AI and Battle stats

[Andrew of Newcastle]

How does the Ai work out who wins a battle when the egg timer times out?

I had a really frustrating time last light playing as the scots on M/M.

I got sieged by a full stack of spannish troops in Paris. They seige me for a few turns before launching an attack.

I get to the battle map and find the following;

1) My troops are scattered all over with no aparant 'thinking' of best positions. eg archers on the city streets, pikeman up on the ramparts. So i spend 10 minutes rearranging troops around. No huge problem.

2) I hit the start button and start to move my cannons outside the walls so they can fire on the enemy lined up outside. A few units of handgunners run ofrward but are quickly gunned down by my balista towers and archers. Great AI.
Its at this point i realise that the enemy has launched an attack on my citadel without a single peice of siege equipment and hence no way of pentrating the walls

3) I move my cannons outside the walls and start a bombard of the enemy general. The enemy army doesnt move but just readjusts to fill holes in the line up. I even land a flaming cannon ball on the enemy general and they still remain planted.

4) I hit the speed x3 button and just bombard them until i run out of ammo, then move my cannons back inside the walls.

5) We both just sit there motionless waiting for the timer to run out as im vastly outnumbered and wont attempt a attack. Boring.

6) the timer eventually runs out and i get flashed with the kill figures. I killed 273 of there army with 2/3 left. They killed a big fat zero of my troops. The AI result...... a draw How the hell is that a draw?????

[Daevyll]

How does the Ai work out who wins a battle when the egg timer times out?

afaik, it doesnt. Defender just wins with no further casualties on either side.

[KARTLOS]

it sounds like you sallied out??

[Andrew of Newcastle]

afaik, it doesnt. Defender just wins with no further casualties on either side.

I was the defender, I killed 200+ of their men (they killed 0 of mine), the game then timed out and the AI classed it as a draw?

[Quillan]

It's a sally battle, so special rules apply. If the battle ends, your units are completely within the walls, all gates are closed, and the enemy still exists on the battlefield, the battle is a draw regardless of casualties. The siege continues. If the enemy withdraws off the battlefield, it's a victory. If the gates aren't closed, then the computer will autocalc the result and you may well lose the fight and the settlement. The besieger can run through gates you open and capture them.

Normally when the time runs out the defender wins. In a sally, you are the attacker.

[PureFodder]

I've taken a small force of desery cavalry (the moors early javalin chucking cavalry), assaulted a great big army, killed the general to end the crusade and load of heavy infantry just for laughs for only a couple of losses then retreated.

Clear Defeat

I've also sent a couple of units of light cavalry towards my front lines and been ambushed by a half stack army of assorted infantry. Can't withdraw from the battle (no movement points left). Not allowed to withdraw during the battle so I started a Benny Hil esque cavaly chase in which their infantry ran round and round the map to obviously no avail. Timer runs out.

Clear Victory

Other than on your faction stats page it makes no real difference what it says at the end. Remember "There are some defeats more triumphant than victories."

[Bob the Insane]

1) My troops are scattered all over with no aparant 'thinking' of best positions. eg archers on the city streets, pikeman up on the ramparts. So i spend 10 minutes rearranging troops around. No huge problem.

2) I hit the start button and start to move my cannons outside the walls so they can fire on the enemy lined up outside. A few units of handgunners run ofrward but are quickly gunned down by my balista towers and archers. Great AI.
Its at this point i realise that the enemy has launched an attack on my citadel without a single peice of siege equipment and hence no way of pentrating the walls

3) I move my cannons outside the walls and start a bombard of the enemy general. The enemy army doesnt move but just readjusts to fill holes in the line up. I even land a flaming cannon ball on the enemy general and they still remain planted.

4) I hit the speed x3 button and just bombard them until i run out of ammo, then move my cannons back inside the walls.

5) We both just sit there motionless waiting for the timer to run out as im vastly outnumbered and wont attempt a attack. Boring.

6) the timer eventually runs out and i get flashed with the kill figures. I killed 273 of there army with 2/3 left. They killed a big fat zero of my troops. The AI result...... a draw How the hell is that a draw?????

1. This is because it was a surprize attack, it often occurs if the enemy have a spy in your settlement... It is supposed to happen (occasionally)...

2-5. Sounds lie a passive AI issue, do you have the 1.1 patch installed? (you might well have)

6. Interesting, so when the time runs out during an assault it is a draw rather than an automatic loss for the attacker as in RTW...

[Quillan]

This is a sally, and that's exactly how it worked in RTW as well. The besiegers didn't attack him, he attacked them with the garrison. If they had attacked with a spy in the settlement, he wouldn't have had the "Start Battle" button at the top; the battle would have just begun and he would not have had the opportunity to redeploy troops. If they assaulted and the timer ran out, it would have been an automatic victory for the defenders. The only time you ever see a draw is when you sally out and the besiegers are still there when you conclude the battle.