Quote Originally Posted by Alexios
What level of the game do you play on? I've seen these kinds of things happen while playing on the "normal" level, but have never played on "hard" or "expert." I'm about to move up and start playing my next game on "hard." I'm hoping to meet a more challenging AI.

I'm also wondering if there have been any improvements made to the AI in latter mods of MTW/VI or in RTW. It would be interesting to fight a more intelligent AI - perhaps one that would even deploy certain battlefield tactics that have been used throughout history, such as the pincer movement or double envelopment (or even better yet, an AI that can detect when I'm using a certain tactic, then take counter measures to try and stop it).
In M:TW and S:TW the battlefield A.I. got more canny as you increased difficulty level. For example expert A.I. would activily scout for ambushes if your visible army was smaller than the at the pre-battle screen. It also got a slight stat bonus for its units. The R:TW A.I. gets a big stat bonus but doesn't get any smarter.

A.I. in Total War is hardcoded, but we can alter it's preferences to some extent. Modifications for M:TW mainly focus on the strategic side. The XL mod increased farm income and decreased trade income thereby compensating for the A.I.'s inability to form ship lines. The MedMod changed building preferences so the A.I. focused more on economic development and ship productions. In both cases the A.I. generates enough money to field decent armies as opposed to peasant hordes. However, I don't think the battlefield A.I. was touched in either.

In R:TW the A.I. has got rather bad standard battlefield formations. DarthMod and DarthFormations improved this, leading to a more competent A.I. (though I heard some reports that DarthFormations actually makes the new 1.5-patch A.I. perform worse). Also slowing down combat improved performance, as the A.I. seems tuned for slower battles. I recently started playing with Europa Barbaorum Beta and so for I am quite impressed with the A.I.: it finally seems to work, even though the Beta still works in patch 1.2.