Re: Attacking provinces by proxy
 

Actually I figured a way to test it. Get 1 nation with really high dominion and Luck. Then another nation with low dominions and death. if luck in enemies lands counts as misf 3 then there should be some plagues on time to time. If it counts as misfortune/luck 0 then there should be no plagues(ofc if no mifortune sites exist.) I will test that later on and tell you the results. (let me know if the test doesn't seem right)

Re: Attacking provinces by proxy
 

Do you have an example map you could post/attach where the Independents have been given a "goal"? Because I would be interested in seeing how that is done with the current mod commands, as I see nothing in either manual (mapedit or modding) in relation to this type of modding for the AI behaviour, so seeing a template for this would be very useful in knowing how it's done. (although apologies in advance if the info is in the manual and I have just missed it)

Re: Attacking provinces by proxy
 

If I remember right from other threads where he's mentioned that, it's not actually giving the independents a goal, it's done by creating an AI nation with the independents flag, so that what look like normal independents can attack unexpectedly. Obviously you'd want to give them similar troops to indie pop types or it would be obvious immediately.

Re: Attacking provinces by proxy
 

I dont think its actually in the manual. Its more in the threads which talk about boosting the AI by figuring out what the AI does and why, then building with it. In all of Illwinters games, the AI has a tendency to want to "connect the dots". The AI operates in the same fog of war as the players. But if the AI "sees" a location far across the map it tends to want to connect to it. Especially if it owns that location. So you can give the AI a "goal" or target direction with that.

Its been used at least twice that I know of. The first was the Heaven/Hell scenario (Rock and a Hard Place?) with two of Amos nations. The Heavenly Host one and the Infernal Damned one. The write up was something like "a god has declared himself, and a mighty enemy has declared against that god. We are caught in the middle. Pagans, Pantheons, and Heretics must unite for survival (we can fight it out after we win this one)". Anyway the heavenly host was spread across the top of the map and the infernals across the bottom. Both were given super defended little spots in the other territory with no expansion abilities (like a gold site but no recruitable population). It was apparent that they drove straight toward each other. The players were all in the middle of the map to either fight each other or unite against the hordes of armageddon.

The other was the Newb&Vet games. This is the AI portion of one of them.
http://www.dom3minions.com/~gandalf/NewbsandVets_lvl6_boosted_AI.txt
And here is the map
http://www.dom3minions.com/~gandalf/NaVIIIMap3a.JPG
The player teams were in the corners 1 veteran and 2 newb players behind him.
The AIs had the black dots with secondary locations of black circles. In the earlier game each AIs secondary was next to it. In this one each AIs secondary site was behind its ally to the left. So early in the game the AIs created a diamond of ownership on the map cutting off access to the prize in the middle, and giving the players time to consolidate their areas abit.

Unfortunately none of the scenarios are available as full downloads. The Dom2 scenario commands worked but the Dom3 ones are broken. So the only way a scenario can properly be played is on a server, not solo. :( Too bad. Its fun to create a thematic AI by hand selecting all the variables.

But the scenario commands for the new Illwinter game Conquest of Elysium 3 work well. Besides just new AIs you can program world events, quests, campaigns, and timed events into the map. Id like to see some of it get back-ported some day.