So How has the AI improved ??

[Didz]

How did this test play out Didz? Was the general just standing there, doing nothing or did it eventually join the fight?

To be honest I never bothered to play these battles out to a conclusion as it wasn't necessary to establish the point I was testing. But I agree with you that whilst the AI seems to have decided that attack was a good strategy it doesn't seem to have made best tactical use of its resources.

That second unit did just stop where it is shown and watched its partner fight, whereas I'm pretty sure a human player would have moved it round the enemies flank or rear as you suggested.

Again this could be a random trigger that chooses each units tactical response and perhaps the programmer thought flanking moves inappropriate for spearmen. It depends really on where the AI breaks off in terms of its assessment, perhaps it doesn't get involved in the close in tactical stuff.

If such close in tactical decisions are determined by random triggers then that might also explain why attacks by the AI are often so fragmented. Its has certainly puzzled me in the past why the AI would calculate that an attack was a good strategy and then only send one unit to be slaughtered at a time instead of its entire battleline. Likewise the fact that it doesn;t always do it, suggests some sort of random factor is involved.