Re: Going from Normal AI to Impossible AI...
 

The unluck scale will cause more random attacks which can suffocate an AI. I've seen them sit on their hands while their capital goes under siege during early game from independents.

The death scale drains their gold income and supplies. The AI has a tough enough time not starving its armies... the death scale only makes it occur more and more often.

Re: Going from Normal AI to Impossible AI...
 

Supplies really are a problem... but just not taking death is not really enough to save them, AI games should be with maxed supplies anyway.

As far as the misfortune thing, it can skrew particular AI nations, but it doesn't seem all that common.

Re: Going from Normal AI to Impossible AI...
 

Yes maxed out supplies are necessary for SP games, unless you're playing against only LA ERMOR... maybe EA ARGATHA wouldn't suffer as much as other nations. Most AI nations needs a growth scale to survive late game.

Depending on the nation it might be able to stomach misfortune 3. Ideally all positive scales work best for an AI nation. The magic paths for the pretender would be useful if the AI knew how to have priests travel with sacred units and stand near them.

Re: Going from Normal AI to Impossible AI...
 

I think the map used and whether score graphs are enabled are just as important as the difficulty level. The AI cannot judge the relative strategic importance of corner and border provinces and need a wrap-around map to be more competitive. For reasons discussed elsewhere in this Forum, turning on score graphs makes the game more challenging in the more difficult settings as the AI mistakenly see you as weak and will gang up on you.

I find the "Desert Eye" map with score graphs enabled and 12 impossible AIs to be the most challenging setting in SP(without going into any programming - as I cannot even do the simplest). The only problem is that starting positions vary in desirability a lot and one could get rather lucky or unlucky with the Desert Eye map, as the case may be.

Would be interested if anyone know of other wrap-around maps that is challenging to play in SP but with more uniform starting positions.

Re: Going from Normal AI to Impossible AI...
 

Wouldn't it be relatively easy to upgrade the AI to the point where it could use sacreds, scales, and supplies, everything really, in a far better fashion? I don't think SP Dominions gets enough love currently.

Re: Going from Normal AI to Impossible AI...
 

AI behavior actually depends on the score graphs being on?

I know it's likely to attack if it thinks you are weak, based largely on army size, not quality, but I had always thought it got that information independent of the graphs being on or off.

Re: Going from Normal AI to Impossible AI...
 

Me too?


Can you do it? At least theoretically? Unless you can, it isn't as easy as you think it is.

Re: Going from Normal AI to Impossible AI...
 

Maybe I am wrong, but I certainly found that I got ganged up on by the AI more often when I have the score graph on - in my last game 4 AI's declared war on me in year one (fortunately one was not my neighbour) and by year three I am fighting 7. that is 7 out of 10 as two have been eliminated by other AI's ( I have been unable to eliminate any of my opponents for a variety of reasons although three have been reduced to 1-3 provinces). This has never happened in my dozen SP games with score graph off. I sometimes get by without being attacked by more than one AI in year one with score graph off but with score graph on I usually get attacked by 2 AI's before year 1 is over.

Maybe it is just small sample variance. Could someone give a definite answer to this?

Re: Going from Normal AI to Impossible AI...
 

Can you tell me where to download SemiRandom? Saw it first time in your post and would like to find out more.

Re: Going from Normal AI to Impossible AI...