AI aggression

[knoddy]

Has anyone noticed if the AI aggression has actually been improved with the patch. Do AI factions who stay at war for years and years actually exchange territory now (russia and ottomans, france and england) just to name a few.

this has supposedly been fixed but i gotta head to uni so lets see wot results people are getting. ill update when i get home and give it a go :D

Cheers Knoddy

[The Spartan (Returns)]

It has in fact. Playing on VH/H, after my first turn as Poland, Prussia immidiately blitzed and took East Prussia from me. UP and Spain also went to war pretty soon afer. So far, Courland is really tearing up Sweden, so I don't have to worry about fighting them... yet at least. Russia has also been trying to take Crimea to get access to the Black Sea, and failed so far. Crimea is a very important region to me and Russia. Whoever gets it, can finally open up sea trade routes and really increase wealth.

So the campaign is a lot more fun now.

[Slaists]

I'm playing France on H just to test things out (the whimp that I am). The AI is DEFINITELY more aggressive from turn 1. By turn 3 I am at war with: the Dutch, the Iroquois, the Innuit(!), and Austria... None of those wars I started. On top of that, wars are happening left and right and even the barbary pirates have started to raid my trade ports in earnest...

As a highlight of the day: the pesky Dutch declared war on Spain (hoping to take Belgium). I guess, they did not expect France to join. Anyway, France (me) is besieging the capital in Holland. The Dutch sally. There is a small Spanish outfit in the nearby town, but the do not join the fight. "Cowards!" I think to myself...

I soundly defeat the Dutch, but... alas, a few battered militia units escape. Siege continues. What do you think, happens on the Spanish turn? They attack the town with their small outfit that refused to fight the big battle. Even with me backing out of the battle they take the city!

Sneaky Spaniards! ...

I say: it's a wonderful patch! Great work CA! Great work, Lusted!

[TB666]

Another confirmed, tried Sweden VH/VH.
By 1702, Denmark, Poland, Russia and Courland declared war on me and unlike before all of them attacked me.
Courland even managed to win a fort battle against me.
Being lazy at the start doesn't seem to be a option anymore.

[knoddy]

while these do seem like positive signs, AI aggression towards the player wasnt an issue i was interested in. While it does seem like improvements have been made ill have to play my campaign a bit after uni. I wanna see if the ai will attack the ai instead of just endless meaning less wars.

ill get my beefed up saxony protectorate to attack someone and see wot they can come up with :D

Cheers Knoddy

[seireikhaan]

Confirmed. Started as the Dutch. First turn, Prussia is at war with Poland, and Russia is at war with Austria.

[Hosakawa Tito]

By turn 6 in my GB campaign the Huron are attacking the Moose Factory. Austria is at war with just about every major power around them, first Prussia then Poland,Russia,Bavaria, and the Turks piled on.

[knoddy]

again not to doubt people posting. but your all telling me the ai is going to war like crazy, this is something that was present before. the difference im interested in is are they actually doing anything?

factions would stay at war for 50 years pre patch and not fight a single battle. do they actually attack each other, is territory changing hands? are factions getting destroyed?

Cheers Knoddy

[joe4iz]

Playing as GB just to try things out. I cut all ties with European powers, so I have no alliances other than 13 Colonies.

Austria has gone on a tear across Europe taking different provinces from the Prussian who took them from someone else.

By round three, Savoy is gone. France took them out.

Huron declared war on me by second round. I rushed to defend Moosefactory building units, and barely hung on. Got rid of all the crappy general that you start with and promoted my own.

Lastly, all Indian tribes declare war on 13 colonies. Though I am in transit via ship, I can see small stacks of Indian raiding the 13 Colonies area. Whether they take anything or not, only time will tell. I do not have a large force, just big enough to reenforce the colonies own fighters (I hope).

[Skott]

Yeah, seeing the Hurons attack the Moose Factory within six turns or Austria at war with everyone else isnt anything new or different from my experiences. As asked above is there actually armies invading and taking territories between warring nations? Thats the big question. I cant wait to get home and see for myself. If so its going to require some tactical adjustments in strategy when playing.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

again not to doubt people posting. but your all telling me the ai is going to war like crazy, this is something that was present before. the difference im interested in is are they actually doing anything?

factions would stay at war for 50 years pre patch and not fight a single battle. do they actually attack each other, is territory changing hands? are factions getting destroyed?

Cheers Knoddy

Yes, definitely. Like I said in my campaign, Courland is just conquering Sweden.

[nafod]

I can say it's improved.

Westphalia went to war with me (France) (Yes I decided to play a colonizing faction to start for once) They scouted and retreated.

As opposed to sending a full stack into the nearest town to sit pretty while I sacked there capital (My experience with minors anyway).

I'd swear if I could but I missed my 100th post. Well 103 it is then...

[Fiddling_nero]

In my first campaign with the Patch. Russia H/H Long, Sweden declared war on the Danes on the first turn.
On turn 6 the Danes betrayed me and declared war on me! (The Polish stayed loyal a pity that I'll have to destroy them later.)

[knoddy]

My early impression is a good one as soon as i hit end turn on my poland game the ai came to life, russia moved its full stacks from my land to hit the empty ottoman towns on our borders which have been empty for years. the turks are getting smashed. marthras started consolidating all their troops into a few full stacks and sent them into the shadows of mughal lands.

and after declaring war on france and spain they are reacting well and im hoping to see my massive protectorate saxony join in the war with me :)

Cheers Knoddy

[Dayve]

Well, the Austrians are ripping into the Ottomans in my game, and the Prussians are ripping into the Poles.

[stufer]

Hi chaps

I haven't had a chance to properly try the new patch yet. Could anyone tell me if ai factions make peace with each other now? I consider this to be a bigger problem than their aggressiveness level. Thought they were fairly aggressive before. But the constant war meant they could never develop their economy properly.

In several campaigns, countries would just stay at war with each other until one of them was destroyed or the game ended!

Cheers
Stu.

[Dayve]

I can't really say if they make peace or not yet because i'm only up to 1705, but their agressiveness definitely has more of an oomph.

In the game i'm playing right now i've seen Austria dismantle the Ottoman empire in Greece, Prussia tear into Poland's western territory, and i'm currently trying to save the 13 colonies from extinction, with the French moving and taking land in the north, the Iroquois from the west, and Cherokee laying siege to a city in the south. But i don't have any money to give and it's too dangerous to send troops by sea because everytime i try to reinforce my navy from Britain the French sink it.

An army is slowly making it's way from Rupert's Land to help them, which leaves Rupert's Land hardly defended against the Huron, and now the AI actually ferry troops around i can't leave Britain undefended incase France or Sweden land soldiers on it.

My empire's a mess...

[knoddy]

I can't really say if they make peace or not yet because i'm only up to 1705, but their agressiveness definitely has more of an oomph.

In the game i'm playing right now i've seen Austria dismantle the Ottoman empire in Greece, Prussia tear into Poland's western territory, and i'm currently trying to save the 13 colonies from extinction, with the French moving and taking land in the north, the Iroquois from the west, and Cherokee laying siege to a city in the south. But i don't have any money to give and it's too dangerous to send troops by sea because everytime i try to reinforce my navy from Britain the French sink it.

An army is slowly making it's way from Rupert's Land to help them, which leaves Rupert's Land hardly defended against the Huron, and now the AI actually ferry troops around i can't leave Britain undefended incase France or Sweden land soldiers on it.

My empire's a mess...

this sounds good and the way it should be to be honest :D

im glad the russian full stacks are finally taking ottoman provinces in my game, the ottoman towns in greece were barely defended and i was sick of russian full stacks sitting in my provinces doing nothing.


edit: the marthrans are smashing the mughals in india, fleets are actually fighting there are battles everywhere BIG BIG improvement on the game imo

great patch :D

[anweRU]

tedit: the marthrans are smashing the mughals in india, fleets are actually fighting there are battles everywhere BIG BIG improvement on the game imo

The Maratha-Mughal wars were always very active in my games. I don't think this patch did anything to change that.

[stufer]

Got to say that this all sounds very encouraging. Can't wait to try it out tonight.

If they will only make peace too, then I'll be a happy man!

Cheers.

[Slaists]

Got to say that this all sounds very encouraging. Can't wait to try it out tonight.

If they will only make peace too, then I'll be a happy man!

Cheers.

Nope, they don't make peace (with each other) yet. Supposedly that's being worked on.

[stufer]

Oh that's shame. Still, I'm sure they'll get round to it sooner or later. There'll be plenty to try out tonight anyway.

Thanks for your reply, Slaists.

Stu.

[knoddy]

The Maratha-Mughal wars were always very active in my games. I don't think this patch did anything to change that.

its interesting to note the differences in peoples gameplay experiences. out of several campaigns myself and my housemates played. we noticed the ai doing almost nothing to itself, gone are the days of fighting 20 full stacks of alomohads who own half the world.

in all my camps and my housemates, mughal/marthras war is always nothing, they stay at war whole game and at the end they still have the same territories.

same with russia ottomans. NOW however post patch, russia is crushing ottomans and marthras is smashing mughal.

But hey thats just my experience with the patch :)

[Khorak]

I just loaded an in-progress game, to provide myself with the best comparison.

YES, the computer goes freaking mental. The game was 1755, and the games fighting consisted only and entirely of Prussia absorbing Austria and the Maratha smashing their rivals. The very first turn with the patch caused Morrocco to gather together all its many fleets (also freeing up the Gibratar Straight, yay!), declared war on me and threw about fifty light galleys at my four heavy first rates.....sure they lost horribly, but it was impressive that they did it! They'd obviously been annoyed about the enormous British garrison I had in Gibratar and tried to do something about it. Oh is that a land bridge arrow? OM NOM NOM. That'll learn you.

Subsequent turns saw the Maratha I'd been easily chewing through aggressively moving their armies around to attack when they could or just reposition to protect the closest city to one of my two marauding stacks o' doom. They also lost horribly, but actually irritated me instead of being placid little victims for me, so they're definitely working harder at it now. It was pretty obvious that the number of turns it took France to take Savoy was marching time, freed from the shackles of crap AI they went right on over there and SQUASHED 'em! Fifty damn years that took!

Overall the fleets were consolidated and the AI started trying to murder damn near everything.

[FactionHeir]

I'm interested in whether:
A. the AI now moves across the wilderness to attack (Inuit, Huron's North Western Territory, Plains Nations, also Russia and Persia to the east of the black sea to some extent).
B. With this increase in aggressiveness, do they betray alliances even more often now? In the previous version (or rather, current for me because I'm waiting for feedback), once I was at peace with most people, my allies (very friendly) would start betraying me if they neighbored my provinces. And that is rather silly especially if I'm the biggest nation on earth.
C. Does Territorial expansion in terms of diplomacy actually decrease over time? And do certain nations (Ottomans, Indian factions, some Southern and Eastern European minors) still ignore that factor completely (unless you hit their lands) or do they care as much as the other factions now?

[TinCow]

Before the patch, I played a VH/VH UP campaign. It was pretty much a cakewalk. I am now about 10 turns into a post-patch VH/VH UP campaign, and I'm fighting for my life. I just saved and exited at the start of a major battle (I am outnumbered 1500 to 2100) with Westphalia that, if I lose, will likely be my destruction. I won't comment on whether it is balanced or fair, but this is the first time I have ever felt challenged by a TW single-player campaign. For that alone, this patch makes me very happy.

[AussieGiant]

I'm playing Prussia on H/M and it's on for young and old.

I can't get an alliance with anyone, I'm juggling peace treaties with Austria and Poland like hot cakes to ensure I don't get overwhelmed as they both want my gut's for garters.

Money is tight, Sweden just decided they didn't like the look of my new queen so they have declared a succession war. Europe is in flames and I'm scanning every piece of information on the screen as if my life depended on it.

Nice patch. Can't wait to see what patch 4, 5 and possibly 6 will do for the game!!

[knoddy]

the game is definitely alot harder i know im struggling in my VH/VH poland campaign although i did just kill of france, very satisfying :D

money is tight i managed to lose like 140k i had saved lol but i got rid of alot of my useless garrisons and it helped alot. i just hope russia doesnt betray me cos i have nooooo troops in eastern europe lol. there all in the west fighting spain.

i havnt had the AI betray me yet. im still on very good terms with my protectorate saxony who owns half of central europe cos i was feeling generous, russia who are destroying the turks and the danes who i saved from sweeden.

Cheers Knoddy

[seireikhaan]

I'm interested in whether:
A. the AI now moves across the wilderness to attack (Inuit, Huron's North Western Territory, Plains Nations, also Russia and Persia to the east of the black sea to some extent).
B. With this increase in aggressiveness, do they betray alliances even more often now? In the previous version (or rather, current for me because I'm waiting for feedback), once I was at peace with most people, my allies (very friendly) would start betraying me if they neighbored my provinces. And that is rather silly especially if I'm the biggest nation on earth.
C. Does Territorial expansion in terms of diplomacy actually decrease over time? And do certain nations (Ottomans, Indian factions, some Southern and Eastern European minors) still ignore that factor completely (unless you hit their lands) or do they care as much as the other factions now?

I can only speak to B), but as Sweden, I had Russia declare war on me two turns after they'd accepted a peace treaty with me to end the last war. Granted, that was a pretty short war, and there were few casualties on either side, and ended with only one province changing hands, but still...