SPQR..difficulty... the AI still cheat?

[booker]

I`m reading how hard is SPQR compared to other mods... and i`m thinking.... is hard coz the AI cheat more than other mods or is hard coz there are a bunch of element that make the game harder... without going to the Unrealistic?

[Tacticalwithdrawal]

I don't think the AI cheats any more (Lt can confirm), basically it is very difficult because:

- house rules should be inforced

- Roman faction is set up harder (eg. costs of things, no weaponsmiths/blacksmiths, no temples providing troop bonuses or trade/growth bonuses, zone of recruitment)

- AI factions have (I think) boosted buildings

- towards the end of pre-marius your hastatii/principes & triarii arent up to facing the high powered (eg. double gold chevron) AI elite troops, makes life very exciting)

only 'cheat' I could suggest is that AI generals tend to have a lot of stars from the start (eg. I just fought against a 7 star 17 year old greek general)

So basically it's because the Roman faction has been made much harder (it's actually a very easy game if you play the main non-roman factions (eg. greeks) and then you play house rules on top of that.

Also zero recruitment time makes life easier for the AI ('cos it means it doesn't suffer from its inability to plan ahead so much) and means that you end up fighting large numbers of battles.

All in all, its a brilliant mod

[booker]

Originally Posted by Tacticalwithdrawal

I don't think the AI cheats any more (Lt can confirm), basically it is very difficult because:

- house rules should be inforced

- Roman faction is set up harder (eg. costs of things, no weaponsmiths/blacksmiths, no temples providing troop bonuses or trade/growth bonuses, zone of recruitment)

- AI factions have (I think) boosted buildings

- towards the end of pre-marius your hastatii/principes & triarii arent up to facing the high powered (eg. double gold chevron) AI elite troops, makes life very exciting)

only 'cheat' I could suggest is that AI generals tend to have a lot of stars from the start (eg. I just fought against a 7 star 17 year old greek general)

So basically it's because the Roman faction has been made much harder (it's actually a very easy game if you play the main non-roman factions (eg. greeks) and then you play house rules on top of that.

Also zero recruitment time makes life easier for the AI ('cos it means it doesn't suffer from its inability to plan ahead so much) and means that you end up fighting large numbers of battles.

All in all, its a brilliant mod

so they don`t "cheat" but they get units from no where while i`ll have rough time to get the cash to recruit 1 unit?

everywhere i go i`ll find full stack armys, and i`ll say.. "how the AI was capable of doing that?".

This is what you mean? coz i don`t feel excited about the AI being able to build full stack army on every region while i`ll be able to build 1 unit on every region.

[Savage_Swede]

Well thats the greatest thing with SPQR! You have to fight your way through thousands and thousands and thousands of enemy troops. I havent tried 5.0 yet, but im downloading it right now (my old copy of rome was busted and i got a new one today)

[Lord Agelmar]

The player has the 0 turn recruitment aswell. And as hard as Lt has made it to make money, its still easy enough to make enough money and support your legions.

[booker]

I donpt get it, what you mean by 0 recruiments ? you mean all units take nothing to recruit them?.... i can rise a full stack army on the same turn? don`t get it.


... i `ll have to test it first before i can give any opinion about it

thanks for the info.

[Barkhorn1x]

Originally Posted by booker

I donpt get it, what you mean by 0 recruiments ? you mean all units take nothing to recruit them?.... i can rise a full stack army on the same turn? don`t get it.


... i `ll have to test it first before i can give any opinion about it

thanks for the info.

To clarify = Zero recruitment means that you can fill your queue during a turn - hit the End of Turn button and - presto - all of those units are available to fight. Now, you do have to pay for these units - and so does the AI. (I believe that Spartan hoplites are the only exception here - you get one per turn - no matter how many in queue)

Points to remember:
- You start out as a Roman faction w/ enough troops for defense - so build your economy for a few turns - this helps you expand your forces down the road.
- The AI has more advanced buildings than you do - at the start - which means that they have more $$ and access to better units.

Such is the beauty of SPQR.

Barkhorn.

[booker]

ohh ok, i like that much better, but my question goes to the AI management, does the AI will still get tons of money from no where?

This is what i hate about it on harder levels.. specially VH, they AI get tons and tons of money, so this make blocking ports etc, useless... this is what i call cheating...

does the AI still cheat on SPQR?

Also, i read on the readme LT said for more harder experioence play VH/M (why M on battlefield?) how about VH on campagin? does the AI get the so called extra money? (i explanied above).

Sorry for my english, i`m very tired right now!...

[Decimus Equitius]

On the Campaign difficulty the VH setting makes it so that the AI gets 10,000 extra denari for every turn.

The main reason why battle difficulty is at Medium is because the 1.2 patch makes that the hardest setting, while hard and very hard are actually easier.

[Tacticalwithdrawal]

plus the AI actually seems to earn more from its buildings than Rome does (another deliberate SPQR change to make it harder) and you can start to understand why the AI has more troops.

[italiano]

"plus the AI actually seems to earn more from its buildings than Rome does"

Other factions get many more growth bonuses, experience bonuses, higher level trade fleets and high level market trade. Take a look at the export_descr_buildings file.

Eg a roman faction might get trade fleet level 2 while other factions get level 4 for the same level of port.

[lt1956]

BTW this isnt cheating, its just adjusting the Roman player. lol :-) But then the Romans have the best Army in the game if built right.

Oh, only if you guys could play 6.0 its so much harder and fun! ;-)

[NorthHammer]

Originally Posted by lt1956

Oh, only if you guys could play 6.0 its so much harder and fun! ;-)

You're reminding me of Silbesz when he got to play RTW before its actual release, very torturious,

[booker]

Originally Posted by italiano

"plus the AI actually seems to earn more from its buildings than Rome does"

Other factions get many more growth bonuses, experience bonuses, higher level trade fleets and high level market trade. Take a look at the export_descr_buildings file.

Eg a roman faction might get trade fleet level 2 while other factions get level 4 for the same level of port.

So blocking ports and stuff is useless??

What happen if i choose to play with another faction ? my buildings will still get more denarii than the romans? i`ll be getting 10.000 on every turn? ok i know i won`t, but how about the buildings?

This 10.000 denarii on very turn... is coz lt modded or coz is already hardcoded? My question is, on vanilla the AI still get 10k on every turn?

[italiano]

If you play as another faction you will get those bonuses yes. Not the 10k every turn though, wouldn't that have to be done with a script (and 5.0 doesn't have a script)??

Blocking all the ports, I dunno. I think the AI makes a hell of alot from land trade too, and with the huge populations they do well from tax. You could do it just to make the game a little tougher for yourself (it's realistic, but also stretches your budget).

[Tacticalwithdrawal]

if you put together a decent economic warfare campaign, ie:

blockade the ports

use assassins to saboutage markets

once the markets are gone, use the assassins to saboutage anything else they can

then you will start to see the AI have problems as it starts to divert money to rebuilding the saboutaged buildings. Eventually it does start to run out of cash and the troop production does slow down dramatically (you'll know when this is happening because the AI stops repairing buildings).

If you play another faction (particularly Greeks or Macedonians) you start raking in the money, I was getting 50k a turn as the greeks just controlig greece + the Rhodes and Crete.

[booker]

oh ok...
i guess this mod was make for Roman factions.

hey, i love your sig.

We are not retreating - we are advancing in another direction LOL!

[Dr Fox]

well it is possible to stop the AI cheating by making a script to take away 10000 denarii from the AI factions every turn so the Ai doesn't gain anymore money then it gets from its buildings

[Barkhorn1x]

Originally Posted by Dr Fox

well it is possible to stop the AI cheating by making a script to take away 10000 denarii from the AI factions every turn so the Ai doesn't gain anymore money then it gets from its buildings

Careful Dr., LT will clean your clock for being a wus here.



Barkhorn.

[Sidmen]

Thats only for the difficulty setting, go to medium like me if you want to be on a even playing field.