misc questions

[tinkthank]

What ceremony said is of course right.
If I may add to (4):
- There is consensus that "We hereby declare war upon your unholy nation" is unpredictable.
- I think that if you attack the AI (*not*: you attack an independent nation that the AI also happened to have attacked the same turn and conquered too) it will become "more aggressive" towards you at least in the sense that it will want to have its old provinces back.

[Taqwus]

The engine itself does not appear to hard-code national antipathies.
The AI will also be willing to declare war if other avenues for expansion are less viable, even if you haven't blocked it yet. It would not surprise me if certain globals also served as provocation. Killing gods (possible to do this unintentionally if you enter the arena) also seems a likely trigger.

[Nethog]

Ceremony, thanks for the answers on (1) and (2). Regarding (3) I was refering to the Army Setup Screen - not the Recruit screen.

Let me summarize both of your feedback to (4):
(A) small armies and low provincial defense = AI more likely to attack
(B) There is consensus that "We hereby declare war upon your unholy nation" is unpredictable
(C) Capturing an AI's province makes them more agressive towards you

(A) seems fairly obvious. As for (B) and (C) it would be REALLY nice if the D2 developers could either agree or disagree to the validity of these points, as well as state any other things that affect AI hostility towards you.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Nethog:
(C) Capturing an AI's province makes them more agressive towards you

If you'll take my word for it, based on numerous games I can confirm this one.

[SurvivalistMerc]

I actually like not knowing exactly what the AI is going to do.

But I agree with Arryn that taking the AI's provinces makes it more aggressive toward you.

It's sometimes funny to watch an AI that hasn't even found me yet in terms of national borders...maybe has a scout I can't see in my territory...declare war on me.

I would love some hard-coded national antipathies. Like marignon-ermor. Maybe atlantis-ry'leh(?sp). I think that would add some additional flavor to the game. But the game has plenty of flavor already. And I'm not sure if you'd want marignon and ermor to go at each other rather than attacking a player who seems to be winning.

[Zurai]

Originally posted by Nethog:
Regarding (3) I was refering to the Army Setup Screen - not the Recruit screen.

To unselect the entire group, just "move" them to the same group they were in in the first place. In other words, if you have 5 archers and 5 javelineers in a group, and you select the 5 archers to move them but then decide against it, you can click into the group they're already in and it de-selects them (or move them into a new group then move them back... but that's extra effort). The only way to "partially" de-select a group is one at a time, though.

[Nethog]

quote by Arryn:
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Originally posted by Nethog:
(C) Capturing an AI's province makes them more agressive towards you
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If you'll take my word for it, based on numerous games I can confirm this one.

Thnanks Arryn. Have you noticed if the number of AI provinces captured have a stronger effect? Does the AI "remember" previous hostilities even though he may have recaptured the provinces you stole from him?

Quote by Zurai:
To unselect the entire group, just "move" them to the same group they were in in the first place.

For some reason this does not work for me. I can not select the same group they were in (nothing happens). I can select the leader of the group but it creates a new squad.