AI Balancing Mini-Mod

[mlp071]

Redmeth,

I'll admit I might have done something wrong, but I'm afraid this one is much less "challenging" than the previous. And the free cities have been totally nerfed. Although, perhaps that was your intention. I could easily just shut up and go back to the previous version if it weren't for the AIs improved use of elite units.So my question is, did you purposely nerf the free cities or did I just install something improperly?

Problem is that Eleutheroi AI has different priorities then faction AI's.It tends to develop economy over quality units.So they end up fighting factions elites with levies.Challenge mode that is more obvious since factions develop faster.Some of that behavior is still being worked on. 1.0 and 1.1 Eleutheroi AI has more money then previous versions.

For example, in the latest version, Epirus simply ignored its immediate neighbors and charged straight north, steamrolling free cities and then recruiting only basic units. Next thing you know, Pyrrhus and sons are lost in the forests of Germania with endless bands of levy hoplites! In the previous version, Epirus' battles with nearby free cities, mostly in Illyria, kept it close to its homeland where it could easily replenish its premier forces and, most importantly, keep them together. This time, it was Pyrrhus and sons duking it out in Greece and Macedonia at the head of some formidable armies. I guess my overall point is that AI factions, as opposed to the player, don't necessarily benefit from expansion, especially if it isn't toward a certain faction's optimal zone. A delicate business this is, and all my respect to you.

Factions always attacked Eleutheroi first, as long they border with them.For that specific example,in our testings Greece was won by all 3 factions.Whoever gets kicked out of Greece(or their core provinces in general) and survives usually ends up with levies , since they only have undeveloped provinces, meaning less income.And if Getai AI decides to "sleep" that campaign, Epeiros goes north.

Even IRL if you overexpand to fast , that can comeback to bite you.AI is paying price for that in some cases.

Off course there are 2 other versions (RP and Balanced) that you can try.

These are all thoughts and not criticisms. Without your mod EB just ain't worth playing!

All inputs and observations are appreciated

One last question...(sorry!) Given your experience with scripting, would it be possible to implement either an auto-merge for the AI (which has been done), or something similar that simply disbands units that fall below a certain number? I've seen too many impressive AI armies stymied by a few groups of 10 or 20 units that can't be merged, and which the AI doesn't exchange for better and more complete units, resulting in endless numbers of separate AI stacks scrambling around the map.

That is hardcoded problem, we wish that something more can be done about AI disbanding units.AI only has tendency to merge units if its getting ready to attack player.

Hopefully this helps.