How does anyone play this game?

**Hoplite7** · 07-25-2007, 02:30

Everyone already knows the AI issues, so I won't go into that.

My question is: how then does anyone have a good campaign game?

For instance, in my Sicily campaign, the Byzantines arrived in Tunisia on turn 24. That already makes zero sense, and is a bug/terrible feature. But in the battle, they had reinforcements without siege equipment. When the main force was defeated, the reinforcements just stood there.

I had to quit the game because of this, I refused to give up Tunisia because of a bug. It was a critical battle, and it's simply broken. Another campaign out the door.

What do you do to deal with the ridiculous AI? I'm probably going to just give up. This is my fifth broken campaign

In order:

Britain (142 turns)
First Sicily (36 turns)
Turks (43 turns)
Egypt (87 turns)
Sicily 2 (28 turns)

**Guyus Germanicus** · 07-25-2007, 02:41

Can you give us more info, Hoplite?

What settings are you playing on? vh/vh, m/m?
Are you using anthing other than default settings on your video options?

Are you using the patched version of M2TW or the original release?

What is your PC running for an operating system, what's your memory size, have you got anything running in the background while you're playing the game? etc.

Some of our real Guild pros might have run into your problem before.

**Hoplite7** · 07-25-2007, 02:58

It's more of an AI problem than a software/hardware thing, but:

VH/H Long Campaign
Fully patched
Visual settings are maxed, 2AA, Huge unit settings

Computer:
Core 2 Duo 6400
7900GS
1Gb Ram
Windows XP MC
Running on a clean boot, only 250mb page file or so

I can't be the only one that has given up because of AI issues.

What annoys me most is that the patch is documented as fixing this, where it clearly doesn't in my game.

**phonicsmonkey** · 07-25-2007, 04:04

Agree that is a documented problem - I haven't encountered it myself, largely because I don't let the AI siege and assault my cities

you have a couple of options in that situation - you can try to lure the reinforcements closer to your walls so you can engage them with towers and missile troops on the walls, or you can sit tight, go make a cup of tea and wait for the timer to run down and win the battle by default

not ideal I know, but it's not a game-breaker for me..

i don't have a problem with the byzantines trying to expand into north africa - ok it's a-historical (like much of the game) but it adds to the unpredictability of the game, and it's not unreasonable if you consider that (without the sea) they "border" you on that front

**Hoplite7** · 07-25-2007, 04:11

Originally Posted by phonicsmonkey

Agree that is a documented problem - I haven't encountered it myself, largely because I don't let the AI siege and assault my cities

you have a couple of options in that situation - you can try to lure the reinforcements closer to your walls so you can engage them with towers and missile troops on the walls, or you can sit tight, go make a cup of tea and wait for the timer to run down and win the battle by default

not ideal I know, but it's not a game-breaker for me..

i don't have a problem with the byzantines trying to expand into north africa - ok it's a-historical (like much of the game) but it adds to the unpredictability of the game, and it's not unreasonable if you consider that (without the sea) they "border" you on that front

I always hated the timer, but in my next campaign it looks like I'll have to activate it. While luring sometimes works, it opens the door (literally) to a much worse bug: the never-closing front gate.

As far as the Byzantines go, I kind of liked how they "colonized" other parts of the map. But then I remembered colonizing isn't a documented feature, and chances are it was a bug. Most "cool things the AI does" seem to be bugs with each campaign.

Oh well, back to the buggy warfront. Here's to hoping the next game puts strategy before flashy visuals.

**joe4iz** · 07-25-2007, 04:16

If you are playing with the battle timer off then maybe that's some of your problem. I've had them stand there if they have no seige equiptment of their own, they cannot breach the walls unless they knock open one of the doors themselves. Send one unit out to route and they will follow him back thru the door. Kind of hokey but it works.

Yes there are some issues with the AI, the oddest one is the "wandering Papacy" who now sends armies out to conquer North Africa, leaving a rebel province right at his door step.

**phonicsmonkey** · 07-25-2007, 04:20

you can egg the wandering pope on a little by granting him a couple of provinces to whet his appetite for expansion, and offering military access through your bordering lands

in my venetian campaign I had northern italy and gave him access and a few provinces in the smouldering wreck of hungary, and off he went...took toulouse, and pushed on into spain

go pope!

**Hoplite7** · 07-25-2007, 05:00

Originally Posted by joe4iz

If you are playing with the battle timer off then maybe that's some of your problem. I've had them stand there if they have no seige equiptment of their own, they cannot breach the walls unless they knock open one of the doors themselves. Send one unit out to route and they will follow him back thru the door. Kind of hokey but it works.

Yes there are some issues with the AI, the oddest one is the "wandering Papacy" who now sends armies out to conquer North Africa, leaving a rebel province right at his door step.

I tried eliminating the Pope, only to later discover in my Africa invasion that he was hiding in Moorish territory for 20 turns or so.

That was pre-patch. Now in my game the Pope just sends a grand armada that sinks rebel ships and defeated the entire Milanese navy in two battles.

**Budwise** · 07-25-2007, 06:32

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Do what I would do and just turn on battletimer. But, if I am sure I could win I will send out a siege engine or two outside the gates to pepper them so they attack and be annialated by my archers.