Auto Calc

**knoddy** · 02-06-2009, 12:28

Wondering about the auto calc option for Empire TW and what goes into the calculation. as someone who doesnt fight every battle i found it incredibly annoying that once i put the difficulty above medium, the only way to win and auto calc'd battle was to have a massive numerical advantage or a massive tech advantage. while i dont think the auto calc should be as assured victory as having a player at the helm, i dont like it when my full stack of elite units get beaten by a half stack of mediocre units just because the game thinks thats what makes it harder on harder difficulties.

Thoughts?

Cheers knoddy

**ollicompolli** · 02-06-2009, 13:04

Probably, in auto-calc battles the emphasis will be on a units experience and a General's skill (star rating) like in past total war games. I guess technology research will also play a big part in this. But, yeah, i'd wouldn't want situations when my full-stack army of legionnares get beaten by 5 measly units of town watch.

**Sir Beane** · 02-06-2009, 18:34

Given the new engine and the revamped AI I think it is safe to say that Auto Calc has probably been fixed to make it better reflect what would have happened if the player fought the battle.

**Oaty** · 02-07-2009, 02:52

Actually IMO the autocalc for mtw 2 was pretty good. Much better than RTW. Granted sometimes it would give results not to my liking and some in favor to me. Since autocalc cant be perfect I'd say it's balanced.

Really I don't find it worth it to fight the battle even if I can win it with 10-50 less losses

And as for rebels they are toned down on auotocalc. On very hard difficulty with 1to1 odds I win over 70 percent of battles on autocalc against rebels

As far as factions its me walking in with a big stack and if the odds are close I fight it anything else I auto resolve. Occasionaly the autoresolve gives such bad results I reload and fight. Since its close to par 95 percent of the time I like it.

And think of it this way your sending out a captain to do something in your mind is piddly, some came back victorious and some not so lucky

**knoddy** · 02-07-2009, 06:57

i wish i had ur experience with the M2TW auto calc, on hard difficulty no matter the odds army sizes or anything i lost 90% of battles.

**Polemists** · 02-07-2009, 07:22

I assume Hard and Very Hard will still give the AI unfair advantages. Such as extra gold, stronger units, and probably more victories in auto calc.

After all, if you may win a 1 to 1 ratio in auto calc on medium, it's a logical step that you would lose a 1 to 1 ratio on Hard, it's just the way the game thinks. Hard is harder then medium so it shouldn't be a instant win.

I found medium in MTW2 was fair, not instant win, but fair. You almost always win against rebels (I guess cause it's assumed your armies are more organized), you most likely win if you have a general and the enemy does not, and 1 to 1 is more random. You may win, you may draw, you may lose alot more then in the past.

I plan to play on Medium so it won't be a problem for me but for those of you who like Hard and Very Hard, you may have to wait for a mod to tone it down a bit.

**Sir Beane** · 02-07-2009, 13:15

Originally Posted by Polemists

I assume Hard and Very Hard will still give the AI unfair advantages. Such as extra gold, stronger units, and probably more victories in auto calc.

After all, if you may win a 1 to 1 ratio in auto calc on medium, it's a logical step that you would lose a 1 to 1 ratio on Hard, it's just the way the game thinks. Hard is harder then medium so it shouldn't be a instant win.

I found medium in MTW2 was fair, not instant win, but fair. You almost always win against rebels (I guess cause it's assumed your armies are more organized), you most likely win if you have a general and the enemy does not, and 1 to 1 is more random. You may win, you may draw, you may lose alot more then in the past.

I plan to play on Medium so it won't be a problem for me but for those of you who like Hard and Very Hard, you may have to wait for a mod to tone it down a bit.

I tend to play the game on medium as well, and I will probably play Empire on that setting. But then again I tend to fight every battle (I have a lot of free time

) so I have never really noticed the Auto Calc problems in any significant way.

Although I do tend to Auto Calc better results against castles than I could manage in real life.

**Polemists** · 02-07-2009, 13:21

Although I do tend to Auto Calc better results against castles than I could manage in real life.

Yes somehow autocalc seems to get your men to the castle walls without losing a single unit before the battle even begins.

They ignore the whole towers, walls, arrows of fire aspect.

Maybe this will hold for star fort autocalc.

**Sir Beane** · 02-07-2009, 13:24

Originally Posted by Polemists

Yes somehow autocalc seems to get your men to the castle walls without losing a single unit before the battle even begins.

They ignore the whole towers, walls, arrows of fire aspect.

Maybe this will hold for star fort autocalc.

I really hope it doesn't. Star forts are meant to be untakable by direct attack (I think this one is one of the earlier previews) and the only way to win against one is through a drawn out seige. Which isn't innacurate given the unbelievable level of defenses they had.

If we can take one in Auto Cal with minimum losses it will just be silly.

**Polemists** · 02-07-2009, 13:36

I don't know, I did see a preview that had a start forts, and the only word mentioned about it was "Formidable" which was before it, in the words

"you can build formidable star forts"

Though seige would make sense I assume they are just going to work like the forts in kingdoms.

**Sheogorath** · 02-07-2009, 17:13

My MAIN issue with the auto calc is that it takes casualties from apparently random units.

My elite archers, whom I would never allow into a melee, lose half their number, but the unit of raw peasants (who would almost certainly be used as an arrow magnet) is almost totally untouched?

Duabayew tee eff, mate.

And, as mentioned, and as I have said before, the seemingly random chance of "LOL DEVASTATING DEFEAT" under strange circumstances is not a risk I'm willing to take with a large stack.

It's fine with bandit/rebel/rouge AI stack hunters, since I rarely put more than a couple cheap units in there and can easily rebuild them. But for my two stack army, six provinces from a place capable of sending reinforcements, I avoid autocalc whenever possible.

**Thermal** · 02-07-2009, 17:15

I've never noticed auto calc to lose me battles i irrefutably would have won, but i do find that they take heaps of my men down even though i may win, which is almost as bad.