More aggressive AI

[Xiphias]

Does anyone know if it's possible to make the AI more aggressive on the campaign? I usually play on normal or easy and the AI rarely tries to conquer the world. For example the golden hoard will invade, conquer a few provinces and then settle down and live happily ever after with 500+ units in each province. Or the vikings will be content to stay in scandinavia the whole game and only launch a couple of small raids on england.

Would upping the difficulty help or can anyone recommend any mods that would do it?

[Krakra]

I have been meaning to ask the a similar question, so if you don't mind, let me tag it along.

In addition to the improving the intelligence of the AI in matters of economy and expansion, does ANY mod address the huge shortcomings of the AI in battle? Can the AI be modded at all?

Case in point: me (the Irish) are attacked by one of the others (forgot who). The AI has roughly twice more men and only 2 of its units are peasants (so far smart). The AI also has archers, but when the attack starts, the weather is rainy. Why would anyone attack with archer superiority in rain?

Not counting on my rain luck, I am, obiously, in the woods to protect against archer fire. Suddenly I see a lonely unit of archers well ahead of the AI army. Now, this is what I call a giveway for cavalry

Ok, so I reduce that archer unit to zero. The AI finally attacks in strength. It even tries to flank, but there is no attempt to hit me from behind with its 3 units of norman knights. Instead, those units hang around until I have routed its main force.

The result: 120 of my losses, a hair short of 1,000 for the AI. Come on, even I can do better than this and I thought lowly of myself as far as attacks go

Can the AI be improved to fight like a man (or a woman, if you are female)?

[Gregoshi]

I believe the MedMod has somehow played with the AI. Someone versed in that mod might be able to shed more light on the subject. I'd suggest you read the MedMod threads to learn more, but there are several and they are all rather lengthy.

[dedmoroz]

so far as i know, medmod will not change the AI behavior in battles but it will do so on strategic map.

one thing is for sure - once you will play on hard or expert, AI will be much harder to beat due to morale bonuses and wiser tactics such as opening to loose formation under archer fire, more common use of trees and other tactics that more skillful human player will use.

so if u feel that AI is not challenging enough on easy and normal, try playing at least on hard... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[Dead Moroz]

2 dedmoroz: Hi sister http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/santa.gif

[Xiphias]

I did look at the Medmod readme and it seems to make a lot of changes that I don't like the sound of.

If no one else has any suggestions then I might try it out though.

[Satyr]

I have been playing Medmod 3.14 for quite a while and I have played most of the factions in Early and High starts. Medmod does 4 things that really change the game.

First, if causes the AI to actually successfully trade, maybe with a little too much emphasis on boat building but that may have been required to get them to build enough boats in the first place. It is not unusual to have the Danes with a full stack of 16 boats in a sea zone in the later parts of the game. This has caused the AI to have lots of money and has led to the second benefit.

The AI armies are usually as good as those you build. No longer will you face peasants and urban militia armies. Also, because the AI has money enough for troops there are many less rebellions, usually only being caused by unloyal princes or the death of the king without heirs.

Third, the AIs have been set to be aggressive. This is quite obvious when you are attacked by one faction and all the other ones see this as a sign of your weakness and pounce on you too. It is not uncommon to be attacked by 5 factions simultaneously. You WILL actually lose some games if you play Medmod. In particular, if you try your hand at an HRE game, you will lose a few times before you figure it out.

Fourth, you have been weakened somewhat although these features also affect the AI. You are only allowed to build troops in your HOME provinces. This means that acquiring these Home provinces early enough to build infrastructure is very important. It also means that you can't flood the board with troops as easily. It also means that the quality of your troops are more important.

There are many changes to the units in Medmod and they cause each faction to FEEL and PLAY very differently. Try it, if you are hankering for a challenge you will never go back.

[Tricky Lady]

I believe there a cheat code too http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-anxious.gif which makes the AI more aggressive: .nuttermode.
I don't know if this makes the AI even more stupid in his attacks (i.e. attacking a stack of 1300 JHI with 1 unit of peasants) or that this makes the AI more aggressive + smarter...
Anyone knows?

[Chimpyang]

TBh i didnt notice a difference with .nuttermode. on.

[dedmoroz]

Quote[/b] (Dead Moroz @ April 27 2004,03:17)]2 dedmoroz: Hi sister http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/santa.gif
hi bro

i see my nick idea is not so original anymore http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif

[Lord Ovaat]

Quote[/b] (Gregoshi @ April 26 2004,23:44)]I believe the MedMod has somehow played with the AI. Someone versed in that mod might be able to shed more light on the subject.
Wes W. was able to tweek the AI in several ways. They build good trade routes, lots of ships. They are far more aggressive in gobbling unoccupied provinces. I personally feel the Mod is superior to the regular VI, but that's just my opinion. Much, much harder to play. I really like the homelands concept and faction specific units. Some of the problems inherent in creating any game or mod are being corrected for version 4.0, which should be out soon in beta. I would recommend playing the current version to get my feet wet with all the new concepts. It really puts new life in the game.


PS: See, GREGOSHI. Even old farts can learn new tricks. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Krakra]

Satyr, I quite agree that MedMod has changed the AI behavior. I did notice that when one countries goes to war with you, everyone else piles up.

[gaelic cowboy]

You could set the Faction specific behaviour in the startpos textfile to a more aggressive footing and maybe more start money or just higher level start units.