wow finally impressed by the AI

I am totally shocked by the AI now. The AI has been playing better but I didnt think this well sometimes.

I was in northern Europe(where the danes were in MTW). I had a full stack of men including 1 general 6 stars, 6 legionary cohorts, 4 roman archers, 3 legionary cav, 3 hastati and 3 principes. All had around tier 1 armour and attack with mostly 1 silver chevron. I was planning on finishing the Britons' mainland assets by a quick attack up north. I advanced quickly and took turns. Next turn I hear "ambush!" and my army had been ambushed by an army of britons containing 5 warlord chariots, 3 archer chariots, and the rest chosen swordsmen! I have no idea where they came from, but being a cocky general because I had never really lost a battle, decided to stand and fight. I must say, the battle took place right in a forest, every part of it was in there and it was snowing lightly! My men pretty much had no chance....as soon as I clicked start battle my men heard the dreaded battlecry as they tried to form up. My men started falling left right and centre, and the swordsmen horde actually started to flank me. behind me I hear the dreaded scythe blades and to my horror the enemy general had hidden chariots behind my main battle force. They killed my reargaurd and hit straight from the back.........I died after around 2 minutes of fighting(yes 2 minutes!). I was totally slaughtered, and im pleased!

Im so happy that the AI finally showed some skill(if any) and the map right in the forest was incredable! It was like being in a movie(think gladiator)

Well the AI is bound to be great on ambushes because it has a MASSIVE advantage, therefore the AI deserves about as much credit as your intelligence operatives ~;)

Lol ok that was harsh lol

After install the patch I've found the battles harder to win.

Yesterday I could see the AI flanking my army with their cavalry and breaking my lines with elephants, it isn't very different which I would do if I were the AI.

I agree. Although it will never be perfect the AI is given me hands full now. Yesterday started a new campaign VH/H with Scipii, and was smacked all over Siciliy by the Cartaginians with their elephant army. We slugged it out in 4 big (given it was the first 5 -20 turns) battles. Quite rough all of them, won the first three but with very narrow margins. It was cool to see that they shipped in reinforcements from Carthage as much as they could, just as I did from Italy. In the final battle I was annihilated with my faction heir dead as I no longer had the archers/skirmishers to scare off their bloody elephants. The next turn they sieged me and the turn after attacked and killed my faction leader! So got kicked all the way back to Italy, and just love it.

Cavalry charges do seem even more powerful, as was mentioned in other threads. The carthaginians managed to annihilate full hastati units in a matter of seconds a few times. Still, if you have 'm face the right way and put them on guard they should hold, still take rather heavy losses though.

:laugh4: well,it finally makes the Seleucids more "threatning" :laugh4:

and romans less powerful!

Before the patch the fact that the AI had ambushed you was unimportant. They always seemed to give you time to form up a bit and wouldnt always surround you, leaving one or two sides open for you to flank/maneuver/escape. If they are actually surrounding your forces, thats a great improvement.

Does anyone know if they actually deploy somewhere other than on their initial setup spot and actually take advantage of terrain? Whenever I defended the enemy would have to march to me, and whenever possible theyd have to do it uphill. Are they gonna do this to me now, or are they gonna sit right up front as usual?

one thing i noticed alot post patch is blockading of ports, playing as greeks and at war with mac, roman faction and crathage i had almost all my ports blockaded heh couldnt make the money that i used to..good improvement

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Does anyone know if they actually deploy somewhere other than on their initial setup spot and actually take advantage of terrain?

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Yes; the Julii started camped on top of a hill against me last night, and defended it. Also on a bridge battle they formed up to recieve me as I would if I was defending a bridge.

I actually had the enemy flank me. WoW that was a first!! ~:cheers:

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Originally Posted by a_ver_est

After install the patch I've found the battles harder to win.

Yesterday I could see the AI flanking my army with their cavalry and breaking my lines with elephants, it isn't very different which I would do if I were the AI.

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they aready did that before almost always your left flank

Had the Egyptians hill camping as well. Levy pikemen suck if they are outnumbered, I learned that the hard way...

BTW, I am having troubles with the + and - keys: they don't do the same as they used to before I reinstalled RTW, as they now work the same as the up and down arrows... Meaning that I can't get the camera to look up or down. It's quite frustrating when you can't see what's happening, especially when your enemy is on a hill!

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Originally Posted by Emperor Umeu 1

they aready did that before almost always your left flank

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Uhm, IMHO in pre-patch game the AI general would have charged against my troops and would have been killed, after that full army would root after few seconds of fight.

(my english isn't as good as I want, I'm sorry if the above sentence isn't correct.)

One other thing is that now the AI uses onagers using fire to soft my troops before charging.