Quote Originally Posted by Omisan

Does Kingdoms improves AI?

Strategy AI, including diplomacy (Based on one long game as Novogorod).

1. A kingdom in trouble will now make a reasonable peace. For instance, Poland asked me for a ceasefire. I didn't want won because a mission offered me 2500ƒ to take Danzig, and the Poles had it. I offered them a ceasefire in exchange for Danzig, just for the heck of it. To my amazement, the took the deal and were glad. They were then able to concentrate on their war with the Holy Roman Empire and improve their overall standing.

2. You don't have the "erosion" in standing now. If you have good relations with a country, they no longer go sour automatically. For instance, the Lithuanians have been loyal allies to me throughout the game.

Backstabbing is still quite possible, however. The Danes were my allies and relations were amicable when they backstabbed me. By that time, I'd become very powerful and had an army in Scandinavia, which might or might not be a factor.

3. There's still too many small, vulnerable partial stacks running around, but there does seem to be fewer of them. There are more worthwhile AI stacks. I haven't seen as many stacks of useless peasants, either.

Battle AI

I can't really say yet, because I'm not clear on whether the improvements are due to better AI or improved unit characteristics. Pikes are better, for instance.

I can say the AI doesn't deploy in deathtraps in valleys as much. At least so far they've taken the sensible option to deploy on hills.

I've had more good battles than bad. The best one I attribute to the excellent armor on Teuton forces more than AI capability. Its hard to kill Order spearmen with Kazaks.

The worst case was when I had a huge but still outnumbered cavalry army that was trying to releive a siege. The Dane besiegers had a large force of Vikings, Huscarl cavalry, archers and a bodyguard unit. Their whole army is facing me, with me above them on a small slope, when they suddenly turn around to attack the three units of militia archers sallying out of the besieged town.

It was a massacre. I destroyed 97 percent of them at the cost of 42 Kazacks, light casualties to one Boyar Sons unit and two routed archer militia and 50 percent losses to a third. My general's bodyguard captured 185 prisoners, as I recall.