v 1.2: battle AI

[Slaists]

I am finding that the EB 1.2 battle AI is much better (still stupid at times, of course) than the battle AI of MTW2 (Kingdoms included)... At least: the AI seems to be able to pick a defensive position and hold it (not so in MTW2). And, at least, the biggest game-breaker for me in MTW2: the 'passive AI' "FIX" is absent. For those who are not aware: MTW2 defending battle AI would blindly attack as long as it believes the attacker (the player) has more missile units than the defender. The 'defending' AI would attack against all odds even in perfectly defensible mountain areas. This 'fix' has effectively rendered all player attacks into defensive battles. All the attacking player would have to do: set up on a hill and wait for the 'defender' to come. Heh, even MTW1 battle AI was smarter than that...

This leads to my main concern: will the EB 2.0 battle AI be as stupid as the MTW2 generic one?

[Shadowwalker]

Since M2TW AI (both CAI and BAI) is modable to a much higher extend than RTW AI (just take a look at AI mods like XAI or Lusted's AI) I have high expectations about the 'intelligence' of the AI in EBII.
Don't worry it will at least be much better than vanilla.

Honestly I believe in EBII there will be no need for a force diplomacy mod anymore.

[Slaists]

Since M2TW AI (both CAI and BAI) is modable to a much higher extend than RTW AI (just take a look at AI mods like XAI or Lusted's AI) I have high expectations about the 'intelligence' of the AI in EBII.
Don't worry it will at least be much better than vanilla.

Honestly I believe in EBII there will be no need for a force diplomacy mod anymore.

Well, force diplomacy is related to the strategy map AI. I agree, in MTW2 it can be modded with pretty good results (look at Stainless Steel, 6.2 patch candidate, for example).

My big concern is the battle-field AI.

I apologize for being blunt, but the battle-field AI in MTW2 is just plain idiotic. Of course, in the previous games it was no Einsten either, but the AI's tactical stupidity has reached way higher levels in MTW2 than ever in STW, MTW1 and even RTW (which was a step back from the previous games)...

At least, in the older versions, a defending AI knew how to hold a defensive position (hilltop, trees, etc.) and it took some doing on the players part to dislodge a well seated AI. MTW2 is a big step back in that department and my understanding is that most of the battlefield AI is unfortunately hard coded.

Let me give you an example from a VH battle difficulty Stainless Steel (the AI supposedly modded for better) game. I am attacking half a stack of AI's troops with a stack slightly outnumbering it in a VERY HILLY map area. I open the map to discover that I am sitting atop a hill, whereas the AI is sitting on a VERY HIGH hill opposite from where I am. To reach the AI, I would have to climb down the hill and then exhaust myself (exhaustion does work on VH battlefield difficulty) climbing the opposite hill again. Well, what does the AI do? It charges straight down it's perfectly defensible hill and then RUNS up the hill where I am... Needless to say: no troops of his ever reached my line whereas the opposite would have held if the AI stayed where it was. Similar scenarios play out with very high frequency in the cases when the AI is "defending".

By the way, so far, none of the mods seem to be able to improve the battlefield AI to any significant degree.

[Bellum]

I was too frustrated trying to control my own troops to worry about the enemy AI. In fact, it felt good to crush the enemy utterly after a frustrating twenty minutes of trying to get your soldiers to attack properly and to fall back when you tell them.

[Shadowwalker]

By the way, so far, none of the mods seem to be able to improve the battlefield AI to any significant degree.

The BAI is modable also. For example I have the strong feeling that the DLV BAI is much harder than vanilla. Maybe you will encounter new challenges already in Paeninsula Italica. Don't know that much about the plans yet but what I know sounds really good.