is the AI cheating

theenemy · #1 September 26th, 2008, 10:46 AM

Topic. The AI seems to collect troops at an extremely fast rate, even with ALL negative scales on easy/normal difficulty level. I've tried this out a couple of times. And even if they have death3 turmoil 3 etc. they still manage to send out tons of expansion parties during the first turns while I struggle with keeping my first alive. ??? Maybe this is a bit of a whiner topic, but I've had this game since it was released and the AI always beats me badly even on EASY difficulty. I've only won against it 2 or 3 times with MA Ulm. Even my gamer buddies can't keep up that much resistance

Gandalf Parker · #2 September 26th, 2008, 11:06 AM

Turn up the Independents in your next game.
YOU will tend to make much better decisions on who to attack and when to attack them than the AI does. If you turn Indepts down (as many new players do thinking it will make the game easier) then it just allows the AI to swarm you early in the game.

Gandalf Parker

Endoperez · #3 September 26th, 2008, 11:16 AM

At Easy difficulty, the AI gets resource and gold PENALTIES.

MA Ulm starts with a good fortress (good admin -> more resources), tends to start in or near mountainous provinces (more resources) and gets extra resources in all of its forts as a nation-wide bonus. Their national units are very cheap on gold. It probably got lucky and the pretender had scales that fitted the nation, and the capital was surrounded by high-resource provinces.

In addition, while it's not cheating per se, the AI is way more efficient at recruiting from independent provinces than any human player. It can recruit from all provinces it has conquered, every turn. Most of those units are useless, so once you learn how to take care of chaff the number of units doesn't matter any more, and that's when you up the AI difficulty and/or use mods/maps with AI-friendly features.

Edi · #4 September 26th, 2008, 12:32 PM

You can see the AI bonuses in the FAQ.

theenemy · #5 September 26th, 2008, 02:22 PM

Endoperez, I think you misunderstood me. I was the one with MA Ulm

Great nation against the AI, only a bit boring

I have turned up the indies to lvl 9 in several games which only resulted in my SC's brutally slaughtered. The last time Baelor, the fomorian king got his face kicked in by like 40(!!!) lizard warriors, so I've lost my faith in SC's unless they are wyrms or Melqarts/Adons

.
It's just like in HOMM, every time I thought I had a reasonable army, the AI came in and raped me with a bigger one.
That aside, how do you take care of a 400/500 army chaff that the AI manged to gather in a couple of turns?

Crevan · #6 September 27th, 2008, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theenemy

That aside, how do you take care of a 400/500 army chaff that the AI manged to gather in a couple of turns?

How? Easy

If you can`t defeat large army with your own regular forces (e.g. you choos weak race), you can:
1. Strike enemy with "Fires from Afar" spell (Evoc. lvl 9, req. Fire 5 and 55 fire gems, kills 100-300 units per strike)
2. Summon large trampling monsters like Iron Dragon, Abomination, Eater of the Dead
3. Give some gems to powerful mages, in battle orders menu set AoE spells and attach mages to main squad
4. Try to curse enemy province with devastating spells to reduce supplies and start starvation

theenemy · #7 September 27th, 2008, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crevan

Quote:

Originally Posted by theenemy

That aside, how do you take care of a 400/500 army chaff that the AI manged to gather in a couple of turns?

How? Easy

If you can`t defeat large army with your own regular forces (e.g. you choos weak race), you can:
1. Strike enemy with "Fires from Afar" spell (Evoc. lvl 9, req. Fire 5 and 55 fire gems, kills 100-300 units per strike)
2. Summon large trampling monsters like Iron Dragon, Abomination, Eater of the Dead
3. Give some gems to powerful mages, in battle orders menu set AoE spells and attach mages to main squad
4. Try to curse enemy province with devastating spells to reduce supplies and start starvation

Well, thanks for the advice, but by the time I reach any of those things, the AI has already feasted on my flesh

Ironhawk · #8 September 26th, 2008, 04:23 PM

The enemy, sounds like you are not building your SCs right. A properly built SC should be able to defeat any number of regular troops (unsupported by mages). Occassionally, there are some niche troops that can take down an SC, but its rare. Perhaps you should post some of your builds and ask for advice on how to use them instead of giving up on them entirely.

Sombre · #9 September 26th, 2008, 04:43 PM

You just need more practice. A lot more. I mean if the AI on easy is trouncing you,... I don't know what to say. Focus on the basics, don't worry about SCs or spells too much.

I suggest taking a nation like MA Abysia, good scales and something like an E9 bless with a sleeping or imprisoned pretender. They're fairly easy to play and above par units work well against what the AI likes to build.

theenemy · #10 September 27th, 2008, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sombre

You just need more practice. A lot more. I mean if the AI on easy is trouncing you,... I don't know what to say. Focus on the basics, don't worry about SCs or spells too much.

I suggest taking a nation like MA Abysia, good scales and something like an E9 bless with a sleeping or imprisoned pretender. They're fairly easy to play and above par units work well against what the AI likes to build.

Yeah, I suck pretty hard don't I?

Well, when life gives me lemons, I make lemon juice. Or if that doesn't work, I just bite right into that damn lemon