Noob question about AI and diplomacy

[Zylithan]

Sector24 - there's actually a thread about this here

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...o=&fpart=&vc=1

(if I linked properly)

[sector24]

Thanks for the link, that was a good read. The only thing I can tell you about the AI is that they know when you're weak. I'm curious how many scouts they employ. Actually, I'm curious how many scouts human players employ for that matter.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

If I've got conveniently placed independent scout recruiting points, I churn out scouts nearly nonstop until I've saturated nearby nations. I even find it helpful to place scouts in the lands of trustworthy allies. If they're facing a deep, hostile invasion, it will let me know precisely what I'll be facing if I launch a relief effort, or aim assisting assassinations.
Or, if the invading force moves on without leaving any province defense or troops behind (it happens), I get to mess with their lines of retreat.

[sum1lost]

Lazy_Perfectionist said:
If I've got conveniently placed independent scout recruiting points, I churn out scouts nearly nonstop until I've saturated nearby nations. I even find it helpful to place scouts in the lands of trustworthy allies. If they're facing a deep, hostile invasion, it will let me know precisely what I'll be facing if I launch a relief effort, or aim assisting assassinations.
Or, if the invading force moves on without leaving any province defense or troops behind (it happens), I get to mess with their lines of retreat.

This is how I did a good deal of damage to Man, including destroying his retreating knights and prophet-hero-commander.

[Ygorl]

At least in Dom2, the AI would tend to pick whom and when to attack by comparing the number of troops to the number of provinces for each nation. If a nation had lots of provinces but few troops (regardless of their power) it would be a ripe target for the AI. You could fool it by hiring lots of PD (those were counted) or lots of garbage troops, thereby convincing it that you weren't worth the trouble of attacking.

[NTJedi]

sector24 said:
The only thing I can tell you about the AI is that they know when you're weak. I'm curious how many scouts they employ.

My view about the AI in Dominions_3:
I seriously doubt the AI knows how to use scouts, and thus shouldn't be buying them. I could write a whole list of improvements needed by the AI, but it's too much for a small company like Illwinter.
For this reason I've been requesting the next version of Dominions provide modding of the AI via scripts. Ideally the next version of Dominions would provide us the following options:
1) Aggressive (currently within Dominions_3)
2) Standard (currently within Dominions_3)
3) Defensive (currently within Dominions_3)
4) Random (currently within Dominions_3)
5) Custom_A (hopefully found in Dominions_4)
6) Custom_B (hopefully found in Dominions_4)
7) Custom_C (hopefully found in Dominions_4)
8) Custom_D (hopefully found in Dominions_4)
9) Custom_E (hopefully found in Dominions_4)

** Custom A thru E are scripts which can be edited by gamers to improve the AI. Thus anytime someone complains about the AI... all the community has to say is "make a better AI via the scripts". As time passes custom AI scripts will continue to improve, the more scripting commands available the greater the opportunity for a powerful AI.