best way to help the AI

As we all know, sometimes the AI needs all the help it can get. Since many of you know many commands for the console and/or other stuff, please post about what ways you know to work in helping the AI (except giving it lots of money, which doesn't always work). Playing at VH is not a solution, I'm playing a game with the Romani now at VH/M , and I'm giving the AI loads of money and yet it doesn't really achieve much.
PS: I tried to search for a topic about this, but couldn't find one, sorry if it's one already out there

I know some peopole use a force diplomacy script to dig it out of diplomatic holes. I personally just give it a ton of money, play on VH, and keep the peace whee possible

- Forced Diplomacy: Take lands from factions that are to strong and give it those that are close to destruction

- House Rules: Use all kinds of rules to not exploit the AI stupidity. That also applies to the tactical screen; keep battles as simple as possible, try to avoid battles with AI reinforcements, don't lure its cavalry into your pikemen etcpp.

- Long Sessions: Decisions are not saved for the AI. You might remember that Publius Aemilius Paullus and his army outside Segesta was heading for Mediolanum when you load your game the other day - the AI doesn't! With everytime you reload a campaign you'll have more and more AI stacks standing idle around.

- Battle Formations: There are several files around for AI formations, like the EB version, the Vanilla, Darth's mod, Sihunet's etc. Try them out and play with the one the AI preforms best against your style of fighting.

- Do not ally with weaker factions: My latest discovery; it is much more likely to be attacked by an ally than by a neutral faction, even if the ally is much weaker than you are. In M2TW we are able to mod the AI diplomacy and might be able to stop this madness, but in RTW you should avoid alliances with AI factions that won't survive for long in a war with you.

WOW! I musty get M2TW! Actually, I ally with puny factions and give them a tribute each turn, and they eventually become just another part of my empire... Ave Caesar!

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Originally Posted by konny

- Long Sessions: Decisions are not saved for the AI. You might remember that Publius Aemilius Paullus and his army outside Segesta was heading for Mediolanum when you load your game the other day - the AI doesn't! With everytime you reload a campaign you'll have more and more AI stacks standing idle around.

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Didn't that get fixed in the 1.5 and/or 1.6 RTW patch? Coulda have sworn it was, would explain a few things if it wasn't thou.

besides the above mentioned (FD, add_money) i also tend to move armies of the faction im supporting closer to protect their fronts and advance. Amazing what KH can do when their 2 full stacks arent gaurding rhodes.

ok do a kind of mini game with your armys which is pretty fun go as far as you can with one army and only recuite mercinaire units if you don't take like 10 towns with that army then you have to give them back to the enemy and if it on hard 5-7 if it on veryhard 3-4 depending on the army in side the towns

something else I found which it a pain for me if you wait for 50-60 before conquering the armys you come up againest are very good high star generals and some elite units

also conquering and giving the provanice to the enemy and waiting for them to grow is sometime good although I like fast conquering so not for me

historical armys

although this is really improving the AI it the best ways to play I think

Gifts of money through the console.

Forced Diplomacy to maintain them at a certain viable level of settlements if they're pressed.

Using create_unit to beef up their armies, especially when they're under siege in one of their core settlements.

And move_character to help defend their settlements with their own troops.

Through these four tools I've kept the Seleukids alive even though they only have seven settlements, and are at war with Pontos, the Hai, the Ptolemies, the Sab'yn and Pahlava. I've also stopped the Hai wandering off north into the steppes. And kept a geographically-spread Saba viable. Plus create Galatia, and "indepedent" Celtiberia and lots more.

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Originally Posted by Fondor_Yards

Didn't that get fixed in the 1.5 and/or 1.6 RTW patch? Coulda have sworn it was, would explain a few things if it wasn't thou.

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Wasn't it AI armies abandoning seiges when games were reloaded that was fixed?

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Originally Posted by johnhughthom

Wasn't it AI armies abandoning seiges when games were reloaded that was fixed?

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Yes that was fixed. But the problem with more and more AI armies becoming idle throughout the game still exists.

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Originally Posted by STuNTz2023

besides the above mentioned (FD, add_money) i also tend to move armies of the faction im supporting closer to protect their fronts and advance. Amazing what KH can do when their 2 full stacks arent gaurding rhodes.

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Does this work the same way as moving one of your own factional FM (move_character "First middleLast" x,y)? Or do i have to use a modified command?

Thanks in advance…

Btw, this is an very useful thread for players who like balanced campaigns, or hate it to see a faction irrecoverable die.

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Originally Posted by julianus apostata

Does this work the same way as moving one of your own factional FM (move_character "First middleLast" x,y)? Or do i have to use a modified command?

Thanks in advance…

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Name format depends on the faction. Roman ones are pretty much impossible to move because of the way their internal names are assigned. See the names.txt file, which usually gives the right ones for most characters. Some captains, though won't respond to their external names, especially when some factions use the same names.

Yes sometimes it seems to me that allmost all greek man that are fit for military service are on vacation on Rhodes beaches, instead of defending their homelands…:laugh4:

Will try to get them back to their duty via move_character command.

You can see what I've done in my game here. Short narrative to explain what I've been tinkering with for each faction.

Pahlava Migrated to Persia and I used the Create_Unit Cheat and gave them lots of Infantry and their best cavalry(one of which I gave a Grinpavr 9 exp, 3 armor, and 3 attack) so they had enough time to use their 2000000 minai on buildings.

Great achievements Quintus...

How do i use exactly the create_unit command for other than my own faction?

I've found out that giving too much money to weak factions can sometimes make them even weaker. The AI tends to spend all that money on new troops which it couldn't support without that money. They will then be economically broken after a few turns and possibly do nothing anymore. The same thing can happen with the create_unit cheat. While some factions can recover after a while, with small factions you have a 50-50 chance of making them more active or even more passive then they were.

The move_character cheat is often pretty useful to help the AI, especially for factions like KH that get isolated on islands where they have 4 stacks without a navy.

If you give a province to the AI you should make sure that there is an appropriate gouvernment building for that faction. The AI loves to build lvl4 gov and has only access to levies as a result.

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Originally Posted by julianus apostata

Great achievements Quintus...

How do i use exactly the create_unit command for other than my own faction?

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Just pull up the EDU to find out what units internal names are, and more importantly which faction can have them. Then you just put them either in settlement or armies of other factions.

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Originally Posted by julianus apostata

How do i use exactly the create_unit command for other than my own faction?

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Just use create_unit Cityname "unitname". It depends only on the city/character, not the faction.

Thanks for your advices, will try them out.

Another usefull way of using the add_money command is to take money from a faction just by adding a negatve amount after the command. i often find this way more effective than bolster a weak faction with huge amounts of money.
normally i take 10000-15000 for 3-4 turns from a faction, that helps...

Is there a sort of "cheatsheet" with all commands available to help out the AI?

Yes. Google "RTW cheat" or similar.

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Originally Posted by julianus apostata

Thanks for your advices, will try them out.

Another usefull way of using the add_money command is to take money from a faction just by adding a negatve amount after the command. i often find this way more effective than bolster a weak faction with huge amounts of money.
normally i take 10000-15000 for 3-4 turns from a faction, that helps...

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Later in the game you need to take a bit more than that to have an impact on some of the richer factions.