1.x AI Faction Progression Thread

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Some nice things there, penguinking. What armies do the Makedonians field in your campaign?

[penguinking]

Some nice things there, penguinking. What armies do the Makedonians field in your campaign?

I'm actually pretty happy with Makedon's armies. The average full stack is something like this:
-3 units Makedonian reformed phalanx
-4 units Thracian Light Spearmen
-2 units elite phalanx
-3 units classical hoplites
-2 units companion cavalry or Thessalian heavy cavalry
-1 unit elite peltasts
-the rest are levies.
They have something like 5 of those stacks in Scythia.

The interesting thing is that the garrisons in Greece and Macedonia are almost entirely elite phalanx. The garrison is Demetria, the capitol, is 7 units of Argyraspides.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Thx, that's not so bad at all.

[Ravenfeeder]

Continuing from #467 and #499 above
Kart Hadast H/M 220bc BI.exe



Cometh the hour, cometh the Saka.

Saka now in war with Phalava, who are also fighting the Saba. This has weakened the Saba so that the Ptolemaioi have taken Petra and Palmyra. This has given the Ptolemaioi an advantage over Makedon. The only thing slowing up the Ptolemaioi is their occasional forays against Libya - two years bring their armies up, two battles and two more years taking their reserve armies back to Syria. Mind you, Makedon also weaken themselves by forays over the Adriatic - they build lots of fleets which get sunk by the Punic Quinquiremes.

[The Persian Cataphract]

Absolutely fantastic Pahlavân expansions, lads. Brilliant stuff, now it is firmly established that they will soar through Mesopotamia, and explore the confines of the Greater Iran. But most importantly, that they do focus on two fronts first, the north-east and the Medean area.

Perhaps one flaw is that the expansion occurs a little bit too early, but compared to the problems with Bactrian and Ptolemaïc expansion policies, it's still a huge step towards improvement for a faction which used to be notoriously weak AI-wise.

Keep the rolling, guys

[^RaGe^]

Nice Saka expansion. In my games Saka usually advances westwards.

[gamegeek2]

1.1 seems to have done these things so far -

Nerfed the Sweboz
Severely nerfed Baktria
Slightly nerfed the Ptolemaioi
Stopped Makedonia northern expansion
Sauromatae & Saka expand rapidly early on
Pahlava carves out a consistent "Caspian Empire" and much better than before
Improved Lusotana & Getai expansion, fewer to no factions failing to expand - even Casse gets something.
Improved Romani so they don't get stuck in Italia anymore, instead they rush to Massalia and southwestern Gaul.
Improved Aedui, who always take a 2-1 province lead over the Arverni, with rare exceptions (like AS vs. Ptolemy)
Pontos often is able to carve out a nice empire

Things that need improvement

Hayasadan still always takes to the steppes
Saka/Sauromatae stall after rapid early expansion
Baktria is now very weak compared to before.
Arverni are utterly destroyed by Aedui, the fight used to go on for ages
Casse & Saba still weak, though I suppose this is historical
Carthage never really does anything until 220 BCE

[penguinking]

1.1 seems to have done these things so far -

Nerfed the Sweboz
Severely nerfed Baktria
Slightly nerfed the Ptolemaioi
Stopped Makedonia northern expansion
Sauromatae & Saka expand rapidly early on
Pahlava carves out a consistent "Caspian Empire" and much better than before
Improved Lusotana & Getai expansion, fewer to no factions failing to expand - even Casse gets something.
Improved Romani so they don't get stuck in Italia anymore, instead they rush to Massalia and southwestern Gaul.
Improved Aedui, who always take a 2-1 province lead over the Arverni, with rare exceptions (like AS vs. Ptolemy)
Pontos often is able to carve out a nice empire

Things that need improvement

Hayasadan still always takes to the steppes
Saka/Sauromatae stall after rapid early expansion
Baktria is now very weak compared to before.
Arverni are utterly destroyed by Aedui, the fight used to go on for ages
Casse & Saba still weak, though I suppose this is historical
Carthage never really does anything until 220 BCE

I agree with you on almost all of this, but the Sweboz hardly seem nerfed to me. They nearly always unify Germania before invading Gaul. And also, they're have been plenty of examples of the Makedonian rush north. In my campaign they reached the Baltic Sea. There is very little stopping them once they defeat Epeiros/KH. I think Baktria is much better. Instead of expanding west rapidly, they slowly take surrounding provinces and often go for India.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

I think the overall faction progression is really good now in 1.1. Especially the KH has been fixed. No more Koinon Greece finally! Either Makedonia or Epeiros now come out on top 50/50.

The only thing that could need further nerfing is the Ptolemaioi / Seleukides balance and the Armenian urge for the steppe.

[The Persian Cataphract]

Actually, Bactria doesn't need to get any stronger; currently the problem with the Graeco-Bactrian faction is that it expands into the wrong way. It's not uncommon that they reach Persis proper, and this is not a huge offense but India should be the focus of the matter. The Seleucid-Ptolemaïc struggle should end with a strong Seleucid Syria, and with a weakened Egyptian heart-land; Pontos aptly dominating central Anatolia, and Hayasdan being the major power in the Caucasus and northern Mesopotamia. Saba needs some control, historically within the EB frame of time, they never reached as far as Gerrha or Oman... Or in the few crazy cases Charax.

But then again, these are all idealized situations rigorously following historical course of outcome.

[Gaius Scribonius Curio]

Things that need improvement

Hayasadan still always takes to the steppes
Saka/Sauromatae stall after rapid early expansion
Baktria is now very weak compared to before.
Arverni are utterly destroyed by Aedui, the fight used to go on for ages
Casse & Saba still weak, though I suppose this is historical
Carthage never really does anything until 220 BCE

Not sure how common this is being my first serious campaign, particularly in light of the above, but by 250ish in my Romani campaign:

Hayasdan have most of the Causcaus and are at war with the AS.
Baktria is holding its own against the AS and expanding into India.
The Arverni own most of southern France, much more than the Aedui anyway.

And this is all without any real interference on my part. Screenshots of map will be forthcoming.