Dominions 2. AI. Suggestions, that how to fix it.

HJ · #1 October 31st, 2003, 07:31 PM

And the suggestion about special debug mode is also very useful for trying out/balancing mods.

In any case, yesterday I was playing iron faith Ulm with 5 normal AI opponents, indies on 5, and I've encountered several big armies. On turn 39 Mictlan showed up on my border with an army of 280 men. I know they are not of the highest quality, but still, it's decent size force. Btw, I'm not suggesting that the strategical AI need not be improved (the AI can never be improved enough).

What I found, and I don't know whether other people have noticed as well, is that the AI is constantly moving its armies back and forth in the border provinces. So, if you want to take the province, order an attack when there is an army present - it will leave, and you'll take the province undefended. If you want to wipe out the army instead, attack when the province is empty. And this is almost exclusively the case as far as I was able to see - armies never stay in place on borders to defend them or move unpredictably, they keep on pacing and exploiting is easy because of this. I don't know what's the reason for this behaviour(maybe they are running out of supplies in the border province or something), but it's very predictable, and a possible target for improvement.

MStavros · #2 October 31st, 2003, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by HJ:

What I found, and I don't know whether other people have noticed as well, is that the AI is constantly moving its armies back and forth in the border provinces. So, if you want to take the province, order an attack when there is an army present - it will leave, and you'll take the province undefended. If you want to wipe out the army instead, attack when the province is empty. And this is almost exclusively the case as far as I was able to see - armies never stay in place on borders to defend them or move unpredictably, they keep on pacing and exploiting is easy because of this. I don't know what's the reason for this behaviour(maybe they are running out of supplies in the border province or something), but it's very predictable, and a possible target for improvement.

I had noticed this too. Another AI weakness.

Mortifer · #3 October 31st, 2003, 09:44 PM

280 men? Hm that is a nice little army indeed!

This is so weird. Why the heck the AI won't use that much heavy/elite units??

HJ · #4 October 31st, 2003, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mortifer:
280 men? Hm that is a nice little army indeed!

This is so weird. Why the heck the AI won't use that much heavy/elite units??

I was saying that Mictlan as a nation doesn't get very strong units. The report said that it was composed of eagle and jaguar warriors in addition to other units, so it wasn't just rabble. I'm just clarifiying, I'm not saying there is no room for improvement.

Mortifer · #5 October 31st, 2003, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by HJ:

quote:
Originally posted by Mortifer:
280 men? Hm that is a nice little army indeed!

This is so weird. Why the heck the AI won't use that much heavy/elite units??

I was saying that Mictlan as a nation doesn't get very strong units. The report said that it was composed of eagle and jaguar warriors in addition to other units, so it wasn't just rabble. I'm just clarifiying, I'm not saying there is no room for improvement.

So you had a battle with that AI army?

HJ · #6 October 31st, 2003, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mortifer:
So you had a battle with that AI army?

Not with that one, it was the Last turn, but I had skirmishes with Mictlan before, and their bulk is somewhat low tech. I encountered eagle warriors, and they're slightly better. Jaguar ones I haven't seen in the field, but they sound like elites...

The biggest strength for Mictlan I've seen so far are the massed volleys of javelins- those can be really devastating.

Mortifer · #7 October 31st, 2003, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by HJ:

quote:
Originally posted by Mortifer:
So you had a battle with that AI army?

Not with that one, it was the Last turn, but I had skirmishes with Mictlan before, and their bulk is somewhat low tech. I encountered eagle warriors, and they're slightly better. Jaguar ones I haven't seen in the field, but they sound like elites... The biggest strength for Mictlan I've seen so far are the massed volleys of javelins- those can be really devastating.

Owww. Oh well, the full game is coming soon.