am i just a really bad player...
 

or is it kinda tuff playing solo vs impossible AI? generally play vs 5-6 of them on a medium map, and dont last too long. they are set to random stance(agressive/passive).

its ok if the answer is i suck. that'd be kinda funny, cus i always thought i was good at games like this.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

I have the same problem. I do better in MP where i can diplo than i do in SP.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

The "really bad player" hypothesis is a decent one. Another is that you are playing a nation you aren't good with. I can handle Impossible AIs pretty easily as a matter of course, with most nations. However, there are a handful with which I will simply lose disastrously, at least for now.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

How experianced are you in dom3? It has a very steep learning curve, so as a noob you will get crushed by the AI.

AI on impossible has a large advantage that plays out especially in early game. So if you encounter them early on its no great shame to get crushed.

For learning I'd choose one nation, read thoroughly through a guide to that nation and then try some games just playing the first year to test expansion strategies. Then take one of the games where expansion worked consierably well and play on with that game.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

thanks for the comments, and they make sense. i have been playing as "random" races, so i really am not good at any of them. i used to play ulm, which i think is a good nation for a newbie, because their troops are tough(ma). but i was totally neglecting magic, just going for blade wind and constuction, so i decided to try something different(also, i only have demo of dom III).

what do u think are the best races for a dub newbie like me?

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

Try MA Caelum.

Take great scales for Money.
Expand with Mammoths.
Research Tunderstrike. Evocation 4.
Fry your enemies :)

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

I'm playing Dom3 for 2 years and still can't beat a Normal AI and never won a MP game of a significant battle in a MP game. That's worse than your case :) I'm still playing and learning.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

Spells are the key. There are so many spells in this game--it takes a long time to get a good grip on even half of them. If you become accustomed to the use of that many spells, you will probably be able to think of several easy ways to obliterate any given AI army. And there will be good ways to counter whatever you might come up with, but the AI generally won't use those. It'll use the same sorts of chaotic armies in every situation.

If you aren't experienced enough with the game's spells to be able to use magic (and magical items) efficiently, then the strongest AI's will easily crush you with their numbers. If you are, then you'll have a pretty good chance of holding them off long enough to become strong, and once you're strong you will be invincible against them.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

(In the short term, an easy improvement to make is to increase PD as much as possible in any province that is likely to remain on your border for a long while. 125 PD is a very very poor investment when you're playing against humans, because one well-dressed commander can defeat it, but against the AI it will do rather well, especially if you back it up with some standing mages of your own.)

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

Yeah, it's amazing how much the AI will bleed against a strongpoint like that.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

Meh, I wouldn't beat yourself up too hard just yet. The AI in this game has a bad reputation, and that's mostly deserved: It is predictable, doesn't really have a gameplan, know how to utilise magic, or how to counter a wide variety of common tactics, (And this in a game that's built around counters and counter-counters.) and generally can be gamed by someone who's learned what the AI will do.

However, the impossible AI's do have massive resource advantages, and most of the player's advantages come with the use of magic, thugs and SC, which does require a bit of time to build up, so if you're embroiled in a multi-front war early on things can get very hairy.

I myself am considered somewhat of a veteran player, have won a couple of MP games, and been around in the endgame of many more, but if I (very rarely) decide to fool around a bit in SP and get ganged up on early I will loose more often than not. (Granted, I won't play optimally in SP, partly because I might try a couple of things I wouldn't do in MP, partly because I don't use 'specific' SP tactics I wouldn't use in MP (Massive PD!) and mostly just because I might get bored too quickly to really try my hardest, (And if I survive the early part of the game - which will happen 100% of the time if I'm not jumped by more than two nations at once - it's just a matter of cleaning up for as long (not very) as it remains fun) but still, it's not quite as easy as some make it out to be.

If you're really having trouble surviving the early part of the game just now, I wouldn't feel bad about turning the dificulty down a notch or two, so you can experiment a bit more with magic and see what works and what doesn't against the AI before turning it back up to see if your newfound experience helps you out.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

A common problem with new players is that if they cannot win the game they make it easier by turning down the AI and the Independents. On the AI, yes. But on the Independents, no. Turning down the independents strengthens the AI players. So turning them both down kindof counteracts each other.

Turning the independents HIGHER tends to benefit you more than the AI. Taking for granted of course that you will think about who to attack more than the AI does. The AI will waste resources against provinces it cannot easily take instead of going around them or waiting awhile like you do.

If you turn down the independents, then the AI tends to swarm you early in the game.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

You put nearly 8000gp in PD of one province?
I'd say thats even a poor investment against AI.
And it doesn't teach you real tactics.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

thanks for all the responses. your comments are all spot on. getting swarmed early has generally been the problem. even with good kill ratios, two AIs can just wear you down. plus, once they breach a choke point, i find myself chasing them around my interior vainly attempting an engagement!

anyway, thanks for all the advice!! hopefully once i get the pipes fixed in my house, i can come up with the $60 for domIII. winter is really a *****!!

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

Excuse me? You said "generally play vs 5-6 of them on a medium map"
So I take it that you are not playing the demo. And not a legal copy?

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

Yeah you really can't let them breach you. In order to beat impossible AI's you need to eventually shift away from using gold and use gems to create forces that can defeat AI armies. Otherwise you will never be able to afford sufficient troops to hold them off in the long run. In the meantime, use chokepoints with decent amounts of PD protecting mages and armies that can help you fight them off.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

rdonj, by using gems, do you mean summoning? haven't done much of that. i find that my mages are so busy that my gems stack up and i literally can't spend them, which i know says a lot about my incompetence.

gandalf, not sure what you mean? i am playing the demo version of the game, random generated map, with 5 or 6 AIs. it will actually allow me to play any size map against up to like, i dunno, 10 or 12 AIs. but can only research up to level 4 and after 30 turns or so, it shuts down. and only can play EA. it allows me to be arco, atlantis, bandar, and one or two other races(malervi and a race of under ground giants, names escape me

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

Sorry. I didnt remember the demo allowing so many AIs.
Thanks for answering

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

Yeah, the demo has all nations. It's just that you, personally, have access to a mere handful. I don't know what they are, but I want to say EA Agartha, Arcocephale, Maverni, Kailasa, and Atlantis. I assume that Kailasa are what was meant by Bandar and Agartha is the "underground giant" nation, so it looks like my list checks out with Parone's.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

It doesn't have to be summoning per say. Any means of gem use will help significantly. Creating gear for commander units to use or casting spells with gem requirements can be tremendously helpful. If you want to try a summons-based strategy, agartha has nice elemental summons that are easy to research and should be very effective against the AI. Atlantis and kailasa are probably the best examples of commanders-with-items nations available to you, though arco can do that too. Arco is primarily about mage communions though. Marverni is a pretty tricky race to play, especially against AI hordes. That's probably the one that'd be hardest to win against impossible AIs with without significant battle magic.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

That's unethical, and not much fun anyway! I try now to keep max PD at about 20.

I speak with experience as a very poor computer game player... so if I can do better than that, so can you :)

To the guy who said he wasn't winning on Normal, that is a bit worrying.... ;)

To the guy who said he hadn't bothered much with magic, there's the clue! If you're going to beat the Impossible AIs, you're going to need a bit of that (despite posters here who state they can beat the AIs without even looking at the screen!).

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

Dunno hate to sound like im tooting my own horn

But really don't even need to go that magic heavy/gem usage if your nation has decent troops. The ai is so bad about starving armies,crappy units and poor placement.. You can route and destroy big armies with much smaller armies backed up by very little magiclly .


Wish the ai was better

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

Arcocephale is tricky in the demo - the level 4 cap for magic really hurts communions, and they aren't exactly easy anyways. Agartha is probably the easiest nation to win with, given that they have commanders that are only a few items away from very heavy thug territory, if not actual SCs.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

Oh, it only goes up to level 4? I thought you could get to 6 :/ That makes things pretty rough, yes.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

There are a lot of very useful spells for Arco that are completely cut off. Mind Hunt, for instance, is among the best spells Arco has access to. Moreover, Arco's healers support use of it, and as such Arco probably uses it better than any other nation. Under a 6 cap, it is a viable useful spell - under a 4 cap, it is locked away entirely.

Re: am i just a really bad player...
 

Regarding AI opponents:

Quantity of AI opponents is a major factor. If you're playing against 2 or 3, with superior tactics you can wear them down and then start moving into their territory and taking over. But if you're playing against 6 or 9, if you demolish an AI opponent, you find one of his rivals moves in. Pound him, and the first has grown in strength to take over. Actually expanding is *very* difficult; you will find yourself spending most of your time fending off his offenses.

Focus your efforts on preserving your forces while demolishing his; don't waste troops trying to defend territory when a larger AI force shows up. Retreat, smash it when your forces have concentrated, then move back.

BTW, if you're playing the demo, you're at a huge handicap. You can't go thugging with research 4 :)