Starting to get frustrated with this game

[ioticus]

Originally posted by Taqwus:
Spell AI is one of the more problematic areas, I'd say. Last night, I spent some time trying to figure out why one of my Grand Thaugmaturgs was casting Vortex of Returning when the battle was being *won*

That's what I was afraid of. If the AI can't handle "simple" spells like Breath of Cold, how can it handle more complex spells and situations?

[Bowlingballhead]

Well, THAT may just be aim.

If you're new, you may not realize: Everybody has REALLY BAD AIM. A mage with a precision of 10 requires almost miraculous luck to hit their assigned target with any spell. More often than not, they'll be wildly off, even hit your own units.

That's one of the reasons why Illithids are so deadly, because mind burn is a ranged attack that cannot miss and doesn't care about range.

An Eye of Aiming, or preprogramming your mage to cast (I think it's 'Eagle Eye'?) at the start of a fight is absolutely necessary if you plan on using these ranged combat spells. Fortunately, that +5 difference between 10 and 15 takes you from 'unable to hit the broad side of a barn' to 'very accurate'.

And yeah, the AI is outrageously stupid as to which spells it chooses to cast. You can preprogram some to start a fight, or try and force the issue (by giving a non-mage a spellcasting item, or using a mage whose exact magical levels limit him to certain spells), but basically you just have to hope they cast something useful.

Mages get a bit of a bum deal where offensive spells are concerned.

[NTJedi]

Ermor is by far the toughest AI opponent. Even when placed on easy setting with other AI opponents on difficult setting.... ERMOR will still usually win.

Simple answer is take Ermor out of your games... until you feel that you have mastered the game.

[ioticus]

Originally posted by Bowlingballhead:
Well, THAT may just be aim.

If you're new, you may not realize: Everybody has REALLY BAD AIM.

From what I understand of the description, Breath of Cold (if that's what you're referring to) doesn't require aim and acts like a damaging aura around the caster. In my case, he destroyed many of my own units near him, including two of my best generals.

[Bowlingballhead]

Yeah, that's AI spellcasting stupidity. That's one good reason to spread out commanders. Keeps them from all getting detonated if you run into bad luck somewhere.

[licker]

Whats even more annoying though is when your commander kills all his blood slaves... Even without casting any personal spells Abysian (and other) commanders can light up the slaves like stogies after a few rounds... now that's annoying

[ioticus]

Originally posted by NTJedi:
Ermor is by far the toughest AI opponent. Even when placed on easy setting with other AI opponents on difficult setting.... ERMOR will still usually win.

If that's true (and I have no reason to doubt it), this is a major balance problem with the game. If an AI can do that much better with Ermor, then how much of an advantage would a human have using Ermor in multiplayer games?