AI conquers!
 

My scout just happened to see this battle, screenshot linked in http://xs216.xs.to/xs216/07251/Computeroverextend.png . Overkill much?

What's actally more amazing is the fact that the independent province in question is a corner province and leads nowhere. And I actually saw AI moving that army about 2-3 provinces through his kingdom just to attack that province. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif

Re: AI conquers!
 

Shame attachments don't work... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: AI conquers!
 

Oh, bugger. No problem though, I got it in here
http://xs216.xs.to/xs216/07251/Computeroverextend.png
(thank you Lazy_Perfectionists signature!)

EDIT: It's sorta blurred those guys in the right are Deer Tribe Archers from independents.

Re: AI conquers!
 

I would have attacked the silly AI well his big army was out of the way... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: AI conquers!
 

Yeah, the AI tends to do that. I've seen armies like that attack just two or three units when they were all that was left.

Some of the most fun I've had was when I overextended myself into territory that formed a salient into AI territory and then got sieged inside the Crystal Citadel. I managed to reanimate, autosummon and summon enough troops inside that it took the AI army of ~1000 units something like 25 turns to manage to break the walls down, at which point I sallied forth and promptly annihilated them. I enjoyed a glorious two turns of freedom in that province before he shut me back inside there (I was busy fighting two other wars at the time) and I kept periodically wiping the besiegers out.

I can just imagine the exchange:

Naga King: "Ahead, glorious soldiers of the Jeweled Empire! We shall drive the infidels of Ulm from the Crystal Citadel!"
*gates open*
*whack*
Naga King II: "Ahead, glorious soldiers of the Jeweled Empire! This time we shall drive the infidels of Ulm from the Crystal Citadel!"
Survivor of first battle: "You have GOT to be kidding me! You've got to..."

Re: AI conquers!
 

Heh. Sounds like the AI reads the The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates (courtesy Schlock Mercenary webcomic),
"There is no such thing as overkill, just fire and reload!"
Or something like that.

Re: AI conquers!
 

I wish the AI knew how to prevent it's troops from starving. At least supplies can be increased for maps so it doesn't happen as quickly on maps.

Re: AI conquers!
 

So far to improve the AI we have:
higher supplies
lower resources
higher indepts
pre-designed gods/scales

Im guessing that higher money might also help. Not sure on special site frequency.

Re: AI conquers!
 

Giving the AI a library at his capital will help the AI match the research of a human opponent.

Re: AI conquers!
 

that which does not kill you has made a tactical error.

Re: AI conquers!
 

I think removing indy recruitables from the game helps the AI out too.

As does making research harder, since the AI is basically useless with spells anyway.

Re: AI conquers!
 

In my current early age RanDom game that I am playing, the AI has been putting up a hell of a fight. I have not really seen any shortage of the AI opponents using mostly national troops in their armies. I have found some of the god files that still need tweaking, but the current top 4 in my game were Sauromatia, Arcoscephale, Yomi, and Marverni. (I think Marverni is doing so well because they have been rather isolated the entire game and have avoided war with everyone else.) Arcoscephale was using hordes of chariots and Sauromatia's damn archers were a real pain for my poor lobo guards.

Decent scales, a fairly large province to player ratio, and a little boost to the god via items does wonders.

Sauromatia:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
#god 4 269 -- Sauromatia WYRM
#comname "Oods"
#clearmagic
#additem "Horror Helmet" -- head slot
#additem "Spirit Helmet" -- head slot
#additem "Amulet of Antimagic" -- misc slot
#additem "Ring of Regeneration" -- misc slot
#dominionstr 4 10
#scale_lazy 4 -1
#scale_death 4 -1
#scale_unluck 4 -3
#scale_unmagic 4 -1
-- 14 points left if we were dormant...
</pre><hr />

Arcoscephale:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
#god 0 156 -- Arcoscephale CYCLOPS
#comname "Theawa"
#clearmagic
#mag_fire 4
#mag_earth 5
#additem "Shield of Gleaming Gold" -- hand slot
#additem "Frost Brand" -- hand slot
#additem "Horror Helmet" -- head slot
#additem "Copper Plate" -- body slot
#additem "Birch Boots" -- feet slot
#additem "Girdle of Might" -- misc slot
#additem "Amulet of Missile Protection" -- misc slot
#dominionstr 0 10
#scale_chaos 0 -2
#scale_lazy 0 -1
#scale_death 0 -2
#scale_unmagic 0 2
-- 4 points left if we were dormant...
</pre><hr />

Yomi:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
#god 19 1345 -- Yomi CELESTIAL GENERAL
#comname "Eof"
#clearmagic
#mag_air 6
#mag_earth 9
#additem "Sword of Swiftness" -- hand slot
#additem "Lucky Coin" -- hand slot
#additem "Winged Helmet" -- head slot
#additem "Chain Mail of Displacement" -- body slot
#additem "Birch Boots" -- feet slot
#additem "Bag of Winds" -- misc slot
#additem "Girdle of Might" -- misc slot
#dominionstr 19 8
#scale_chaos 19 -3
#scale_lazy 19 3
#scale_unluck 19 1
#scale_unmagic 19 2
-- 7 points left if we were dormant...
</pre><hr />

Marverni:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
#god 3 158 -- Marverni ORACLE
#comname "Ofemi"
#clearmagic
#mag_astral 4
#additem "Clam of Pearls" -- misc slot
#additem "Crystal Coin" -- misc slot
#additem "Amulet of Antimagic" -- misc slot
#additem "Spell Focus" -- misc slot
#dominionstr 3 7
#scale_chaos 3 -3
#scale_lazy 3 -3
#scale_death 3 -2
#scale_unmagic 3 -3
-- 10 points left if we were dormant...
</pre><hr />

Notice that 3 of the 4 have positive order scales, none have death scales, and the only one with low production scales is Yomi.

There does appear to be a problem however. I strongly suspect that using #god breaks the AI's ability to "call god". I have lain siege to three AI capitals for very extended periods of time when I knew their god had been killed, and they never made another appearance. Is this a known bug or just luck on my part?

Re: AI conquers!
 

Well I was mostly listing things that could be done by anyone as just game settings when they create the game. Choosing lower resources tends to set the AI to a position where the only place he can spend his money is at the capital. That means more national troops than indie troops altho it does mean that the player is set to the same problems.

If things are added to the map then a second castle, lab, temple, sites such as library or duping national sites, and of course logically designed gods/scales all helps.

With modding things can go even better. Removing the national units that someone feels the AI does not use well for example.

Re: AI conquers!
 

Hey Ballbarian!
Do we have gods/scales recommendations for the AI on every nation yet? Which ones do we still need?

Of course the best thing would be to have 3 or 6 or 12 for each nation for some randomness, but still not as crazy random as the game does on its own. And having the people who feel they have a certain nation down pat to give us a suggested build would be best for decent AI. Or the people who feel they know where the AI does well or doesnt do well. But Im willing to give a shot at least filling in a few.

Re: AI conquers!
 

In the current version I have at least one god design for each early era nation with the exception of Tir na n'Og. That leaves every nation in the middle and late eras. After all of my other projects have settled down some, I hope to make a god file editor similar to the province editor, but that is still pretty low on the priorities list. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

On that note, I really hate to invest any more time in the gods until I have heard (or determined) whether or not using #god breaks the AI's ability to "call god"...

Re: AI conquers!
 

Something kinda fun if you are playing Solo games against the AI and want something different. Try the Tower Map.
Here is a view of it though it might be hard to see in some browsers.
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMaps/Tower_1.jpg
and here is a link to the zip file.
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMaps/Tower_1.zip

The map is really thin and majorly tall. But it is a total of 1500 provinces (maximum map). It has many border-mountains creating lots of choke points. Play it with all of the other nations as AI.

The game runs abit differently. The map is only wide enough for one nation at a time stacked up thru the map. You cannot get surrounded by all of the other AIs. You will have one AI above you and one below you. That AI will have you, and another AI on the other side. This makes it easier to switch tactics and army compositions based on who you are coming up against. And to play off AIs against each other.

Edit: I should mention that it does not make the game harder against the AIs. If anything, it makes it easier. But it is different.

Gandalf Parker