Very clever AI

[Davidos]

Right now I am playing a 0 turn campaign with the 2.6 version. I had a full a legion with polybian legionnaires with one stone thrower unit, one archers, one slingers, one velites unit, three cavalry units including the general and the rest are the polybian cohorts with four units of triarii.

I attacked a Greek army near a city called Philipoupolis and being near the settlement its garrison came for the help. The battle map consisted of a kind shallow uphill battle with some trees to the left and from the centre to the right it was an open field. I put my stone throwing ballistas behind the first line of infantry until the enemy, joined together as a one full army, came within the striking distance of my maniples.

To come to the point, some of the ai cavalry surprised me from the behind of the left flank and was caught unaware because I was fixed on the the centre and left flank to flank out the enemy. Their cavarly attack the velites and archers that were in between the second and first lines while some of them charged and the back of the already engaged infantry.

I wanted to post because I was never surprised by the AI like that. They are tending exploit any form of gaps if you are not careful enough.

[Leeham991]

Sometimes the AI does some insane move.

I had a habit of starting battles without checking how many units the enemy had exactly until one day the enemy's elite swordsmen suddenly appeared from the woods to my right and massacred half a legion which was very tired and worn down by battle. AI can do some stuff :L

[CatoTheYounger]

Yeah the battle AI for the enemy is not bad at all. They still get there Generals killed foolishly but that an old AI problem. But they definately try to flank and use their cav pretty well. And they use there multiple armies in concert pretty well.

[Leeham991]

I once saw 3 AI armies merge into this one giant force on the battlefield. I decided to just retreat instead of trying to fight a 6 unit deep formation which was wider than my army stretched to just 2 units deep. Always a good idea to supply a night fighter general to break up larger formations

[Davidos]

I once saw 3 AI armies merge into this one giant force on the battlefield. I decided to just retreat instead of trying to fight a 6 unit deep formation which was wider than my army stretched to just 2 units deep. Always a good idea to supply a night fighter general to break up larger formations

Now that is not fair ain't it ? The AI can merge up as one massive army but we humans cannot!

[CatoTheYounger]

No but my allies usualy line up beside me if they enter the same side of the field. Last battle i fought against three armies i camped on top of a hill but they surrounded me and i had to form a box and had no reserve because i had tp stretch my men out to not let them break through. I left everybody on guard mode including the Velites and when the Iberians were exhausted i unleashed my men to attack mode and they started slaughtering the enemy. My two cav units were already spent and retreated so it was up to my Genral to slip out and find the enemy general. I finaly caught and killed him but we were both down to less then 13 men at one point. Had i not killed him but got killed i surely would have lost. instead the Spanish started to rout. Thankfully Gnaeus Scipio had a crack surgeon and alot of my men revovered. The dead were everywhere though.

I would have lost if it was same battle setup but against the Germanics. Their armor piercing untis are tough and they swarm you.

[Leeham991]

I must say I have no good experiences with friendly AI. They never work with my army, they ALWAYS get the general killed, and the best I cam hope for is that they enter the battlefield from an angle where I can use them as an anvil instead of just have them run through my lines or kills hundreds of my troops with javelins.