am i just a really bad player...

[Amhazair]

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.

[Gandalf Parker]

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.

[Olm]

Originally Posted by Bananadine

(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.)

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.

[parone]

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 *****!!

[Gandalf Parker]

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?

[rdonj]

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.

[parone]

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

[Gandalf Parker]

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

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

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

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.

[rdonj]

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.