misc questions

[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.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Nethog:
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?

The AI doesn't remember, per se. What happens is committing "hostile acts" increases the chances of the AI considering you as "hostile" and responding. In my AAR, I'm pretty sure that I'm now at war with Vanheim, despite not even taking any of their provinces. What happened is that I attacked Man's capital on the same turn Vanheim did, and my pretender defeated the Vans. The next turn, Van tried again, while my pretender was sieging. Again I defeated Van. Turn after, Van attacks another of my provinces with Call of the Winds. Not exactly a peaceful thing for them to broaden the dispute ...

Basically, the AI viewed my attacking the same target as them, and defeating their armies as "hostile". Wouldn't you?

OTOH, in a non-AAR R'leyh game, I had traded provinces with Man, Caelum, and Jotunheim for many turns. I eventually bloodied each of these nations very badly in the retaking of *my* provinces (provinces that I originally took from indies), and I built strong PDs, so they left me alone -- for several years. This left me free to devote my attention to smashing Pythium and Marignon, as I had never viewed those aforementioned three nations as a threat (until they became opportunistic).

[Nethog]

Interesting observations and experiences Arryn - thanks. From the perspective of what the developers actually coded into the game, I wonder how much of the AI's agression or pacifism is based upon the available current opportunities or on your nation's past transgression?

[ceremony]

Originally posted by Nethog:

quote:

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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.

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It does not work for me, either. If I select some members of a squad, the squad they are in does not become grey, meaning it is an invalid target for unit placement (much as non-mages don't become grey when you select magic units, or commanders with leadership zero don't become grey when you select any unit). Whenever I get into this situation (wanting to unselect a number of units) I usually have to hit Esc and exit the Army Setup screen entirely, then re-enter it. That's the only way I know of. If you find a way please post it!

As far as the AI and diplomatic status goes, Johan Osterman posted this a few months ago to another messageboard I read:

"The AI will most often keep the peace until he runs out of easy bordering independents. At that point it might attack one of its neighbours. The AI will also consider you at war if you attack one of its provinces; if you and the AI do not have any skirmishes for a few turns it will cease considering you at war. If you kill the AI's pretender, he will consider you at war for the whole game."

Note that the "lack of skirmishes" criterion is up to both you and the AI. Thus, if it finds easy provinces for conquest, it will keep attacking such, but if you manage to build up sufficient defenses that the AI considers an attack unwise, and it has no other options to attack you, and you maintain these defenses, eventually the AI will revert to a peaceful state.

In other words, once you go to war, your unilaterally stopping the war will not necessarily stop the AI from continuing it, but after several turns of peace on both your parts, the AI may call the whole thing off.

EDIT: typo

[ March 02, 2004, 01:28: Message edited by: ceremony ]