are there any patches to improve the AI when defending castles?

[neoiq5719]

Does anyone know if there any patches to improve the AI when defending castles? U get there with your artillery, take a piece(s) of chunk(s) off the wall and the fools stand right there in front of the gap while you just slaughter them with your archers or even with your cannons.
I think they should use archers too or cavalry to come out and defend that or anything they have but not just stare at u while u kill them.

[dismal]

Does anyone know if there any patches to improve the AI when defending castles? U get there with your artillery, take a piece(s) of chunk(s) off the wall and the fools stand right there in front of the gap while you just slaughter them with your archers or even with your cannons.
I think they should use archers too or cavalry to come out and defend that or anything they have but not just stare at u while u kill them.

If they have archers they'll typically be up on the walls to prevent this won't they? Maybe they come down when the walls start to crumble. Still, they ought to go back up.

It's worth noting that it's not an entirely easy thing to counter if you don't have missile units. Iif the roles were reversed I'd probably just move my men up against the wall next to the gaps. Better to leave the gaps open a little than to stand there and die.

Anyway, I think the answer to your question is "no". The first patch didn't solve this issue. And there is only one so far.

[TinCow]

No, nothing fixes it yet, but there are several AI fixes that appear to relate to it in the 1.2 fix list. Notably:

AI
• Units do not clump together when told to complete a 180 degree turn.
• Janissary Musketeers now fire consistently.
• Enemy AI army formations in bridge battles now allow their own artillery to fire.
• Enemy cannons do not fire at unbreakable walls.
• Grouped archers out of ammo will attack enemy units in melee combat when ordered to do so.
• AI does not deploy outside of enemy gates.
• When defending an enemy settlement with multiple exits, taking your army out of the side/back door does not make it easier to defeat the enemy.
• Siege AI is not passive.
• Cavalry can now charge a spearman army.
• General's bodyguard unit now marches correctly outside castles.
• AI now effectively assaults 2nd tier of a Fortress.
• Sallying AI army now reacts properly to being assaulted from 2 sides
• Attacking Siege AI concentrates on taking the settlement rather than chasing down units outside the settlement.
• Generals are now more effective at chasing down routing units.
• Enemy AI reacts to being bombarded with Trebuchets while inside a settlement.
• Siege AI now more difficult to defeat if player places missile units outside the walls.
• AI controls it units more effectively in a Citadel
• AI artillery more decisive in its positioning
• Remaining AI army now advances to use siege equipment
• AI Cavalry can now flank a Spear Wall
• AI now responds to missiles when sieging settlements
• AI now crosses bridges to attack
• AI responds more quickly to gates that have been opened by Spies (while sieging).
• Units do not break formation when chasing routers
• Enemy AI effectively attacks when player's units in a settlement square
• Enemy AI now utilises spare rams
• Improved enemy AI response to stakes
• Shortened Siege attack timers
• Enemy AI will no-longer send out General's bodyguard on a suicide mission while defending

That said, it's not clear to me whether "Siege AI" refers to attacking or defending.

[neoiq5719]

thx for the feedback and more more question regarding things to make it more challenging; every time u have a battle u can just zoom in and see what they have so u can design your plan of action right?. Shouldnt this be restricted UNLESS u have a spy infiltrated?
thx again

[Didz]

The thing that always makes me groan is the way the AI suddenly decides to abandon the walls and mass in the city centre as soon as you get a unit over them.

Its the dumbest move ever and usually results in several of their wall defence units getting slaughtered trying to withdraw. The one thing I've learnt from defending a city is that you don't abandon the walls. Instead, you make your wall defenders fight to the death trying to hold them and then you fight for every inch of the road from the wall to your city centre.

The classic is that very often after getting its men slaughtered abandoning the walls it then suddenly decides it wants them back and launches its surviving units back down the narrow street to try and retake the gatehouse. By which time of course I have every man who can throw a stick on the battlements and they end up acheiving nothing by re-carpeting the roadway in their bodies.

[holycow]

I haven't or heard of any mod that prevents defending ai units from rallying to center square once the timer starts, but I have come across some mods that make attacking city/castle a lot more challenging. Carl's problem fixer 1.22 is really good in this regard, although last i heard he's still testing it, the ai stays on the wall and the towers are going to kick your butt all the way to timbuktu.