Re: Poll #2. [Try out the demo, and vote after that!]
 

Storm, another though:

What independent strength did you use? Default, higher or lower. I recommend the default settings. A setting of 0 or 1 would change the working of the game radically and wouldn't be much fun. The AI would be seriously disadvantaged (especially at 0).

Re: Poll #2. [Try out the demo, and vote after that!]
 

Kris, I gotcha now. Yes there were AI wars for sure than.
I remember, that one time I saw something on the graphs.... I did nothing in that period against that AI, and it surely lost (some?) provinces. That was an AI war than.

Yup I used mercs, but the AI used them too. !!! 2 times the AI charmed my mercs to their side even!

Re: Poll #2. [Try out the demo, and vote after that!]
 

The independent's str was 2 in all games.

Re: Poll #2. [Try out the demo, and vote after that!]
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That's a good sign.

Try the game with 10 AI players or so. Then there should be at least one that is intent on kicking you besides the other AI wars.

Re: Poll #2. [Try out the demo, and vote after that!]
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That could be a problem if the AI isn't as aggressive as a human in early expansion against weaker neutrals.

I usually jack up the indie strength in my games, not sure how that affects the AI, but in Dom1 anyway I never was able to run away with provinces.

Re: Poll #2. [Try out the demo, and vote after that!]
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Aha. Try 3 (default IIRC) and some more AI:s. If you still find the AI acting strange or loosing big time sen me a zip of the game.

Re: Poll #2. [Try out the demo, and vote after that!]
 

Cherry,

I tend to play on small maps with 1 or 2 AI (time constraints are in play there - I think I'll actually prefer the flip side now that I'm not trying to make sure I've sampled and tested every little thing!) and the AI definitely likes the mercs, especially in the early game, no matter how many AI opponents you have.

In the first game I won (Myself as Ermor vs. Machaka), I was closing on their home province, feeling good they didn't seem to have anybody good in between, when suddenly the mercs started coming in. I finally started outbidding the AI just to keep them from stopping my offense. So, the AI does use them late-game as well, but it seems like it waits until there's more of a reason to (e.g. all of its normal troops are either bottled up or dead, and there's no time for recruitment).

Merc contracts are always, without exception, 3 turns. You bid, as always, to sign them back up, but if it is your contract that is expiring, your bid counts double in terms of how influential it is. (So a bid of 30 beats a bid of 59 when you're resigning them instead of hiring them fresh.) This bonus only Lasts until they are fully gone from your service, which is the very next turn afterwards.

A good tip on setting merc prices: the + and - keys allow much faster adjustment of those prices than clicking with the arrow pointer.

Re: Poll #2. [Try out the demo, and vote after that!]
 

I always play with strength 5 indies... much more fun, IMHO. You actually have to prioritize your conquests, and indy battles are dangerous! Some provinces never even get taken (like ones with 80 units of mixed knights and longbows).

Playing with higher strength is even more fun, but sometimes there are odd effects, like a Dom I game I played with strength 7 indies, and a couple provinces started with commanders with soul contracts... by the time I got to them, they had upwards of 50 devils... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

-Cherry

Re: Poll #2. [Try out the demo, and vote after that!]
 

I prefer the indie strength 3...
It always feels like that you need WMD's to get yourself started with higher indep strength.

Re: Poll #2. [Try out the demo, and vote after that!]
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">2? I could beat the AIs on an independent setting of 2. Fast taking of provinces, intelligent use of build queues using only the best choices in the province I take. Always upping the price Im willing to pay on Mercs (the AI seems to always offer the asking price as far as I can tell). Find and taking the AI castle early in the game so I have their main source of gems and money.

I usually run my games at 7. That extends the time it takes for opponents to reach each other. For some races thats a big difference if their strength lies in their dominion or research or bleeding all the resources from the provinces they take. At the end of the Dom 1 era I started scripting random maps that boosted the independents beyond a setting of 9 which drastically changed the game play.

Hmmm I suppose AIs could be tought to play differently based on that setting. But then you might as well have them take all the other settings into account also. Nasty project there.

[ October 28, 2003, 16:50: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]