AI battles

[Hooahguy]

i was just reading how HA's suck in auto-calc, so it got me thinking: are the battles that the AI fight with each other unbalanced? a HA heavy full stack may lose to a half stack of infantry through auto-calc. now, if we were fighting that battle, it would be different, obviously. so does that mean that all the battles that the AI fight with each other are unfair?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Auto-calc takes weird things into account. Some certain factors seem to be ignored entirely. For example, a ten star general with a unit of pantodapoi could defeat a whole stack, because autocalc over estimates command stars. Also, certain unit types are over/under-estimated. Chariots do great in autocalc, HAs do poorly.

It seems, some times, that the auto-calc compares attack, defense, unit number, and command stars, without much else looked at (including formations, special abilities, and fighting styles [like HAs not actually going into melee]).

[overweightninja]

I think using VH or H difficulty skews it a fair bit too.

[Aradan]

Actually there is a way to balance auto-resolve now, according to one's personal taste... Look to the bottom of the Guide (I hope you don't mind a bit of shameless self-promotion)

Complete EDU Guide

Auto-calc still ignores fortifications and overpoweres command stars, but things are much better now, and using a script one can make auto-resolving siege-assaults a nightmare for the attacker.

[Tellos Athenaios]

From what I've seen: missile units in general usually tend to fare much worse in auto-calc than in played battles; and phalanxes seem to make a much more massive impact in auto-calc too.

[Seyduna]

@Aradan:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The second value of stat_health can be used to improve the balance of auto-resolve. Certain units like chariots are currently overpowered in it, while other like mounted and missile units are underpowered. Here follow some rough suggestions on how to assign sec hp values in order to balance auto-resolve more evenly:

* Animal units stay as they are.
* All other units get 5 sec hps.
* Units with 2 or more prim hps get -1 sec hp for each extra prim one.
* Missile units with low-medium missile attack get +1 sec hp.
* Missile units with medium-high missile attack get +2 sec hps.
* Mounted units with low-medium charge get +1 sec hp.
* Mounted units with medium-high charge get +2 sec hps.

Nice work there! Your suggestions are reasonable and I would like to see these in EB. It would nerf heavy infantry-based factions over cavalry or missile-based factions. I want to give it a try in my campaign but EDU file is so large to make changes.