Shogun II Total War

[ReluctantSamurai]

The AI is a mathematical alogarithm

And so much more. It has to decide on a plan and then attempt to carry it out. In STW, with the Risk-style of map, things were relatively easy. There's X amount of money to raise troops, and Oda over there is looking pretty weak so that's where to send the troops. In the newer style of map, there are just too many things going on for the AI to cope. After watching the last dozen or so campaigns in RTW with FOW off, I'd say that at least 50% of the AI's moves are pointless.

I had a bunch of screenies to illustrate, but I somehow deleted them Some were quite funny. First there's the "Outhouse Syndrome." A general comes out of a city, walks to his favorite 'watering hole', shakes one leg, then the other, zips it up, and heads back to the city. Brutii generals don't even have the decency to water their own countryside but go up the coast into Julii territory. Britannia's generals have the "Whorehouse Syndrome." Deva must have quite the bordello as every single one of Britannia's generals make their way there, multiple times. Then there's the "What the @#$% are we doing here? Syndrome." A few small stacks of a factions army get loaded on a boat and dumped on a foreign shore where they proceed to stand around for 50 years or more doing nothing. The most extreme case I ever saw was the Macedonians dumping off TWO generals and two half stacks near Nicomedia where they stood around for over 30 years (that's 60 turns, mind you). When Cyrene went Macendonian after throwing out an attempted occupation by the Egyptians, those stacks with the, by now old generals, headed for there.....by land. Walked all the way through Asia Minor, the Middle East, and the Nile Delta. By the time they hit Siwa, the Egyptians has already retaken it so they stood around Siwa for another 20 years. Meanwhile, Macedonia got overrun and the faction destroyed....those stacks went rebel and were promptly wiped out by the Eggies. Absolutely brilliant!!

Then there's the "HQ Orders Syndrome." A stack will head off on some kind of mission, only to turn back after a turn or two and end up right where they started. Naval units are notorious for this. They will sail right past an enemy faction fleet going to who knows where, and sail right back past them.....again.....without attacking, even if they outnumber the enemy more than 10 to 1. This just would not happen in STW. The AI goes for your throat even if it is constantly losing battles. You just know that if you beat off the first attack, the next one's going to be bigger, and the next one even bigger. It's relentless, like the Terminator, and won't ever stop until you kill it. And even then it can come back with the reappearance of a dead clan

I have others, but without the screenies, they just aren't as funny. One I will mention is the "Three Stooges Syndrome." This afflicts Seleucia. They always create three diplomats at the beginning of a campaign and the only thing they do is walk the road between Hatra and Damascus (until the Eggies take it) changing places with each other. There's always three of them, hence the name. But at least it's better than the lazy ass the Spanish hire, at the start. All he does is pace back and forth on the east side of Asturica........until he dies

And if anybody's generals deserve the "Hiding From the World" trait, it's Carthage's generals. They spend more time sailing aimlessly around in fleets, or parked offshore from Carthage, it's a minor miracle when one of them, other than Hanno, gets to have more than one command star, or any, for that matter.

With STW, there is always the possibility of losing. With RTW and later, the outcome is not much in doubt although I'm well aware of the "Black Knight Syndrome" in ETW where the AI just has every country left DoW you when you start to dominate. Doesn't sound like much fun.......

My whole point is that the map presents choices probably numbering in the millions for an AI, on what to do, what units to move and where, what buildings to build, how high to set taxes, and a host of others. But it can be done.....I'm just not sure CA is the company to do it.

I play a WWII-based game called "The Operational Art of War" put out by Talonsoft. It's a collection of various battles and campaigns from WWII and the Korean War. Several of the campaigns are simply monumental, with thousands of units to maneuver on a map. It's not a 3D map, but just as complex, nonetheless....rivers, bridges, RR's, cities, farmland, roads of various kinds, and an extremely complex battle system. The Barbarossa campaign, for instance, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, is probably the biggest of the big. Over 1500 individual units, not counting reinforcements, on a map that spans from Poland to the Urals. And those 1500 units can be broken down into smaller units so that you literally have thousands of units on the map. Yet......

...at the higher difficulty settings, the AI will constantly kick your ass until you learn to play better. So it can be done....but I don't believe by CA. Just my 2cents, of course.