Ultimate AI - Feedback and Discussion *UPDATE 1.6*

[Darvist]

Why should they give the same bonus?

ok just making shure.

It takes 18000 population to upgrade a fortress to a citadel.

My bad

Nubian Archers have better morale and are trained.

Shouldn't the Nubian archers have improved moral stat and buy trained you mean built in fortresses and not recruited i can build them in my fortresses?

You don't get free upkeep for Ghazis. They are recruit able at cities for balance purposes.

K seems fair.


HOLY COW Scotland Beet England for once and is running amuch as the there'd most powerful faction! Heck they won the crusade on Constantinople.

One minor detail thats unimportant. The victory conditions say hold Jerusalem and Napals. But in the faction summary and the faction selection have the swords marking there conquest objectives as Jerusalem and Constantinople.

OK i will shut up now.

[doorknobdeity]

You wrote that if you install just the AI files, you will not get the full effect. What do you mean by that? I assume that it means that only the benefits listed under Campaign AI, Diplomacy, and Battle and AI Formations will be in effect. However, it seems to me that this also means that this would be easier to merge with other mods, as it doesn't mess with buildings, units, etc. Am I correct in this?

I do apologize if this has been answered before.

[GrandViZ]

However, it seems to me that this also means that this would be easier to merge with other mods, as it doesn't mess with buildings, units, etc. Am I correct in this?

That is why the AI pack only includes files, that work with every other mod, regardless of its specifics.

@Darvist
No by "trained" I mean another morale related stat of the unit. E.g. Desert archers are "untrained", Nubian Archers are "trained".

There is indeed a discrepancy between the victory conditions displayed and the modified ones.

[Darvist]

LOL im must be playing to much.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sorry to bother ya agen

[GrandViZ]

The content of those textboxes is not displayed to me.

[Darvist]

Thats odd.:hmmm: ok i used a different host.

[GrandViZ]

OK, what are you trying to say?

You have used an all-cavalry army to rout the Scots from the battlefield and suffered nearly no casualties - is it that?

[tree_of_liberty]

I've noticed the following awesome changes since the bugfix:

-Growth is much more reasonable now, although some AI cities still grow out of control. This is probably related to the very hard difficulty doubling of AI growth rates. I tried playing on medium, which corrected the growth issue but also seemed to make the AI much more passive, both in pursuing rebel territories and attacking other factions.

-Factions much much more willing to make peace now! All the long games I had before the bug fix, factions would always pursue war to the point of eliminating other factions. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it did result in a pretty consolidation of power. Now, factions will take a couple territories and peace.

Great fix!

Still have a question, though... does changing the difficulty at the initial campaign screen affect how AI behaves in your mod? Or just the growth bonuses? It seemed to me to change AI behavior, but perception can be flawed.

[Darvist]

Name he has no name! Everything else is whatever its just the name. I figured id show ya not just tell ya.

Also happened agen when i took Sofia.

[repman]

@GrandViz
Later in the game if big factions are breaking up and small rebel factions reappear, nobody is attacking this small rebel factions (like in the start of the game)

Probably:
<min_entry target_faction="slave" frontline_balance="2.1" is_neighbour="true"/>
<max_entry target_faction="slave" num_enemies="0"/>

If a faction has another enemy it's not attacking this small rebels.

repman

[GrandViZ]

@repman
Yeah, that is right. I will include an additional low priority rule for rebels, to fix that issue. The point is, I don't want the AI to split its forces to hunt rebels during wartime.

@Darvist
I don't have that problem with my installation, so I have no idea, why it appears for you.

@tree_of_liberty
AI behavior might change, but I think only because of its economic options it has on VH difficulty.

EDIT: A new bugfix for the passivity against rebels during times of war has been added. As always the fix is cumulative and includes all previous fixes. Download

[repman]

Thanks for the fix:

Some more noob ideas: most from looking into AI medimod

Naval Invasions
- naval invasions are probably disabled with your can_force_invade="false" in the
Find potential allies section.
The use of command can_force_invade="false" should be minimized. I deleted all of them in the xml file. Now i can see e.g. danish invasions of england or scottish of norway...

continue="true"
You are using this only for invasion and defense calculations. Should be extended to Alliance and other calculations to avoid calculation stop.

Negative parameters
as
<faction_attitude invade_priority="-350" continue="true"/>
.....
<faction_attitude invade_priority="100" continue="true"/>
can be used for complex +-matrix calculations
Ax+By+Cz+......= invade !
Outcome can be maybe simulated with graphical tools: Aris tool or similar stuff


Rigid statements
As (or for the length of alliances)
<min_entry num_turns_ceasfire="0" stance="Neutral"/>
<max_entry num_turns_ceasfire="10" stance="Neutral"/>
<faction_attitude can_force_invade="false"/>
should be avoided and maybe with the new above calculation probabilities we can soften them up

new kingdoms parameters
in file descr_campaign_db.xml
<ai>
<!-- PRIEST CONTROLLER -->
<priest_religion_min float="0.5"/> <!-- if religion < religion_min then region needs a priest -->
<priest_religion_max float="0.6"/> <!-- if religion >= religion_max then a priest can be taken from this region for other missions -->
<priest_heresey_min float="0.05"/> <!-- if heresey >= heresey_min then region needs a priest -->
<priest_heresey_max float="0.3"/> <!-- if heresey >= heresey_max then region needs a priest with highest priority -->
<priest_religion_export float="0.5"/> <!-- if my religion in foreign region < religion_export then then we will export our religion in this region -->
<priest_max_prod_turns float="5.0"/> <!-- max distance from a production center to a target region in turns -->
<att_str_modifier float="0.8"/> <!-- modifies the effective attackers strength when determining the priority of making attack decision (i.e. att_def_strength_ratio = ((att_str*att_str_modifier)/def_str) -->
<siege_att_str_modifier float="0.30"/> <!-- modifies the effective sieging attackers strength when determining the priority of making attack decision -->
<crusade_att_str_modifier float="1.0"/> <!-- modifies the effective crusading sieging attackers strength when determining the priority of making attack decision -->
<sally_att_str_modifier float="1.0"/> <!-- modifies the effective sallying attackers strength when determining the priority of making attack decision -->
<ambush_att_str_modifier float="1.0"/> <!-- modifies the effective ambushing attackers strength when determining the priority of making attack decision -->
<str_limit_weak float="0.5"/> <!-- min ideal strength ratio modifier for determining when an army is far too weak for an attack ( att_def_strength_ratio < (ideal_str_ratio*str_limit_weak) ) -->
<str_limit_strong float="99.0"/> <!-- max ideal strength ratio modifier for determining when an army is far too strong for a fair attack ( att_def_strength_ratio > (ideal_str_ratio*str_limit_strong) ) -->
<merchant_min_survival_acquire int="75"/> <!-- the minimum survival chance for a merchant to consider attempting an acquisition -->
</ai>

So see ya for the next version of UAI

repman

[GrandViZ]

Thanks for your input. I will investigate the possibilities, but not all your ideas are without negative side effects.

Negative parameters

I already use a different way to make use of faction standing parameters for AI aggressiveness.

continue="true"
You are using this only for invasion and defense calculations. Should be extended to Alliance and other calculations to avoid calculation stop.

Not really, because I want the search to stop in certain circumstances.

[grandgnu]

Currently playing 1.6 and noticed a problem. There's a jihad army right outside Constantinople, but it just stays there indefinetely. It's been years and it just sits there and never seiges the city or attacks anyone.

[GrandViZ]

Any chance, that they signed a peace and therefore do not attack?

[grandgnu]

Any chance, that they signed a peace and therefore do not attack?

Yes, that appears to be the problem. Just weird to see their army stick around there year after year.

[tree_of_liberty]

I noticed the same thing. The AI is pretty decent about pursuing peace now, but occasionally the Muslims will peace with a faction before they've taken the jihad city.

--Other general thoughts/input--

I finally figured out how to win as Russia. I take back what I said about faction balance, it's just fine. What made the difference was the lessons this mod has taught me in diplomacy and economy.

The settlement growth nerf has reinforced my playing style: I use jihad/crusades to build chivalry in my governors, which then parlays into an economic advantage. Not being able to do this gives a huge disadvantage to Russia and the Byzantines -- there's no other reliable way to build big chivalry.

Also, I started an AAR based on UAI 1.6: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=132433
I randomed Denmark :p Last time i played them in UAI I got blitzed by the HRE. This time ... we'll see

[uk_john]

grandgnu - have they allied? When a Faction allies with me it always sends an army right outside one of my cities. Can someone tell me what the hell the diplomacy bit about 'allowing the army to travel across my lands' bit, when it seems that all armies just go wherever they want across any border of any country!

Wish it was like Civilization or Alpha Centuri, where if another faction didn't have permission to cross your borders they didn't, unless they went to war against you!

[GrandViZ]

@tree_of_liberty

Very nice AAR!

In regard to the AI being to eager for peace, I will slightly reduce the effect with the next update.

[grandgnu]

grandgnu - have they allied?

They didn't ally, but the Egyptians and Byzantines no longer show up as if they are war with one another. So the Jihad army they had sent to Constantinople is just sitting there year after year outside the city without doing anything.