@rdonj Im surprised that we are agreeing on all of this.
Ive often jumped into threads about nation mods when someone jumps on a new modder about their mod being "unbalanced". I try to offer the alternative of forget the balance, go for AI. Some have ignored balance suggestions but not many have openly pursued a mod for AI play.
There are many threads though where people have used the debug and comptrn switches to actually watch what the AI is doing. Yes it tends to surprise people how much thought the AI does actually put into each spell selection and recruiting action. Not enough of course, but its far from brainless. Knowing what it does, and why, can go far toward working WITH it to remove temptations to be stupid.
Just a few examples that have been given...
A) remove flak units from the nation, it doesnt use them very well
B) more resources at the capital
C) a Lore Master or such site at the capital helps the AI keep up with players who burn thru to a particular spell for endgame
D) the AI actually DOES recognize SC vs Rainbow pretenders. To the AI the PURPOSE of an SC is to go to war and participate in arenas. So dont give it SCs. In fact, the safest bet is to give it immobile gods
E) its been noted in other threads which magic the AI does/doesnt use well. Choose accordingly
F) the AI does use some spells well altho getting access to them tends to be undirected and random. National spells can go a long way toward improving this
Unfortunately... my own efforts at improving AI have tended to be more in server or map commands (my areas). Quite abit can be done in map and scenario functions but Id still like to see more mods saying they are based specifically on AI testing.
Also, Im rather random myself. My method of testing is hit-n-miss. I can stumble on surprising things but I wont ever come up with some of the detailed analysis that some people put into pinning down the exact formulas in the game. Id like to see some of their skills put toward the AI spell list, and AI recruitment.
Re: Question before buying!
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