AI competence

[Gandalf Parker]

Im trying to remember but isnt there a way to have bodyguard archers fire? I thought I set that up and had the commander up in front-flanks with orders to wait,wait,wait,stay-behind which seemed to achieve the desired result. Lots of volleys and then moving to the back of the war. I cant remember if it was short bow, slingers, or javelin that it worked for.

[Xietor]

Edi,

I do not think having birds attack archers would be any way overpowered. Look at the birds stats. Also, why not have the Pangaea archers fire before the birds attack? The archers usually kill all of their own birds as it is. While I never expect pd to bear the brunt of my defense, I would at least like to see the AI use some intelligence in deciding how to attack. Let archers shoot 1st, then let the birds attack archers. In the description of the birds, it claims they are good at harassing archers, why cannot the AI follow the unit description? The game is a good one, but do not jump on every suggestion as no game is perfect.

Edi-if you like your troops dying to friendly fire, that is ok with me, but for those of us that do not, let us have the option to have our archers not take shots unless they have a clear shot at the enemy.

This game is one of the alltime best. Up there with MOO2.

[Edi]

Xietor, having the harpies attack archers could be very good and I've actually seen that happen even with PD. The problem I was referring to was your comment about attacking commanders and mages. THAT is overpowered.

As for PD, it can't be scripted, controlled or instructed. It will do what it will do and that's the end of it. I do not pretend that it is perfect, it could act more intelligently in many situations, but it is not much more than a minor annoyance to me at least. Yur milaegae may vary depending on a particular type of PD and which nations you most often play.

I don't like friendly fire casualties any more than you do, but they're a fact of life in Dom3. I generally set my archers to fire enemy archers or enemy cavalry with just a few stacks of archers firing at the closest enemies. That helps keep friendly fire casualties down to a manageable level. Another thing that helps is dividing archers into clumps of 15 to 30 depending on the total number of archer in your army, the clump size tends to increase as the army grows).

There is also the matter that once the current target stack of the archers routs, they will independently switch targets to a non-routed stack until all enemies have routed.

Your suggestion is not bad in and of itself, and if you take a look at what I said, I commented that the current system is adequate + hold and fire would be welcome. It's not perfect, but neither is it a pressing problem. Perhaps it will be added and perhaps not. We will see. Don't take fairly mild comments as a personal attack on yourself. They were not intended that way or as a putdown.

Edi

[Xietor]

Nope, I did not view them as a personal attack at all. Just thought you were defending what i see as a flaw. The more people that point these flaws out, the sooner they will get fixed!

[Boron]

Iirc Dominions 1 had the option to specificly target mages. But most players found this imbalanced and this attack command was removed for dom2 then.
Imho it is better this way because otherwise some fliers would be way way too strong. Imagine e.g. flying SCs or a ozelot horde that can even directly target enemy mages.

[SlipperyJim]

Boron said:
Iirc Dominions 1 had the option to specificly target mages. But most players found this imbalanced and this attack command was removed for dom2 then.

Yeah, I don't get that. Frankly, the current option of Hold & Attack Rear (H&AR) is pretty much the same thing, especially with fliers. A squadron of Spring Hawks set to H&AR will still do a whole lot of damage....

(Harpies, somewhat less. But Harpies are very weak, even for fliers.)

The most unbalanced command in Dom1 was Fire Commanders/Magic. A few squads of longbowmen (available from many independent provinces) set to Fire Commanders or Fire Magic was absolutely devastating. Thankfully, that command was removed in Dom3. Commanders can still Fire Rear, but regular troops can't even do that.

[Meglobob]

SlipperyJim said:

Yeah, I don't get that. Frankly, the current option of Hold & Attack Rear (H&AR) is pretty much the same thing, especially with fliers. A squadron of Spring Hawks set to H&AR will still do a whole lot of damage....

Well no it isn't because players like me always put a army right at the rear of the battlefield to deal with this threat.

My mages then go singley spaced in front or in the exact centre of a large army mass depending on what I figure my enemy as. I find this is very effective when dealing with Mictlan flying sacreds btw.