is the AI cheating

[Terrement]

"Read the guides and various national threads. The tactics and strategies may seem arcane, but they are tired and true. "

I did, using the Man - archers & knights. I have 15 provinces, he has 15 provinces. However, 7 of his have been "unrested" above 100 continually by teams of bards, and he is still able to throw hundreds more troops at me than I can generate.

[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by Terrement

"Read the guides and various national threads. The tactics and strategies may seem arcane, but they are tired and true. "

I did, using the Man - archers & knights. I have 15 provinces, he has 15 provinces. However, 7 of his have been "unrested" above 100 continually by teams of bards, and he is still able to throw hundreds more troops at me than I can generate.

The computer will always far outnumber you, BUT they are masters of the chaff horde, and little else. You have to figure out what will kill the most enemies in the shortest time, often that is as easy as just getting some Evo research as soon as you can, and getting some battlemages out to throw down..... well, whatever you have, even if it's just Poison Clouds and Breath of the Dragon.

In some cases, the AI style can be plain brutal. Was doing an Atlantis test the other day, and as I tried to start expanding aggressively on land, my enemy was throwing hundreds of archers at me. Aquatics have a hard enough time getting quality troops on land as it is, but Atlantis of course has no native missile troops either.

One thing I've noticed against the AI - most people swear by Sloth in MP to milk their points, but in SP a high Production scale can give you the strength of numbers that can really help against the AI hordes. Just remember, your "best" troop may not be your most cost effective troop, in a protracted battle. If you have 16 prot heavy inf for 15g, or 14 prot heavy inf for 10g for example - don't waste the money and resources on the top shelf, go middle quality and use sheer quantity to your advantage.

[theenemy]

Originally Posted by JimMorrison

The computer will always far outnumber you...

So, that MEANS that the AI is cheating or what? Because, I don't see any other reason here.
In one SP game, I set up all the players(except myself) with ALL NEGATIVE SCALES, sucky dominion and sucky pretender. Then I switched to AI players in-game. Well guess what, the AI recruited HORDES of cheap troops each turn while I struggled to keep my small armies from starving. Keep in mind though, that when u switch from human player to AI, it goes to normal. Not hard, not super-hard, not super-duper-yippie-kiyay hard, just NORMAL. As far as I know, the AI doesn't get any bonuses on NORMAL difficulty level.
Another thing that makes the AI harder is that all the "ultra-mega-uber-kill-everything-in-site-spells" aren't available until the higher mag. lvl's. And if you turn the magic research to easy in options, the AI only get's tougher for some reason unknown to me. So, if I turn down the mag. research... the AI b****slaps me to hell, if I don't turn down the mag research... well, the AI b****slaps me to hell too.
I usually don't get easily frustrated with games. I play because it's fun, not because I wan't to win. But getting raped by the AI again and again and again is starting to feel kinda old now. Every time I see the banners of my AI enemies in a SP game, it already feels like I'm about to loose.

END OF RANT

But perhaps it is only my poor troop placement skill. I have trouble deciding what kind of troop is better placed where.

Oh, and isn't unrest 100 or over = not able to recruit troops?

They really should include SP diplomacy in this game. Would make things SOOOO much easier.

[Sombre]

Originally Posted by theenemy

So, that MEANS that the AI is cheating or what? Because, I don't see any other reason here.
In one SP game, I set up all the players(except myself) with ALL NEGATIVE SCALES, sucky dominion and sucky pretender. Then I switched to AI players in-game. Well guess what, the AI recruited HORDES of cheap troops each turn while I struggled to keep my small armies from starving. Keep in mind though, that when u switch from human player to AI, it goes to normal. Not hard, not super-hard, not super-duper-yippie-kiyay hard, just NORMAL. As far as I know, the AI doesn't get any bonuses on NORMAL difficulty level.
Another thing that makes the AI harder is that all the "ultra-mega-uber-kill-everything-in-site-spells" aren't available until the higher mag. lvl's. And if you turn the magic research to easy in options, the AI only get's tougher for some reason unknown to me. So, if I turn down the mag. research... the AI b****slaps me to hell, if I don't turn down the mag research... well, the AI b****slaps me to hell too.
I usually don't get easily frustrated with games. I play because it's fun, not because I wan't to win. But getting raped by the AI again and again and again is starting to feel kinda old now. Every time I see the banners of my AI enemies in a SP game, it already feels like I'm about to loose.

END OF RANT

But perhaps it is only my poor troop placement skill. I have trouble deciding what kind of troop is better placed where.

Oh, and isn't unrest 100 or over = not able to recruit troops?

They really should include SP diplomacy in this game. Would make things SOOOO much easier.

No, the AI on normal gets no bonus to gold or anything else. It can cheat in the sense that it can micro more than a human ever could, but on normal you really, /really/ shouldn't be having so much trouble.

I suggest you detail exactly what pretender, magic, scales and nation you're using and what you're doing in the first 10 or so turns. Because the only explanation is that you're making a series of fairly major errors, or you're fighting like 4 AIs at once.

[Illuminated One]

Hmm, I play on difficult setting and I have a similar problem. however only with certain nations.
If Niefel is in the game it usually goes like this. I expand until I border Niefel. Than I remember the previos game "OMG it's Niefel I have to destroy them", so I attack them early use lots of spies if I can and even take some of their territories.
But they simply don't care their armies keep growing as does their land and sooner or later they return with a really huge army (100 of the smaller giants + a lot of indies). Even if I can defend against that army I takes only a few turns and they are back with an even larger force and other AI nations invade me, too.
So I start another game (again with niefel because I must find a way to defeat them) and exactly the same thing happens.
The same happens to a lesser extent with some other nations (vanheim for instance but that seems to be more random).

[Gregstrom]

Originally Posted by theenemy

In one SP game, I set up all the players(except myself) with ALL NEGATIVE SCALES, sucky dominion and sucky pretender. Then I switched to AI players in-game. Well guess what, the AI recruited HORDES of cheap troops each turn while I struggled to keep my small armies from starving.

The AI probably let its armies starve. It does that. It probably wasn't buying many expensive leaders (mages, for instance), which let it waste more money on troops.

It would be interesting to know your race design and game settings.

Originally Posted by theenemy

Another thing that makes the AI harder is that all the "ultra-mega-uber-kill-everything-in-site-spells" aren't available until the higher mag. lvl's. And if you turn the magic research to easy in options, the AI only get's tougher for some reason unknown to me. So, if I turn down the mag. research... the AI b****slaps me to hell, if I don't turn down the mag research... well, the AI b****slaps me to hell too.

Easy research is a boost to the AI. AI players don't spend as many resources on research as humans generally do, and making research easier lets them get the critical mid-level spells quicker.

Originally Posted by theenemy

But perhaps it is only my poor troop placement skill. I have trouble deciding what kind of troop is better placed where.

Quick rules of thumb:
Archers in the midfield, or slingers a little ahead of that.

Either way, some infantry just in front of them on hold and attack orders is a good idea.

Your main attacking units shoud be not quite at the front. Occupying the very front of the field should be a few small units of throwaway chaff (indy archers are good), who will take the brunt of the enemy charge.

If you have good cavalry (or very fast units of some sort), put them at the side of the field with orders of hold and attack rearmost/archers.

Sure, it's not perfect, but it'll often suffice against an AI.

Originally Posted by theenemy

Oh, and isn't unrest 100 or over = not able to recruit troops?

Yes for humans, probably yes for AI.

Originally Posted by theenemy

They really should include SP diplomacy in this game. Would make things SOOOO much easier.

Maybe.

For a training game:
Map: Silent Seas
1 normal or easy AI - don't bother to set up their pretender as the AI can make really bad design decisions all by itself. Feel free to choose their race.
Money/Resource/Supply: all 100. Changing any of these is unlikely to help you more than the AI.
Research: Normal or maybe difficult.
Strength of independents: 9 - don't try to take any indy provinces until you have a large army. The AI won't be as sensible, and you'll have an advantage in the early game because they'll be losing troops hand over fist.
1 starting province - it's best to start the AI off as small as possible.


Generally, the more AIs in a game the more challenging it is. Keeping games simple until you can handle armies well is a good idea.

PM me if you think of anything you'd like to ask.

[JimMorrison]

Independents = 9 is the most sensible learning advice available. It is the only game that will reliably hamper the AI more than you.

I found the game easier to learn with Production-3 in my scales. The reason being, until you have the knowledge of what units are best, and what to build when - you need the capacity to meet a horde with a horde, if nothing else.


Also, I struggled to really get a good grip on the game, until I made a nice random map with 61 provinces, and no water. I generated a few until I got one I liked, and I marked ALL territories as "no start", except one near each corner.

A map like this, with 3 opponents, reduces the chances of you getting swamped, and makes turns resolve REALLY fast, so you aren't staring at the screen praying you're still in the game.

Then I beat my head against those maps for a couple of weeks until I started reliably winning with just about every nation that I tried.

Then I bumped up the difficulty 1 notch, and cried again.

I <3 Dominions.

[Taqwus]

Originally Posted by JimMorrison

Independents = 9 is the most sensible learning advice available. It is the only game that will reliably hamper the AI more than you.

Agreed. One should also eyeball the independent types. Feudal provinces (heavy infantry, knights and archers) are pretty nasty if you lack shields or lance-absorbers (e.g. Dispossessed Spirits). Lizardmen provinces should be avoided if you're relying on an SC pretender. Barbarians are slightly ugly in melee, but fare poorly under concentrated arrow fire.

I found the game easier to learn with Production-3 in my scales. The reason being, until you have the knowledge of what units are best, and what to build when - you need the capacity to meet a horde with a horde, if nothing else.

Prod-3 might depend on the nation, of course. Sometimes it's gold that's the bottleneck.

The AI tends not to overbid for mercenaries, at least on low difficulty levels, so bidding 1+base rate works. Some of the mercenary companies are good for capabilities you might not have (like heavy cavalry, amphibious infantry, or other magical paths) and others may be more useful as cannon fodder. Good for early expansion.

Along with this, don't overspend on temples early. Unless you started near a very happy blood-sacrificer, you shouldn't be in danger of dominion death early on, and the gold would be better spent on mages or troops.

[Bwaha]

I suggest a mid era game with you as rylah. No other water races, so you can choose which provinces to fight over. Use a master lich rainbow mage. Be sure you have 4e 4s 4d at least. your pretender should be asleep. Scales: 1 turmoil 3 luck and one magic. Research site finding spells. Once you get rolling the computer will just die. Humans are a different matter. I haven't won a mp game yet, but you really learn from getting your a-- kicked. I have, and I want to return the favor.

[Fate]

The first strategy I was able to pull off successfully was a bless strat. In that vein I would suggest taking a god bless nation (such MA Arcoscephale) and taking a heavy bless.

I like a pretender (Mother of Rivers) with Water 9/Fire 9, imprisoned, magic -3, turmoil -2, productivity +1 (because the heart companions are resource expensive), and dom 6. Then make your starting commander a prophet and recruit ONLY heart companions. Script your commander to divine bless and tear up indies. (Indies should be at 6 or so).

This strategy works in two ways. First, you should be conquering 1+ provinces per turn (you can spend surplus money on mercenaries to keep expanding, just overbid by a small amount to block the AI). Second, anytime the AI looks like it is going to attack you move your entire holy army up and attack the AI. Your blessed units can take almost any mundane attacks (they have a little trouble with tramplers) so an army of 50 heart companions can easily take 200 AI chaff.