strong.

So, now with that box unchecked I will control how things go. I should anyway, I have a tendancy to mass units and overpower by numbers rather than wisely choosing and controlling units. I like to see my enemy retreat to his castle. Usually by a certain time in STW games I would be less concerned about unit selection per army, but rather numbers, trying to sweep across the board and win by speed and unit production power. Utilizing new regions as my source of income rather than building. Auto calcing battles and playing the game as a game of risk rather than a tactical battle. Usually only do it if I get bored and am not in the mood to fight battles. Or, I have so much ability to create units that the fun of sweeping takes over. Run you bastiches....RUN