0.8x AI Faction Progression

[Teleklos Archelaou]

So, how are the AI factions behaving and expanding in your game? This is something we quite honestly have very little direct control over, but we do have indirect control. Evidence:

-We were having a bad problem with Baktria expanding directly into the steppe to the northwest after we gave them those two new provinces, but by making the road from Baktra go east on the south side of the river instead of the north, and by making Mazsakata and Bin-kath's provinces touch each other above Sogdiane, we have pretty much stopped this, or at least greatly lessened it.

-We've also kept Hayasdan from heading north so much by allowing passages out of the mountains north towards Uspe, but by not allowing roads, and by altering the province boundaries there too.

So, how is the AI behaving in your games? Minimaps with dates are *particulary* welcome here. I'll start you off with mine. (I'd recommend folks make theirs 200% normal size for ease of reading, but 100% is ok if need be):



======================
This is in 255, and I've been playing as the Sweboz.

Highlights:
-I'm really loving how Qarthadastim are expanding. Moving along the Mediterranean seaboard in Iberia is just perfect.
-Baktria is moving slowly, but we also are very happy that they have gone after Kophen first and are moving towards India. They have armies on the road to Taxilia right now, but haven't taken it yet.
-Romans had a tough time with Aedui at first, but have recently defeated them in north Italy. In the south they are sieging Syracuse now with a mixed army and a number of Greek units in tow.
-Koinon Hellenon were destroyed.
-Pontos is moving along very nicely. They haven't been too strong in other games I've played, so this is a nice change. Note that Pontos has taken Byzantion too, as well as Ankyra and Sinope and Trapezous and Nikaia.
-Sabaeans have taken two cities and when Gerrha rebelled from the Seleukids, it rebelled to them. Pretty good overall I'd say. No parthians here!
-Nomads aren't faring well it seems. We've talked about doing something to help them out more, but for now they are pretty weak it seems.
-Seleukids have been too strong for Pontos, Hayasdan, Pahlava, or Baktria to make inroads, but of course the Ptolemies are hard to stop, and they've taken Antiocheia from Seleukos.
-Maks and Epeiros are doing ok, but I doubt Epeiros can survive like that. They have to expand or they get crushed.

[Moros]

In my 0.8 campaign (will post a pic later) the romans started a conquer spree in the north. They have the south of gaul and some provinces in the east of Italy too. Some other factions seem to be kind of sleeping. Lusotanann only recruits a unit every turn and that's it. Same for the casse. The saba have conquered one settlement and are now building up an army as the rebels are damn strong. The Seleukids seem to have the upperhand in the seleukids vs ptolemaioi war. Karthadashtim don't do much but they are so rich. Sauromatae, haven't done to much as they are still to weak to expand. Saka have conquered 2 settlement and are doing it nic and slowly. Baktria has a lot of armies but look like they're going for a verry slow expansion. Pontus has made only one town theirs but face quite strong rebels. Macedon took athens but lost Korinth. Epirus hasn't done much except for conquering dalmatia and trying to fight of the romans. Getae are doing quite well, they have conquered 2 settlements and have build up a full stack to take sarmiszegetusa (spelling). Pahlava haven't done much. I'm Hayasdan and I'm understanding why they wanted to go north, that's what I'm doing as it is to soon for fighting the seluekids. And the rebels in the south are damn strong. So first some settlements in the north untill I have enough power to take those rebel powerhouses and turn my attention to the seleukids.

Edit: forgot the Aedui, Arverni and Sweboz.
Aedui, they are having the upperhand in the arverni aedui war. They conquered one or two rebel settlemetns (not sure) and one arverni. But the Romans are blitzing the rebels and will soon be knocking on some Aedui gates.

Edit2: oh yeah the Sweboz: they are doing good, powerfull armies and are conquering one rebel settlement at a time. They are going to be quite a rival for the blitzing Romans.

[Dram]

how do you make it so you can see everything on the campaign map?

[Teleklos Archelaou]

hit the tilde key (~) and then type toggle_fow

I ran an -ai game as ptolemies last night as I was going to bed. It made it to 221 without crashing. Now, that's not really 221 though, as the scripts don't load on the -ai games, and so there aren't four turns a year, just two.

Anyway, here it is, a little wackier than my first one:


-Unfortunately the romans headed into the one direction there was no other factions: northeast. Very odd there, but you can see the Arverni are pretty strong in southern Gaul, so they are avoiding them. RTW itself is to blame otherwise as the Romans aren't hopping on boats and going anywhere yet. Sicily is still there too though.
-Baktrian expansion is ok, though not as ideal as I'd like it.
-Saka are doing pretty well, but Sarmatians are sitting still.
-KH is still alive just on Rhodes, but Casse are wiped out.
-Bye bye Getai.
-Pontos has taken Byzantion now two games in a row that I've seen.
-Seleukids and Ptolemies aren't monsters, which is nice.

[Moros]

The casse, pahlava, Lusotanann and sauromatae worry me. And saba might need some extra power too.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Well, casse shouldn't really expand. Much. Every so often taking the british isles is what I think we hope for. ANd it just needs some tweaking up there. Casse should be damned hard for the player. Hardest of all probably.

Saba will get better as more units get in. Sorta the same with lusotannan. We'll work on them.

Pahlava is the tough spot. They are encroached all around. We need to weaken the seleukids more maybe somehow. Or give the pahlava more spies in those seleukid towns to compel them to revolt. Something like that.

[Daimon]

Here is mine (Playing as the Romani)



A very intresting campaign and it looks like the year 262 will be the start of some great wars and expansion and i had a couple of nasty suprises in the
form of naval Landings near Taras in 271 and the other one was near Lilibeo in 264 the year that Scipio took Lilibeo but he was forced out by a full stack.


Arverni - Not done much but they have some full stacks

Aedui - Also not done much. But they also gatherd their banners and are marching to the Arverni

Baktria - Has not done much, but i can see two full stacks marching in India so they have plans

Casse - Same story, Full stack marching to rebel provinces

Epeiros - Afther i had beaten them near Taras in 271 they focused together with Konion Hellenon against Macedon they took Pella in 267 (Was following the war with one of my spies)

Getai - Full stack story again

Hayasdan - Not much to tell, just sitting in there settelments doing nothing

Karthadastim - Well one of the most powerfull factions in game i think. Got some full stacks, One in Iberia, Sicily on Two on the mainland. But since they are in war with me i don't got any high hopes for them. Also they did suprise me when they landed a full stack in Sicily

Konion Hellenon - Took Conrith in 269 and then together with Epeiros fought a hard fought war against Macedon

Lusotannan - Allmost no activity

Makedonia - Is fighting a hard fought war with Epeiros and Konion Hellenon it looks like they are preparing a counter offensive on Athens and Pella


Pontus - Well the Full stack story one more marching to Seleukia

Potomalic - Well very intresting, they are fighting a war with Seleukia. Mainly in Asia Minor. They are winning but i think that will soon change because one of the great Generals of Seleukia: Sarpardon Syriados (This guy has great stats) has assembeld a army.

Sweboz/Saka Rauka/Sauromatea - Are building op their forces slowly

All with all.. Very intresting and i'm looking forward to some expansion

[Bava]

update of my bactrian campaign.

lots of nice things happening, after reconquering Sardinia Qart Hadasht invaded Italy and is currently laying siege to capua. Epirote took Rhegium and is heading north while 4-5 roman full stacks are trying to fight off the Aedui and Averni.

The Sauromatae went west and are sieging Gelonus atm.

One casse full stack is laying siege to Attuaca.

But my absolute favourite are the Sabeae. They conquered Petra and sent two(!) full stacks to Alexandria in a head to head race with one Seleukid army (greedy bastards ).

Oh, and after 30 years Pahlava and Saka Raukae broke their alliances with me and allied up with the Seleukids so the next years are going to be a challenge.


I LOVE THIS GAME!

btw, 32 years and not a single ctd! great job guys!

[Cataclysm]

Yo,

Here is my Carthage campaign: 251



Not much expansion from the Gauls, Sweboz or Iberia. Greece is a stalemate eventhough the Maks are down to Pella, the Greeks have been seiging it for the last decade but can't capture it.

Baktria went to the north and the Ptolomies have most of Asia Minor. I'm not at war with them yet, but having just taken Cyrene will change that soon.

I also thought this was interesting:


Rome has three protectorates and is now at war with the getai. Maybe they will be #4?

[Towwb]

Spring 257 of my Romani campaign.



Posted full-size because, well, I've never seen KH push Makedon this hard, this early. Demetrias has changed hands half a dozen times already. Instead of facing the Ptolemaics head-on, the Seleukids are letting themselves be pushed into the steppes. Carthage just declared on me two turns ago despite numerous large stacks in the west securing the edge and the riches of Iberia being much more lightly guarded than the fields of Sicily. The Ptolemaics and Carthaginians skirmished some over Kyrene, but the central desert has been oddly quiet.

[Zero1]

Here's how things are coming along in my Sweboz campaign



I'm strong allies with the Arverni and together we've more or less completely spent the Aedui, I'm now moving in to take over Northwestern Gaul.

The Seleucid are a friggen beast, after their catastrophic defeats at the hand of the Ptolemies pushing them out of Asia Minor they moved east and turned their fates completely around.

The Ptolemies for their part are becoming 'the' force in the Eastern Mediterranean and have nearly conquered all of Anatolia after completely seizing the Phoenician coast from the Seleucid's.

Kart-Hadast has totally wiped out the Lustiania after nearly half a century of fighting, and now control almost all of Iberia.

Epieros has been a significant thorn in Rome's side hampering their southern and eastern expansion considerably, and although Rome has taken part of southern Italy, they still have a foothold with some troops and are about to conquer all of Sicily.

Konion Hellan has surprised everyone and came out of nowhere, crushing both Makedonia and Pontos.

The Getai are expansing in a strange way sort of going 'around' the Carpathians but not venturing inside.

The Sabeans have managed to grab Kush from the Ptolemies somehow, and after putting up a fight the Ptolemies more or less let them have it.

The Casse are expanding on the British isles, slowly but surely.

The Parthians did nothing for the entire game and the Sarmatians are expanding a little.

[abou]

The south of Egypt has Saba as the faction creator so when those areas rebel they go to them. It is why we used to see Parthian territory in the middle of Africa in the .7x builds.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Saka taking Sogdiane and Dayuan? Supersweet! Haven't seen that yet. But it's good. Combined with interesting Sarmatian expansion is a good thing. Very nice Getic expansion too. And a totally different type of Ptolemaic expansion.

[Dooz]

Wow, that really is some nice expansion. What year is that Zero, and what difficulty are you playing on? Also, is it with the BI.exe or RTW?

I think what we're seeing here really is very interesting and varied expansion from the different campaigns people have posted. It's really nice to see. There are of course tweaks that remain to be made, but the potential is great. You almost don't see the same thing twice, except where expected. Good stuff.

[Zero1]

VH/M, 231bc and using EB.exe

[Moros]

Okay since the last time I posted the ai somewhat fell a sleep. Almost all expansions halted. The only exeption is Pontus and the Ptolemaioi who got the upperhand again. Thanks to my financing however and possibly because of my conquering too. But it seems like a few of those settlements will rebel tough. Currently there's no real superpower. Rome has halted almost all conquering and is now sieging Patavium which has a...err surprising selection of units. That's all I have to say except that Pontus is verry fun to play, but is easier than I tought. Should have played VH instead of H.

[Thundercleese]

Everytime I try to put the IMG tags in they dissapear when I save my edit!

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/maeast/227.JPG

Here is my campaign as SPQR. It is 227 BC and currently I am at war with a number of nations but primarily my long time ally the Aedui have turned against me and we are having a nasty fight in northern Italy.

As for the other factions:

Carthage has been destroyed by me.

Lusotanne have practically done nothing.

Getai have done nothing.

Casse have done well to take Britain but will they ever invade?

Aedui and Sweboz are powerful (Note Galatia).

Makedon has been reduced.

Allied Greeks have been reduced to Rhodes and any provinces that rebel to them.

Pontus is rich.

Baktria has Pavlava and Saka as their protectorates.

Sarmatians are doing well.

Armenia is hanging on.

AS are down to 1 province.

Saba was doing well but the dirty Ptolemies are running all over them.

Speaking of which, they are my only ally (Ptolemic Egypt, I hope it lasts).

So far Baktria is not at war with the Ptolemies, but I hope they get started soon and waste LOTS and LOTS of resources while doing it.

My stragetic goals are to built up Byzantium as a fortress against Eastern powers coming into Europe. Also take all of Iberia. Finish off Epirus. Go into Gaul.

Perhaps by that time it the Marian reforms will have passed and I can take on my greatest foe: Ptolemic Egypt.

My foreign policy has been as such: Take alliances when offered. Take territory by attacking Allies enemy (ally with KH, attack Makedon and Epirus across the water, ally with Aedui, attack Averni).

This did not hold true with Carthage. When they started marching two stacks into Italy from Sicily I broke off Military access treaty. Next turn they kept advancing I broke off all treaties. THEN IT WAS ON! It was on until I completely finished them in Mastia (South East Iberia).

[BioHazard]

[IMG][/IMG]
This is my Roma v.80 campaign being played on H/M. After unifying Italy I went after the Carthage first thing, it took many years to destroy them (they held out for many turns in their last stronghold at Garama with those elite troops of theirs). I know I have progressed slowly but I was concerntrating more on my economy than military. As you can see KH and the Spainish are pretty powerful. AS was getting destroyed be the factions around it but with a little money from me they got back on their feet and is now slowly destroying all around them. The Getai have formed a powerful empire. Casse has conquered Britain and Ireland. Most of my legions are near the Spainish/Gual border with a few more at the northern KH border. I have 1 legion in africa taking Sala. Egypt has been losing ground since AS got back on their feet, they just took back Memphis and Alexandreia a few turns ago. Bactria is not doing as well as they usually are, they just went to war with AS and lost those 2 areas in the far corner all in the same turn. Sweboz is down to only 1 area and is a vassal to 2 empires. Soon I will have my legions take over Spain and Gual then I will turn around and start a slow conquest of KH.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi guys,
This is the world of Summer 239BCE in my Seleucid campaign:



Carthage declared war on me the very moment I captured Kyrene and keep on sending out half stack armies of elites, mostly made up of Elite Swordsmen and Pikemen, about every three turns. Baktria also likes sending out three-quarter stack armies mostly made up of Native Phalanx, Native Spearmen mixed in with Elite Royal Guard units, to attack the borders. They seem to target Alexandria-Arania and that city which I can't remember the name of right now right north of it. Pontos, even though I am continually assaulting them with my faction heir, keeps on pumping out large stacks to attack Mazaka. Armenia seems to be keeping itself to itself and is yet to attack me. Parthia violently attacked me in the first ten turns, but now seems to have gone into defensive mode - when I attacked them with a large army in 245BCE they managed to damage me to the point where I decided that the attack was not worth it. The Saba are also in a very defensive mode. They attacked me at the start and they managed to take a couple of towns before they were forced home. I managed to get a ceasefire with them and recently an alliance. They now seem to be sitting at home doing very little. Egypt never managed to attack me before I went on an extermination spree destroying city after city. They are now also very passive and seem to be waiting for me with some rather feeble armies in their remaining cities. I hope this helps you with future releases. Cheers!

[Cadeyrn]

Looking at this I'm happy to see nearly all the barbarian factions actually getting something done for a change.

[Kralizec]

@Omanes: looks like the Casse are doing terribly. I've never seen the Lusotana or the Getai do so well, though.

I meant to post some screens from my (now abandoned) Casse campaign here, but I'm visiting my parents today. Tomorrow I'll sort out my screenshots. Meanwhile...

The faction progression was pretty funny to watch. The Ptolemaioi took over the entire Levant and the Arche Seleukeia started crumbling as they also lost their possessions in Asia Minor. The Romani took over almost entire eastern Europe and parts of Gaul. I kicked them out of the latter, and while they were preoccupied with me the Epeirotes, who hadn't expanded much before that, started nibbling away Romani provinces as well. Then the KH, who held Makedon, Tessaly, Propontis and other parts around the Black Sea went to war with Epeiros and kicked them out of Epeiros proper.
At some point, Karthadast went to war with the Ptolemaioi and took Alexandria. Arche Seleukeia used this opportunity to annex their old homelands and Syria and started thriving again.
By 207 or so, Epeiros holds huge swathes of eastern Europe but none of their original homelands, KH is finally starting to lose lands against a resurgent Arche Seleukeia in Asia minor, the Getai have expired and the Romani are confined to Italy, a single province in modern Germany and the province Skythia where they can't recruit anything. Oh, the Makedones/Antigonids were still holding out on Lesbos for a long time till the Seleukids put an end to them.

In 2000 years, historians are going to have a tough time piecing the events in this time period together

[Shifty_GMH]

My first attempt at one of these, so bear with me.

My Romani Campaign. Playing on H/M with RTW.exe.

EDIT: Playing with EB v0.81a.

First Pic: 265 BC



Second Pic: 249 BC



Following cities are under siege in 249 BC:

Segestica under siege by Romani
Prophthasia under siege by Baktrian
Pergamon under siege by Seleukid

I am currently only at war with Carthage. Future expansion plans lay in towards Greece. I am content in the west...for now.

[Intranetusa]

EB .81a with BI.exe 234 BCE

rules: No attacking allies

I've given Sweboz ~ 400,000, Casse ~ 300,000, Averni ~ 50,000, and Carthage ~500,000 via command script add_money

I also gave Sweboz a single city in the Middle East, which they promptly lost...

Seleucid is a beast, about to annihilate Ptolomies. I sent 2 armies of mercs (no general) to help the Egyptians, conquering 3 Seleucid cities and giving them to Egypt. Within 10 years, Egypt was getting their butts whopped again. Germany has only conquered 1 province so far. Averni & aeudi are duking it out, and Averni is winning thanks to the 50k I gave them via command prompt.
Baktria is now a protectorate of Seleucid. Spain, has conquered 1 province.

Carthage has conquered 3-4 cities so far, mostly in Africa with 1 in Spain.

[CaesarAugustus]

EB .81a with BI.exe 234 BCE

rules: No attacking allies

I've given Sweboz ~ 400,000, Casse ~ 300,000, Averni ~ 50,000, and Carthage ~500,000 via command script add_money

I also gave Sweboz a single city in the Middle East, which they promptly lost...

Seleucid is a beast, about to annihilate Ptolomies. I sent 2 armies of mercs (no general) to help the Egyptians, conquering 3 Seleucid cities and giving them to Egypt. Within 10 years, Egypt was getting their butts whopped again. Germany has only conquered 1 province so far. Averni & aeudi are duking it out, and Averni is winning thanks to the 50k I gave them via command prompt.
Baktria is now a protectorate of Seleucid. Spain, has conquered 1 province.

Carthage has conquered 3-4 cities so far, mostly in Africa with 1 in Spain.

You should give up some of those northern provinces unless you're really determined to hold on to them , and focus on the profitable Mediterranean.

[Intranetusa]

"You should give up some of those northern provinces unless you're really determined to hold on to them , and focus on the profitable Mediterranean"

Actually, they are probably more profitable 1 on 1 than many of my southern cities. I usually lvl 2 mines, and get +3600 to +4600 every turn for 4 of the northern cities. (for a total income of around 8000+ per turn) The northern cities are especially profitable if you build mines.

[Sheep]

Here is my crazy map from my Baktrian AAR:


(242BC)

The Arverni and Epirotes are gone, and Europe has pretty much been divided up between the Aedui, the Sweboz, the Romans, and the Makedonians (Germans/Romans vs. Gauls/Greeks). Check out the Romans expanding to the east AND west. The Sarmatians have expanded almost to the Baltic, and Carthage is expanding in Africa and Spain. The Seleukids have crushed the Ptolemies outside of Egypt, although the Ptolemies have been defending their homeland pretty well. Every other turn the Makedonians and Ptolemies declare war or call a cease fire. I'm pretty sure they're fighting over Crete. Pontos has expanded a bit and I believe is allied to the Seleukids (major reason why they still exist, seems like), while Armenia hasn't done a thing for 20 years. The KH, Saba, Saka, and Parthians are in holding patterns, while it looks like the Lusotannan and Getai are on their way out. Weird map.

[billy bob]

With un-modded EB081av2. Look at the Casse.


Shot at 2007-06-28

I am Saba.

[Conqueror]

A bigger picture would be useful

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Yeah, we can't see that at all really. Welcome aboard though!

[billy bob]

Err sorry. I didnt know how to make it only the mini-map and I didnt want the pic so big. I guess a big pic is ok so Ill post it again.

Oh and thanks for the greetings.


Shot at 2007-06-29

EDIT:Ok not so bad. Thought it would be much bigger.