Re: national armies?
 

Pocus is showing again some already stated problems of AI strategic choices :
1/ Prefers lots of crappy light troops over less numerous strong ones - maybe it tries to optimize number of troops bought and/or maximal usage of each province resources individually
2/ And don't spare money to build castles - this in turn results in few resources, so more crap light troops..

I don't think any nation specific AI is required : all sensible players would favor Pythium legionaires, Abysian Hvy Inf or Ulm and Marignon Pikeneers over Barbs or Militia... the AI does the contrary http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: national armies?
 

I wonder how is (and in which order) is spent the gold of the AI. Either there is a big unspotted bug (the one which prevent the AI of building *any* castle), or ... or ... well, or the developer in charge of the AI really hate to spend too much time into it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: national armies?
 

The ressurection of the "AI" thread.

What was the consensus Last time we talked? 1 Castle every 5 provinces and up to a maximum of ~50 LI before only making HI?

I don't think we even need the LI as the computer does a reasonable (if somewhat slow) job of dealing with Unrest.

Re: national armies?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Then you are saying that Pangaea should build minotaurs over satyrs, and Atlantis should build those big guys over their little ones?

Re: national armies?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Then you are saying that Pangaea should build minotaurs over satyrs, and Atlantis should build those big guys over their little ones? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I'm not a Pangea specialist, but the little I've played them I've found the basic Satyr were pure crap, maybe worse than militia cause they aren't even cheap !
So I'd largely vote for Satyr Hoplites, Minotaurs and Centaurs http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
Maybe there's an use for sneaky bands of satyrs but I don't think the AI can have any idea of a "sneaky strategy" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif
Atlantis should also favor Coral guards or at least Reef Warriors over basic Spearmen.
I see no problem here ...

Re: national armies?
 

I wouldn't vote for Satyr Hoplites (in their current form), they are useless. I'd say Centaur Warriors and Coral Guards for Atlantis.

Re: national armies?
 

AI dont know how to sneak. For the AI, its head to head, or die. So yes, it can for the armored minotaurs and other beasties.

Re: national armies?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">But I dont think the AI does them that way. Isnt it more like lt troops, hvy troops, lt cavalry, hvy cavalry? Its just one AI. If the good thing for Ulm is hvy infantry over lt infantry then Pangaea and Atlantis get the same change dont they?

Of course if it goes to seperate AI's for each nation then all kinds of great strategies could be put in.

Re: national armies?
 

Well couldn't you just label a unit type as a
"Priority 1" or "Heavy Infantry" for each nation ?

So you label Abysian Infantry with a Morningstar Priority 1, and Coral Guard, and Centaur Warrior and that accounts for a certain % of the gold usage.

Or use something like Protection greater than 14 (If it's stat based)?

I don't know exactly, but if the limits of deciding gold usage on troops cannot be defined or labeled, what is it doing right now?

Re: national armies?
 

Of course this doesn't address the Mage production issue, which I feel if the AI has no reason to produce a non-mage unit, it doesn't. It's standard or default should be mages. You could even go as far as having the AI make 1 Normal Troop commander for every 5 mages (to carry troops) and have % of those mages (depending on the threat of neighbors) put into active duty with armies.

And of course, the AI should dome it's research centers. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ February 25, 2004, 20:37: Message edited by: Zen ]