naval invasions: anything happening post patch 3?

Post patch 3, we supposedly have naval invasions. Some folks have even confirmed (with screenshots) AI ferrying troops around. But has anyone seen the AI actually try to DO ANYTHING with those troops?

Here are my observations so far:, playing as Ottomans (VH) I have observed Innuit declare a 100-year war on the French and still, by 1785, not having realized there is a LAND BRIDGE between their territory and undefended Newfoundland.

Dutch got into a war with the French from day one, took the French Guiana right away. But still in 1785, they have not realized there is an empty and undefended French island territory right next door.

Similar situation with British and French: both have been at war for decades with absolutely no activity (in that war) on either side. Same line: British are at war with Mughals (who have taken over all of India), but still: no sight of any British activity in the subcontinent decades after DOW. British and Mughals are happily trading away sitting on anchors right next to each other near Madagascar...

Spain is at war with Morocco since 1703; in 1785 they have 3(!) full stacks sitting in Gibraltar not being able to cross over using the landbridge...

So, as far as I can see, the campaign AI is as dumb, inconsistent and passive (late game) as it ever was. :no:

I have had one real naval invasion although it was a strange one. I had captured Sweden from Sweden and had a weakened stack in Stockholm. A second stack was being transported to Finland, the last stronghold of the Swedes. To my surprise I saw a Swedish fleet transporting a full stack heading to Sweden. I attacked with my fleet and the remnants fled into the fishing harbor just north of Stockholm. During the AI's turn that army tried to capture Stockholm but failed. The stupid thing was that is was Sweden's last army and Finland was now undefended. I don't know what Sweden would have done with that army if I hadn't attacked that fleet and driven it straight into my own harbor. But it was a real naval invasion.

And yes: the AI is still to much focused on seeing the country side, visiting peasant girls, raping and plundering then capturing or defending region capitals.

It seems to me that the priority in making naval landing forces (ships + troops) works, but once the ships are out at sea, the AI loses its goals and seems to just do random movement.

There should clearly be a plan that stays in effect from embarking to disembarking. Something like:
the AI makes an invasion force (a stack of troops) and a ship (or brings an existing ship), already at this point it has decided the target for the invasion.
Then the ship is loaded and it sails straight for the target, until it can disembark with the troops.

In the current version, the AI does build a stack and put it in a ship, but then it has no goal for the troops, or it has *too many* goals competing for the ship that cause it to sail all over the place.

This is obviously not perfect and would be exploitable (since the ships would just go on, without caring what happens elsewhere) but I would prefer it to the sightseeing trips the french are making :D

I've seen AI ships with troops in them in my GB game - but I haven't seen them do anything. Though to be fair, I've lost track of the Portugese fleet with a single unit in it. It might be anywhere (including the bottom of the sea) at this time.

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Originally Posted by anweRU

I've seen AI ships with troops in them in my GB game - but I haven't seen them do anything. Though to be fair, I've lost track of the Portugese fleet with a single unit in it. It might be anywhere (including the bottom of the sea) at this time.

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Same here. They head off somewhere but I really have not seen a classic invasion.

Recruit:

Load up:

Transport:

Land:

Beat the snot out of something:

New Province:

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Originally Posted by Monsieur Alphonse

I have had one real naval invasion although it was a strange one. I had captured Sweden from Sweden and had a weakened stack in Stockholm. A second stack was being transported to Finland, the last stronghold of the Swedes. To my surprise I saw a Swedish fleet transporting a full stack heading to Sweden. I attacked with my fleet and the remnants fled into the fishing harbor just north of Stockholm. During the AI's turn that army tried to capture Stockholm but failed. The stupid thing was that is was Sweden's last army and Finland was now undefended. I don't know what Sweden would have done with that army if I hadn't attacked that fleet and driven it straight into my own harbor. But it was a real naval invasion.

And yes: the AI is still to much focused on seeing the country side, visiting peasant girls, raping and plundering then capturing or defending region capitals.

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The AI usually looses anyway.

Your example was most likely a case of use it or loose it.

You know Finland cant support an army and you are loosing cash and soon troops…what do you do, and how fast?

In my Prussian campaign Spain crossed over and took Morroco.

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Originally Posted by Fisherking

You know Finland cant support an army

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Not true! We train some 26 000 conscripts every year! :knight:

The new economic conditions mean that troops are in short supply, which doesn't help.

I have seen only a single unit being transported, and haven't noticed a (successful) naval invasion.

Actually Finland is not that bad a region but with upkeep costs so high I assume the army would have melted away if it were not used.

However, this sounds much too complex for the AI to understand. So at least we know that for what ever reason it was done.

I've seen GB take a full stack (or nearly) by ship all the way down to Southern Spain, occupy the port near Gibraltar and then stay there, troops and fleet, for at least 10 or 20 turns... when I lost track of it. That was a shame, because Spain did so poorly that GB could have taken Madrid - or Gibraltar - in one move.

I haven't seen an invasion with my eyes but know some happend when the Marathas took some land from the Ottomans in the Middle East.

In a Prussian campaign of mine I was witness to a naval invasion of West Prussia by GB with all of about 3 troop units. Too bad they didn't attack anything and I think they just stood there for a while and then hopped back on the boat.

I have just witnessed (as Russia) Sweden taking Tunis. They weren't at war with anyone but the Barbary States for quite some time, so I guess they decided a mediterranean tan would be nice...

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Originally Posted by Mailman653

I haven't seen an invasion with my eyes but know some happend when the Marathas took some land from the Ottomans in the Middle East.

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Well, that usually happens when Marathas conquer all of India, Persia and expand into Northern Africa/Europe through Ottoman territories. No naval invasion involved in that case.

I havent seen any naval invasions yet. In my Spanish campaign (Spain allied to Portugal) I saw Portugal load an army (full stack) onto a fleet (half stack of ships) and head towards GB (at war with Portugal) but it returned a turn later and landed the army back in Portugal. That's the closest thing to a naval invasion attempt I have seen so far.

In my current french campaign GB invaded and captured sardinia. It initially loaded about 5 units on a small fleet and sent it down to gibraltar where it sat for about 25 turns. then out of the blue it just sailed off towards sardinia into the FOW then bam it turns red.

I had just one in my Swedish campaign. Unfortunately I wasn't counting on that one because Denmark launched an invasion from Iceland. They landed in the fishery in Norway and marched to the region capital. The did no raiding but went straight toward the capital. I was quite surprised. Luckily I had an army near by and managed to capture the region back. I have sent an army to Iceland to take Denmark out.

Seen one, GB invaded Hannover. Pretty pointless move really.

While playing as France, I saw the GB invade Spain in about 1710 or so. They went back and forth a few turns. Spain was still my ally, so they didn't ask me to join them in the war (which I would have). They also didn't move their full stack in Gibralter, or the dispossessed troops from Flanders, Lombardy and Naples (all lost to other factions.)

I later invaded the GB, razed every building to the ground and left. The three regions came back as 3 separate nations (GB, Scotland and Ireland), though all their armies and fleets were destroyed. The American colonies formed the United States.

My British fleet intercepted a Polish army in the middle of its Baltic cruise, 4 units on 3 ships. Hoping to discover the composition of this rare, almost mythical, phenomenon, by using the chain shot/grape shot method I managed to capture all 3 ships - 2 brigs and a sloop.

Sadly I never found out the nature of their cargo as to my disappointment there was no trace of it.

In my first post-patch GB campaign, I was surprised to see a French fleet carrying a small stack near Newcastle. I had already garrisoned all my English ports on the first turn to prevent them being burned in a surprise attack, but I decided to raise a few extra infantry in Scotland and England just in case. :inquisitive:

When I hit end turn (Winter 1702) the French fleet sailed right around Scotland, declared war, invaded undefended Glasgow and landed the army, which immediately marched overland to Edinburgh and assaulted, before I had time to finish swearing. My garrison of one general and one militia supported by a couple of firelockies had to fend off a French army including two line infantry and cavalry. It all ended in a desperate melee at a gate which opened rather unexpectedly :wall: with my general saving the day by some miracle. After that I managed to retake Glasgow and was never again invaded for the rest of the campaign.

It seems that the AI can pathfind through an unoccupied port, but not land an invasion on a coastline like the human player. Now I usually keep Indiamen in all my ports to block naval invasion and devastation by sea units, as they are very cheap upkeep.

Perhaps AI invasion fleets at sea get lost when a port they are heading for becomes occupied before they get there, or the route is blocked by another fleet?

Anyway the incident made my opinion of the AI somewhat higher. Generally I think the orgahs have perhaps focussed too much attention on CTDs, glitches and random moans about anything and everything to do with this game. I have suffered very many problems and cursed a lot since its release. However I also think that unlike M2TW which I rarely enjoyed playing, ETW is a work of genius. It has such depth and detail and so many ground-breaking features that we should give CA more credit for, and less whining about trivia. Sure it can be improved in many areas and eventually I'm sure it will be.

It may be worth emphasizing to those suffering persistent CTD's to update your video drivers. I had one every hour or two pre-patch, and since updating my driver at the NVIDIA site I have had only one in over two weeks (over 200 turns of game time).

I was playing around with Prussia the other day. The Polish declared war on the Austrians, but did not fare too well. The Austrians took Gdansk from them on the very next turn. To my surprise, a small British (Austrian allies) fleet appeared next to Gdansk and landed a small army. The next turn, the Army joined the Austrians in fighting the Poles near Warshaw...

What's most interesting about this observation: that's the first time I see AI land an army ON THE COAST...

So, it seems, the notion that in 1.02 the AI can land armies only in undefended ports is false.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b...2/untitled.jpg
Even if they did take East Prussia, I don't know how long they would be able to hold it. One nation alone can't take on the Matharas.

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Originally Posted by Slaists

Post patch 3, we supposedly have naval invasions. Some folks have even confirmed (with screenshots) AI ferrying troops around. But has anyone seen the AI actually try to DO ANYTHING with those troops?

Here are my observations so far:, playing as Ottomans (VH) I have observed Innuit declare a 100-year war on the French and still, by 1785, not having realized there is a LAND BRIDGE between their territory and undefended Newfoundland.

Dutch got into a war with the French from day one, took the French Guiana right away. But still in 1785, they have not realized there is an empty and undefended French island territory right next door.

Similar situation with British and French: both have been at war for decades with absolutely no activity (in that war) on either side. Same line: British are at war with Mughals (who have taken over all of India), but still: no sight of any British activity in the subcontinent decades after DOW. British and Mughals are happily trading away sitting on anchors right next to each other near Madagascar...

Spain is at war with Morocco since 1703; in 1785 they have 3(!) full stacks sitting in Gibraltar not being able to cross over using the landbridge...

So, as far as I can see, the campaign AI is as dumb, inconsistent and passive (late game) as it ever was. :no:

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Mughals naval invaded my island of Sri Lanka and took it because I thought the A.I. wouldn't go for it. Although I have zero forces in GB to protect it and no one has invaded it.

I'm playing as Prusia for the moment, and in the first turn Britain loaded a lot of troops almost all of them in ships and headed west. being intrigued by this I built a ship (a few turns later think it's 1707 now) and sailed to the Americas there actualy helping out the 13 colonies and even invading the indian tribe which is south of them (can't remember the name) it seems that they are actualy doing the mission lol (altough they'll get it anyway in a few turns but then atleast they'll have troops there) :2thumbsup:

edit:
Well they lost there province north of florida and now some ships with troops are just sailing everywhere in the america's and ivory coast :(

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Originally Posted by Mailman653

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b...2/untitled.jpg
Even if they did take East Prussia, I don't know how long they would be able to hold it. One nation alone can't take on the Matharas.

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& what are YOU playing as (sorry, cannot read that flag)? is it a 'more than 2 turns per year mod'? i have never seen AI expand to this extent before...

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Originally Posted by Slaists

& what are YOU playing as (sorry, cannot read that flag)? is it a 'more than 2 turns per year mod'? i have never seen AI expand to this extent before...

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In my French campaign (1746-ish) the Maratha have gone kill-crazy like the guy who you were questioning & have taken all of India, all of Persia, all of the Ottomans' territory up to & including Anatolia (with the exception of Egypt, which fell to the Spanish) & the bottom right-hand province of Russia. This includes all those uppity one-province wonders around the base of Russia (Dagestan, Georgia et cetera).

I'm torn between quaking in my boots, & salivating at having a proper rival to have a mega- full-on MTW1-stylee "This globe ain't big enough for the both of us" epic mind-meltingly bloody confrontation once they reach mainland Europe (which should be five/ten years if they keep coming at the present rate, hopefully long enough for me to finally pacify the rest of North America & therefore fund the astonishingly enormous army I am going to need as they appear from the diplomacy screen to have shedloads of technologies researched & I've only just got fire by rank & wedge formation -- gulp).

I have not nor have I ever installed any mods at all.

This is my first "proper" campaign 1.2 & I'm loving it. I only get the melee/squares bug like once every ten battles too.

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Originally Posted by Slaists

& what are YOU playing as (sorry, cannot read that flag)? is it a 'more than 2 turns per year mod'? i have never seen AI expand to this extent before...

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Papal states and I have four turns per year....four seasons, four turns :yes:

I've been giving Sweden, Poland and Prussia money and tech every few turns to fund their war against the Indians. I haven't been able to play my campaign since I took the screen shot so I don't know of England will take Eastern Prussia.

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Originally Posted by Mailman653

Papal states and I have four turns per year....four seasons, four turns :yes:

I've been giving Sweden, Poland and Prussia money and tech every few turns to fund their war against the Indians. I haven't been able to play my campaign since I took the screen shot so I don't know of England will take Eastern Prussia.

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ok, that makes sense (4 turns per year): that's doubles the time for the AI to expand. :)