AI Aggressiveness/Competence issues

[Tricky Lady]

I've also noticed the other Roman families expanding very slowly while I was happily conquering (slowly too, but hey I expanded faster than they did). When I played the Brutii family I conquered the former Macedonian, Greek and Thracian lands, picked a few Dacian lands, and when I started expanding in Minor Asia (Pergamum, Rhodes) and North Africa (Cyrene, Siwa, Lepcis Magna), only then my fellow Romans started blitzing their enemies (Julii wiped out the Gauls in a few years, that was really a blitzkrieg: every turn one or two provinces turned red, never seen an AI conquering that quickly, and the Scipii walked over the Carthagians and Numidians). Now the Julii declared war on the Britons, and I have started fighting the Germans, and the blue armies are trapped between the green and red blocks, heh heh.

TL

[Quillan]

In my experience, all the AI factions seem to expand slowly, and have extreme trouble with besieging settlements. I have seen a monster stack lay siege to a city (either rebel or another faction in control) that only had 1-2 units defending, and they would just besiege it for a couple of turns and then lose interest and back off. The roman factions always expand in campaigns when I am not running them, but never quickly. Like several of you, I notice that the Julii under AI control seems to take forever getting Mediolanium and Patavium. The Bruti eventually get most of the Balkans, but it takes them a long time to do it, and they don't seem to ever go across to Asia Minor. I can't think of any AI controlled faction ever going over about 12 provinces, and that's usually Egypt that gets that many, though the Gauls occasionally manage.

[Prodigal]

Using RTR mod.3.2 VH/H I've seen an interesting Roman development. Normally the capaigns I've fought follow pretty much the same pattern as outlined previously, i.e quick expansion sit back & relax.

I won't bore you with the details, but the scipii faction leader ended up on the small island just north of carthage, I didn't realise this until I decided to retake the island & wiped out their faction. This seemed to concentrate the Juli & Bruti on their own goals. Julii rapidly expanded & hold pretty much all Gaul & are sizing up Germania, while the Bruti have control of almost all of Greece. Downside is that every other faction seems to have fallen asleep, & is just sitting around waiting for one of the current faction heavies to come along & knock them on the head.

Its a real shame that this happens, especially after the inter faction rivalry in MTW, where you never knew who'd you come up against next, or for that matter where.

I'm useless with the txt files but has anyone investigated whether the factions are locked into a "zone of control" on the map? So that the map itself is the limiting factor rather than the actual AI traits of the faction?

[anti_strunt]

The only AI faction I've ever seen really expand (though I haven't played a lot I'll admit) is Egypt, which usually ends up with most of Asia Minor unless I'm nearby to stop them.

[Fridge]

Does it have anything to do with Marian reforms? I've been playing as the Seleucids on H/VH, and for many years saw nothing of the Romans. Then suddenly, the Scipii took the whole of Africa, up to the Nile, while the Julii appeared to have most of Gaul and were invading Greece and the Brutii had most of Spain. Very soon after, i started bumping into a lot of the post reform units.

Could the sudden acceleration be due to the new units appearing on the field, or is the ai coded in to wait until the reforms before steamrollering Europe?

[b3rb0m4tiXX]

Does it have anything to do with Marian reforms? I've been playing as the Seleucids on H/VH, and for many years saw nothing of the Romans. Then suddenly, the Scipii took the whole of Africa, up to the Nile, while the Julii appeared to have most of Gaul and were invading Greece and the Brutii had most of Spain. Very soon after, i started bumping into a lot of the post reform units.

Could the sudden acceleration be due to the new units appearing on the field, or is the ai coded in to wait until the reforms before steamrollering Europe?

Not likely. As the Big S on VH/H, I diplomatized map info at mid-game from the Brutii in Greece. The Marian Reforms hadn't happened yet, but the Romans were all over everywhere except Spain, Germania, and my third of the map.

[Cadwallon]

I am playing the Seleucids, and when I eventually expanded into Greece, I easily conquered Corinth and Athens, but then I bogged down. The Romans (umm, green faction) sent at me some of the biggest and most powerful stacks I have ever seen. So on any given siege, they might have 3 overlarge stacks besieging my cities at any one time...surely I had to lose, given I was having difficulty reinforcing Greece due to Roman and Thracian controlled waters...

But an interesting thing happened. I would beat off one attack, from the lead besieging stack....wait for the next stack/wave to attack and then nothing! The 2 other stacks full of urban cohorts, early legionaries wouldn't attack, where I would be sure to be overwhelmed. This has gone on for turns now, and the Romans just keep throwing armies at my heavily fortified (but grossly outnumbered) cities. And they keep dying, one by one!

Also, units would ignore awaiting siege towers and sit there and get killed by my fortification's arrows! I would have lost Greece several times over, if this behaviour didn't keep happening...

[Didz]

But an interesting thing happened. I would beat off one attack, from the lead besieging stack....wait for the next stack/wave to attack and then nothing! The 2 other stacks full of urban cohorts, early legionaries wouldn't attack, where I would be sure to be overwhelmed.

Do you still have the timer on?

If so its possible the Roman's are not getting time to bring up their reinforcements from the second stack.

If as you say the stacks are full then the AI cannot begin to advance its reinforcements until a unit from its first stack has been destroyed or withdrawn. So, the secind stack cannot leave its base line until the fight with the first stack is almost over, so with the timer on its possible the second stack will never get into action.

Certainly, in open battles I have seen the enemy reinforced after I have routing their first army. One battle took me over two hours to finish with three waves of attacks.

Also, units would ignore awaiting siege towers and sit there and get killed by my fortification's arrows! I would have lost Greece several times over, if this behaviour didn't keep happening...

Yes. This is bad and needs to be corrected. Its pointless for the AI to sit there and take fire from the walls for no reason. If its units can't gain access to the city they should keep their distance.