1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[Swordmaster]

Forced Diplomacy

[QuintusSertorius]

A necessity for anything remotely resembling sensible diplomacy in the game.

[Swordmaster]

A necessity for anything remotely resembling sensible diplomacy in the game.

Depends on your playing style, of course. I like to use it to a moderate extent, and only in some campaigns. In a historical Roman campaign, it is quite necessary, indeed, for it makes no sense to expand historically without actually fighting the historically right (or approximate) enemies.

[Senshi]

I made the experience that for a reason unknown to me the diplomacy of the AI is far more reasonible on "Hard" difficulty than on "Very Hard". I play with all the 1.1 fixes and the "Win Conditions"-Mod with RomeTW-BI.exe

If they conclude alliances, they actually keep them for quite a long time even if direct neighbours, they accept ceasefires when their border provinces are conquered and they are obviously on the losing point, that's something I thought impossible up to now. Of course there still occur some impacts of madness on the AI, but it is very low...
For example I, playing as Casse, were allied with the Arverni and the Aedui, as time passed on it came to a super alliance, SPQR, Aedui, Arverni and me were all allied with each other. When I had captured almost all Eleutheroi settlements in Gaul and Spain, the SPQR opened a full scale war on all frontiers on me after about 6 years of peaceful coexistence with a long common border, the Arverni kept their Alliance with the SPQR while the Aedui kept theirs with mine and even started war upon them when I threatened them a bit...perhaps this was all just coincidence, but it worked really well and especially the long-term-lasting part was astonishing.

I try to use FD only if absolutely necessary, if the AI sometimes completely freaks out and act completely out of reason, it always resembles a bit of cheating in my eyes....makes a victory/loss a bit hollow...

[Tyrfingr]

Pontos campaign, Alex.exe, VH/M

Previous update (252BC) here:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

230BC:



The quest for recreating the Byzantine Empire is well under it's way, though I'm admitting that I have expanded alittle too far to the east. Just like in my previous games, the AS is incredibly strong, and the Ptolies are ridicously weak. For the moment I'm in the finishing steps of creating a Galatian Army (complete with a celtic general) to send westwards.

[The General]

Cool progress. (Awfully nice how Pontos' colour is violet, reminds me of the good ol' MTW days... [and the indestructible kataphraktoi...])

And, hrmh, what era Byzantine empire you going for? Pre- or post-arab invasions?

After the arab invasions, the empire did stretch to Armenia too, under Basil II Boulgaroktonos's rule:
Two maps here.

Or do you intent to eventually follow Justinian's path with yer Pontos?

[Tyrfingr]

Cool progress. (Awfully nice how Pontos' colour is violet, reminds me of the good ol' MTW days... [and the indestructible kataphraktoi...])

And, hrmh, what era Byzantine empire you going for? Pre- or post-arab invasions?

After the arab invasions, the empire did stretch to Armenia too, under Basil II Boulgaroktonos's rule:
Two maps here.

Or do you intent to eventually follow Justinian's path with yer Pontos?

For starters, I'm going for the Byzantine Empire of Basil II, but if I still find the campaign enjoyable I'll proably go for Justinian's empire as well, which is highly possible.

[QuintusSertorius]

257BC in my M/M rtw.exe Epeiros-as-Pergamon game:



Heavily tailored as always, I've been giving the Rebel faction about 400k a turn to slow everyone down. Also boosting rebel garrisons here and there when under threat. The Romans are the worst for blitzing, currently stopping them going north into Gaul 200 years early.

A close up on my sphere of influence is thus:

[Irishmafia2020]

@ QS
You appear to have stabilized Aegean powers well enough, but it looks like the Ptolemies have captured Antioch which does not bode well for the AS, or you for that matter...

[QuintusSertorius]

@ QS
You appear to have stabilized Aegean powers well enough, but it looks like the Ptolemies have captured Antioch which does not bode well for the AS, or you for that matter...

True enough, I may have to start transporting AS stacks from the east to try and win Syria back. Especially since I'm just about to take Sardis and it's rich mines off them.

Perhaps it's the right time for me to snatch Cyprus, and all the vast wealth that brings to Egypt.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Makedonian campaign, RTW.exe, EB 1.1, H/M


262BC




252BC

[Fish-got-a-Sniper]

What I usually do when Rome heads north to early is use FD and move_character on a diplomat to gift the provinces to either the Adeui, Averni, or the Casse.

[Swordmaster]

Makedonian campaign, RTW.exe, EB 1.1, H/M
252BC

Why aren't the Arverni ever moving in my games? They seem to lose Viennos around 255 and then stagnate.

[QuintusSertorius]

252BC in my Pergamon game (note I'm now purple, not green):



I recently "helped" the Romans take Alalia and Messana, courtesy of Force Diplomacy and a raid with move_character. Hoping that'll pull them into Sicily rather than keep trying to take Gaul.

Hai are doing little, Pontos the same. Both have tried a few times to take rebel settlements near them, then given up. Makedonia are getting pasted in Greece, just lost Chalkis. I bribed a Greek army to join me, which should hopefully weaken them a bit.

Taking Kypros seems to have weakened the Ptolemies a little, but they're still broadly holding in Syria.

Otherwise everyone's progress is nice and slow, courtesy of all the money I'm pumping into the Eleutheroi, plus selective spawning of units in their garrisons.

[QuintusSertorius]

[Old game, stuff removed]

[burn_again]

Arche Seleukeia 63BC:


I have to note that I haven't done much after 100 BC. I'm at war with Carthage. Saka, Sauromatae and Saba are too weak to attack me. Getai, Sweboz and Epeiros are protectorates of Rome.
I just keep that campaign in case I want to fight some marian legions.

Baktria 174BC:



Note the Lusotanni and Carthage. I've played this campaign in a rather defensive manner since I always loose interest in Baktria after expanding too far westward. Exactly this is what happend shortly after I took the pic...
The Lusotanni have gone totally amok in this one. They have even taken Korsika from Carthage but lost it due to rebellion. Later on they destroyed Sweboz and pushed Epeiros back into Greece. AS is also still very active, they destroyed Pontos and Makedonia shortly after this pic was taken. BTW, Makedonia had conquered Krete after being reduced to Mytilene and Pergamon.

PS: both campaigns are VH/M, EB 1.1 on RTW.exe

[Spizania]

The Pahlavan invasion appears to have stalled, since they keep seiging my surrounding perimeter of towns and then withdraw, most of which will soon have or already have stone walls, which makes it amusing when they try to attack it with a unit of foot archers and two of HA although I have yet to muster the resources to take anything back.

Bactria hasnt come after me yet, they have a pair of half stacks wandering around my frontier provinces killing rebels for me which is keeping trade in the region from completely collapsing, I have also determined that I will hold Antiochea-Margaine at all costs! Even though the Saka Rauka and Pahlavans are taking turns at coming after it. And the only reason it hasnt revolted is i moved my Capital to Seleukiea.
Im also having a bunch of Man of the Hours, generating characters which are currently slowly laying lines of watchtowers and forts along the roads that run East-West to try and keep them open against brigand stacks.
Otherwise the only other point of interest at this stage is what the hell is going on in Greece, we may be looking at a massive war between Epeirus and Macedon at some point, cause Ive never seen those settlements fall to Macedon ever in EB (I have never played a Macedon Campaign, I like Greeks too much)
I also agree that something may have to be done about the Ptolemaics, unless you beat them down by hand they overwhelm the Seleucids and sometimes the Saka in what seems rather reminiscent of the vanilla yellow tide. Also for some reaosn they have yet to attempt to retake Ioudea, they instead sent a full stack to garrison Petra, when it didnt even have any walls.
I want whatever the Ptolemaic AI is smoking

[Ayce]

burn_again: Damn, Lusitania is the new Death in EB1.1!

[burn_again]

burn_again: Damn, Lusitania is the new Death in EB1.1!

From what I see in other campaigns I'd say their chances of becoming a superpower are much better in 1.1. This case is a bit extreme. Rome had a somewhat overstretched empire. They focussed on fighting the scripted stacks while Carthage took Italy from them and the Lusotanni took Gaul from them. Since the Lusotanni were at war with both they conquered everything up to Sicily. Then they went crazy and attacked the Sweboz and Epeiros.

[QuintusSertorius]

M/M Epeiros-as-Pergamon game with rtw.exe and not as much cheating as I usually use to muck around with the AI factions. I've changed my colour to Royal Blue and the Ptolemies to gold so they're easier to distinguish from Seleukid silver. I did a proper migration in the first year.

It's in a five-year progress stylee.

272BC



Immediately after my migration, not much else has changed. Unlike in the other game, I didn't help Roma by giving them Taras, just made it rebel.

267BC



I took Nikaia, Rome blitzed north and south.

262BC



Saka, Pontos, Hayasdan on the move. I take Halikarnassos.

257BC



After causing Sardis to revolt, I grab it. Also take Byzantion.

252BC



I take Tylis.

247BC



I take Mytilene, which now gives me naval yards to build ships. Krete is next.

242BC



I took Krete. Galatia was taken by the Seleukids, then rebelled to the Aedui. I gave the Casse Bratosporios to create a distinctly different "Belgae" nation.

[QuintusSertorius]

Continuing with my Pergamon game

237BC



I took Rhodos. Sauromatae, Baktria and Pahlava expand. Sweboz continue inexorably on. Makedonia manage to take Epirus, and KH Aitolia. Romans kick Qarthadast out of Sicily.

232BC



Seleukids expand, most of Gaul now with one faction or other. I gave Aedui Naissos and Singidunum. Casse now have just Wales and Ireland to complete the union of the UK.

[Tyrfingr]

Attempt as Pontos to recreate the Byzantine Empire of Basil II, 217BC



* Arche Seleukeia Satrapy of Dayuan

** Bastarnoladam (Sweboz ally)

*** Sequallra (Arverni ally)

Things are going pretty well in my attempt to recreate Basil II's byzantine empire. In the west, I have invaded the Greek Peninsula and have reduced Makedonia to a puny single-province state based on Thermon. They do however have two fully stacked armies, and I need to replenish mine for the final assault. Waged a triple war against Makedonia, KH and Epeiros at the same time, and as you can see, I have killed of the greeks and are just about to do the same with Makedonia. In the northwest, I have established good relations with the getai, which they better maintain. Don't make me do to Getai what Basil II did to the Bulgars.

In the east, I have conquer all the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire, all but Sidon from the Arche Ptolemaioi, but since the diplomatic status between us is neutral, it will have to wait. I'm going to conquer Edessa, although the Byzantines just held it a couple of years.

[QuintusSertorius]

Continuing the progression in my Epeiros-as-Pergamon game. A fair bit of FD in the later one, much less so the earlier.

227BC



Spain bounce back, the Aedui recover a little, I take Ipsos.

222BC



Carthage get to work in Spain, Rome start branching out along the coast. I take Kallatis and Chersonesos.


214BC



Much FD involved here in causing the Second Punic War and similating a "Hannibal" invading Italy and causing Capua to defect and Cisalpine Gaul to revolt. Baktria and Pahlava expand at the expense of the Seleukids, though the latter with some help (not Gandhara though, that was a revolt). The AI took Arpi all by itself. I took Pantikapaion.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Attempt as Pontos to recreate the Byzantine Empire of Basil II, 217BC

May I ask what map you have used?

I think the opposite of ulterior is citerior. The opposite of inferior is superior.

[Swordmaster]

May I ask what map you have used?

I think the opposite of ulterior is citerior. The opposite of inferior is superior.

Looks like it's MAP_REGIONS.tga he coloured.

[Tyrfingr]

May I ask what map you have used?

I think the opposite of ulterior is citerior. The opposite of inferior is superior.

My bad, I mixed those two together...

Looks like it's MAP_REGIONS.tga he coloured.

That's right!

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Thx for the info.

[kambiz]

Baktria 240




220

[QuintusSertorius]

Seems to me that in 1.1 AI Makedonia almost always loses out to either KH or Epeiros. In my game even with me (Epeiros) out of Greece, they still don't seem to be able to actually beat KH. Why is that?

[Tyrfingr]

Impressive, the Ptolies still holds Kilikia after 50 years into the game. Usually, if the Ptolies hold Kilikia at that time, they have either conquered half of the map, or has just defeated the AS.