the allied AI reinforcements suck

[Matheis]

I was attacking rome today my house of juleis legions nearly outnumberd SQPDR by like 5000 to 3000 troops i sorround Rome with 4 legions of 1000+ men with seige equiptmen Followed by 3 reinforcement legions with 3100+ men combined. one legion from each direction. Well my 2 north legions was takeing heavy casuelties he pulls back the other north runs around to the south.

Meanwhile my legion from the south breaks through opens the gates pushes SPQD 50 or so yards halfway into town the battle is close i inflected about40% casuelties the enemy only like 45. Meanwhile my other legion from the south was just standing there doing nothing. SPQ brings in its heavy calvery at its last stand pushes back all my infantry so this is when i need my AI ally with triats and hoplites to come assisst me i see them running to the gates to back me up then at the last moment they walk past the gates towerds the west !!!! I had pulled my troops back on top of the towers to keep the gates open for reinforcements.

Had the AI reinforcements arrived i would of captured the town but the dumbass ai runs past the open gate. I hate replaying battles cause its kind of cheap and considerd cheating but this may be the only battle i will reply due to the ai not following orders cause this defeat destroyed 70% of my forces had the ai reinforcements followed orders i would of been saved and won the battle i think next time i wont set it on AI

[Matheis]

Here is a quick battle map I put together

[Marquis of Roland]

and that is why I never use AI reinforcements.

[Ciaran]

They´re crap in sieges, that´s true, but in normal field battles they can handle themselves - sometimes. Playing with the Roman factions, it usually worked fine, but less so when playing something else. Especially if they´ve got Phalanx units the AI doesn´t perform that well, as it usually sends its units into battle as soon as they arrive on the map.

[Deus ret.]

Yep, and if they start somewhat far off the merciless AI lets the units run over the entire battlefield, rendering them completely exhausted (=worthless) upon arrival in battle. Sadly you can't do anything about that, that's why it's best to shoulder the burden and command the troops yourself.

[professorspatula]

Never use AI reinforcements in sieges. They're just too stupid.

I once had nearly 12000 Germans (4 armies, 3 were AI reinforcement armies) assault a huge Roman city with only stone walls. I was up against a rag-tag army of Scipii with 1200 defenders. My allies refused to use their ladders and siege towers and I ended up facing the Romans practically alone. Eventually my allies used about 1 ladder and siege tower between them, but the rest of them stood in front of the gates and towers and died. I lost the battle due to time restrictions, and I also lost nearly 8000 men. I never bothered to play an assault on a stone wall in a campaign again.