Suicidal Stupid AI

In my Mac campaign, I'm around 243 BC, firmly establishing my presence in Anatolia. I have Pergamon, Halicarnasos, Sardis and Nicea. AS are fighting the Ptolies, losing Antiochia to them and Damascus (but retake Damascus later).They are also fighting Pahlava and losing their north-eastern and some central provinces. Overall their position is not good.

I'm their ally from the start and since I see that they are in a though position, I decide to help them. I attack the Ptolies and take Salamis, then I take one of their towns on the southern coast of Asia Minor. Previously (7-10 years earlier) I've killed off KH (that's how I took Sardis) who were also fighting the AS in Anatolia and were the Ptolies' allies. One turn ago Baktria declared war on AS too and what I see the very next turn: AS, who were trying to sneak their spy for some time already into Pergamon and failed, move in their assassin and kill my governor there. At that time I have my king's army in Southern Anatolia and another army, consisting only of professional and elite troops in Nikea. The only thing the AS get from that assassination is that the public order in Pergamon dropped to 80%. But, I already signed a truce with the Ptolies and my armies are ready to wipe out AS in Anatoia in a war that will be started in the next couple of turns.

What is the reasoning behind AI actions? I know, the AI sometimes does strange things, but here it's like signing a death verdict to their own empire.

The AI factions instantly and automatically have a grudge against the human player, no matter you're at war, truce, alliance or protectorate with them.

So, they will inevitably attack you, no matter how foolish their actions are.

And we can't do a damn thing about that.

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Originally Posted by k_raso

The AI factions instantly and automatically have a grudge against the human player, no matter you're at war, truce, alliance or protectorate with them.

So, they will inevitably attack you, no matter how foolish their actions are.

And we can't do a damn thing about that.

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That's too bad. It's a pity CA didn't make a diplomacy in RTW anything more than a nearly useless feature, especially considering the fact how important the diplomacy was in Hellenistic and Roman world. I thought that in M2TW the diplomacy is better balanced, but after playing it I think that not much has changed. I hope that it is at least modable so that EB team would have the chance to improve it in EBII.

sorry from what I have heard the diplomacy is hard coded
and BTW the diplomacy AI and the campaign AI are 2 different things
actually the only way to avoid war is to not border a province a faction owns
and still that is not a foolproof way
ow and the only way you are going to keep a cease fire longer then a turn is to defeat all an opponents navy
and all the armies near your city's
damn the artificial idiocy

Try lower the campaign difficulty, that might help.

Using forced diplomacy mod you can force the IA to accept a tribute from you, something like 100 mnai for 100 turns. The IA rarely attacks you while you are paying tribute. Anyway, as said theoldbelgian, its no foolproof, but will help a lot to keep peace for a while even with border factions.

If I am not wrong, AI doesn't attack players who have a too large empire (maybe it is hardcoded to do the only smart thing they do just in this cases, when its obvious that your enemy is too strong to fight against).
In EB however I also noticed that some factions rarely attacks, for instance the Getai, or attack only in order to control certain provinces and no more else.

Nope, that isn't true. When I took over the entire map with the Aedui, the idiots in charge of the Seleucid Empire attacked me (as an ally, no less!) when I had about 120 provinces. They were then invaded from four different directions and completely annihilated.

Well, in my Seleucid campaign I control the whole Mediterranean area and the lands from Babylon to the Indus and nobody (except for the Lusotannans) dares to get an army nearby my lands. So I thought that maybe the AI thinks that I'm too strong for a war, unless a big alliance is formed against me (but the second strongest power are the Aedui who are my allies).

If you want gripping diplomacy play Hearts of Iron II... i wish they'd take that map and that diplomacy, and put it into TW. best of both worlds!

I really think that it's only about how well-garrisoned your border cities are. If you have 5x the military strength of another faction and 10 provinces that border theirs, the AI will see one poorly-garrisoned city as a worthwhile target and besiege it. It will do this even if you have ten or so full stacks within easy marching distance of all of its cities. It's just mindblowingly stupid in this respect, and there is nothing you can do about it save for keeping your borders well-fortified.

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Originally Posted by Celtic_Punk

If you want gripping diplomacy play Hearts of Iron II... i wish they'd take that map and that diplomacy, and put it into TW. best of both worlds!

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Lets hope ETW has a decent diplomacy.

is M2TW diplomacy really that bad? I never tried it out.

I played M2TW with Stainless Steel mod for some time. The diplomacy seems to be a little better. The AI is more reasonable to accept a ceasefire and you don't get backstabbed by your allies too often, but on the other hand it was much easier to form alliances and if you form too many, nearly no one will attack you, so you will always be picking your own targets of opportunity which makes the game easier. Although I remember reading in the mod release notes that they've modded the probability of backstabbings and alliances with factions of different religion. So, may be not all diplomacy is hardcoded.