Find AI strategic move scripts very annoying?

[General_Jah]

Guys,

Im still in my 3nd game for dom 3 so im pretty new but something that is annoying the crap out of me is how the AI picks to move its armies. It seems nearly _impossible_ to have a decisive battle with the AI.

As far as I can tell if I have a 200 unit army and it has a large army too it will always pick to move on provinces that are lightly defended right around my 200 unit army, even if it can probably win with a larger force!

I find myself having to chase the computer AIs armies as they break through the front lines as they wont engage any sizable forces.

Any tips on how to engage the computer AI to help prevent this? What type of setup do you guys use for defending your borders against the AI?

Seperating my major army doesnt seem to be strategically smart as the computer will just take his main force and beat mine 1 by 1.

So far this has really reduced my enjoyment of the game to the point I dont even want to play sometimes... I could have a large army and go straight for his forts and it seems all the AI calculates is wherever the weakest immediately adjacent province is at is where it will move regardless of what else is happening to his empire...

thanks!

[Velusion]

Are you saying you are annoyed because the AI is so predicable and hence the single player game is too easy?

In the computer's defense attacking the weakest spot in an enemies lines in order to force him to withdraw offensive forces is a very viable tactic.

Now if you are saying that this is the only strategy held by the computer so it's too easy to counter, I understand your annoyance. Play some multi-player .

[Ballbarian]

Actually, what I see is the AI doing the smart thing by attacking your weak spots. The trick is to eliminate these weak spots, OR take advantage of this knowledge and move your large force to the weak province and meet his force on your own terms.

You can use province defense (PD) to beef up a province and make it less appealing. It is also wise to back this up with a fire team of mages, bowmen or whatever depending on the type of enemy you are facing. Also, look for choke points and plan your defense as you advance through independent provinces. Use strong independent provinces to your advantage. Leave them where it is convenient to create an additional barrier. Use fortresses at strategic locations to slow any runaway breaks in the line.

Hope this helps.

[General_Jah]

Hrmm perhaps I should make myself more clear....

Lets say its midgame....

I'm trying to roll a computer faction and heading straight for his 'capital'... Rather than trying to consolidate a force to meet mine and try to repel me the computer will just start trying to attack the provinces 'behind' my army so to speak... ignoring me rolling right over to his fortresses.

It makes waging war extremely annoying as you are constantly trying to engage the computer but he is always moving his forces...

I dont know that its really helping the computer so much as delaying the inevitable...

What I find myself having to do is intentionally make one of the provinces weaker and then move my main force there in an attempt to engage the computer, as they computer will never engage me in a decisive battle... well almost never

If the computer had more randomness to how it moved it would be better... as it stands right now its extremely predictable and rather annoying to wage war...

Please tell me I'm missing something here!

[Meglobob]

General_Jah said:
Rather than trying to consolidate a force to meet mine and try to repel me the computer will just start trying to attack the provinces 'behind' my army so to speak... ignoring me rolling right over to his fortresses.

It makes waging war extremely annoying as you are constantly trying to engage the computer but he is always moving his forces...

I dont know that its really helping the computer so much as delaying the inevitable...

What I find myself having to do is intentionally make one of the provinces weaker and then move my main force there in an attempt to engage the computer, as they computer will never engage me in a decisive battle... well almost never

Those are actually very good tactics, its called raiding behind enemy lines, the fact its causing you so much hassle shows the AI military tactic is working.

You will encounter those 'raiding' tactics even more so in MP, with flying raiders and stealthy raiders.

To be honest General more experienced players like me would like the AI to employ more of those tactics to make the game harder/more of a challenge.

To counter those tactics, use chokepoints, use your PD, advance slowly and only strike at the capital when your certain of success.

[General_Jah]

But if I were to follow the computers tactics and just attack the weakest provinces we would never engage each other.... I'd just hop around hte map playing musical provinces and he would do the same...

so far the only thing that seems to slow the ai down enough so I can actually engage are forts

[Belcarl]

There are ways to strike before a regular army moves, during the magic phase. Drop a couple of mages with Teleport, Cloud trapeze etc on the hostile army.

Lamashtas, the perfect storm, area spells like falling fires, bottle of living water, howl, shark attack etc.

Use them for 2-3 turns depending on hostile force, then retreat. This will wittle down the hostile force so you can defeat it with your PD once it attacks your own province.

This is against the AI ofourse, the raiding part still works against a human opponent, but expect a trap and more clever countermoves.

I usually beef up my frontlines against the AI with 40+ PD with 2-3 long range thugs and maybe a cheap combat mage. No losses for me, and my main force doesn't need to kill whatever the AI attacks my "wall" with.

[Sombre]

Meglobob said:
Those are actually very good tactics, its called raiding behind enemy lines, the fact its causing you so much hassle shows the AI military tactic is working.

They aren't good tactics at all. The AI is getting no closer to winning since it is failing to defend territory it has previously taken. It can rampage around unchecked through whatever the path of least PD is, but chances are those are going to be less worthwhile provinces. Meanwhile the player can ignore the loss of one weak province a turn and systematically annex the AIs previously held land. If he behaved in a way similar to the AI you'd pretty much end up with them swapping national territories and sieging each other's home forts. That's just silly.

What is being described in this thread isn't 'raiding behind enemy lines', it's a more powerful AI force moving in a precitable pattern and leaving its own territory behind to be conquered by the player.

So,.. I believe what is causing the thread starter 'hassle' is not the challenge the AI is presenting, but rather the constant and ridiculous game of military musical chairs he's stuck in.

[Gandalf Parker]

Its a reasonable tactic,
but I would have to agree that the AI could be improved with abit of randomness. Random is the pgroammers friend in trying to move from AI to AH (artificial intelligence to artificially human). AI is actually fairly easy and done all the time. But AH is rough. (its an interesting commentary on the universe that to get from AI to AH you have to dilute the intelligence with randoms)

Gandalf Parker