Britannia ... broken?

[Grazz]

Just finished running thru a Britannia campaign as the Norwegians and the AI was so bad I think it's just broken. A few examples for you.

Multiple Scottish 1/2 stacks next to a castle with maybe 4 units, I drop off an army with a siege weapon and a night fighter general and the castle is mine, you'd expect I'd have to defend it now ... or at least I would but no, the remaining stacks wander off next turn, to a fort I think.

Forts with 3/4 full stacks and towns with 4 or less units seems way too common. I saw the trend of what the AI was doing so I loaded up a 3/4 full stack, dropped it off next to london only to find it had a general and a billman while the closest fort had what looked like an entire stack.

The determination the AI has to hold these forts is ridiculous, I'm holding London with a little over half a stack and can see a full english stack sitting in a fort within one move and they never left the fort, I even saw the AI flipping out during the English turn moving units in and out of the forts.

Maybe my brilliant viking watery blitzkrieg was too much and the AI just left but I was more then a little disappointed.

Hard/Hard btw

[Armoured Hoplite]

I would have to agree. I finished a Wales long campaign on h/vh with 178 turns remaining. Most of the time the enemy AI stacks just milled around, not really doing anything. One full Scottish stack just kept going in and out of a fort several times per turn, for many, many turns as I captured nearby settlements. I was even starving the enemy out and nearby stacks did nothing. Obviously it was frustrating. Scotland had a sizeable force but never really did anything at all, they just sat and waited for me to attack or simply bypass them. I ran past his army and captured a castle deep in their territory, they brought three stacks nearby but never attacked. Also a full English stack stayed in a fort while I destroyed/captured all of his settlements. Even when I killed them for good they were still there, and were there for most of the campaign. Ireland conquered their regions but then did nothing at all. I was allied with them but they made no move towards other settlements.

Also, the AI kept putting armies in forts and leaving settlements virtually undefended. When the settlement was attacked there was no reaction at all, they just sat there in their fort. The AI seems so passive/dumb/oblivious it has to be broken.

[Ceferiel]

Just finished running thru a Britannia campaign as the Norwegians and the AI was so bad I think it's just broken. A few examples for you.

Multiple Scottish 1/2 stacks next to a castle with maybe 4 units, I drop off an army with a siege weapon and a night fighter general and the castle is mine, you'd expect I'd have to defend it now ... or at least I would but no, the remaining stacks wander off next turn, to a fort I think.

Forts with 3/4 full stacks and towns with 4 or less units seems way too common. I saw the trend of what the AI was doing so I loaded up a 3/4 full stack, dropped it off next to london only to find it had a general and a billman while the closest fort had what looked like an entire stack.

The determination the AI has to hold these forts is ridiculous, I'm holding London with a little over half a stack and can see a full english stack sitting in a fort within one move and they never left the fort, I even saw the AI flipping out during the English turn moving units in and out of the forts.

Maybe my brilliant viking watery blitzkrieg was too much and the AI just left but I was more then a little disappointed.

Hard/Hard btw

In the defence of the AI :

you are norwegian so london is quite far isn't it.

now, it probably has most of the english culture.

okay,

according to instructions, the fort do MUCH more devastation to the land (and your economy sir) and makes MUCH more unrest to your city.

if london indeed wasn't highly defended then the AI is hoping for a rebellion. and if rebellion takes place it london wont change to rebel but to english due to culture.

resulting in AI having a fullstack army for free from london rebellion

personally, well, i would even consider doing such fort-sabotage the AI is doing : )

[Jonni_g_n]

on my welsh campaign, the scots and norse did nothing all game, till i took newcastle, then the scots attacked me. which was a bit of a joke, the norse literally sat with around 5000 troops on the isle on man. kinda boring

[Jonni_g_n]

thinkin of it. maybe the campaign isn't designed to be played as welsh, in hope that english blitz wales then move on to scots, this would explain william wallace. with weakened scots the norse would probably attack scotland too. didn't see ireland move once they united island,

[LordsofDefence]

In my Scottish campaign, the Norwegians and the Irish have taken to camping on the Isle of Man. The stacks shuffle around a bit, sometimes jockey for space. Norway must have three full stacks on the Isle of Man (I threw them out of Scotland and they only have a couple of provinces left). Norway is at war with me, they have ships, but - no - they're staying put.

[Armoured Hoplite]

Forgot to mention that as well LordsofDefense. I had three full Norwegian stacks sit on an island forever, never moving. Obviously they hardly expanded at all as a result.

This really needs looked into tbh.

[Caerid]

As the Irish everyone was warring just fine, I quit after I unified Ireland because I got kinda bored.
As Wales though all armies acting like dopes just wandering back and forth and there was no action. It was rather easy taking on the Brits.
I kinda dislike the Brit campaign it feels almost tacked on compared to the others and I really dislike the forts everywhere.

[zaboron]

As Ireland the game really got boring after capturing the whole island - which was after turn 10. Noone attacked me.
As Wales, it wasn't hard either. Just defend the chokepoints and go for the undefended cities. The english stacks just watched as I captured all their cities with just one general and two peasants defending them ...

[The Border Reiver]

I have no idea what campaign you guys are playing because I'm playing th e British Campaign as the Scottish.

Norway, are attacking all the time, they are making naval invasions on enemy lands all the time. England has invaded me, they are fighting the welsh and the irish and the barons alliance.

If you are attacking first off to expand....stop it. Change your game style! TW games require the AI about 10 turns to kick in. You should concentrate on building towns and troops first until the AI starts off.

The only people you impress about beating the AI early is yourself. I'm working on a mod that will make things a lot more difficult anyway which will be in the mod thread soon.

[LordsofDefence]

I'm working on a mod that will make things a lot more difficult anyway which will be in the mod thread soon.

I look forward to it. Thanks for your hard work - the modders (and their mods) throughout the Total War series have been amazing.

[Roma]

I agree with all said see this thread:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=120396

There is a definite problem with AI aggression I also think that the 30000 that you get to start could have a big effect as it enables you to invest in troop numbers from the start. The AI might be investing in infrastructure instead this puts you at a big adventage.

But there is a problem that needs a fix.

[Gorrrrrn]

Played through an English campaign to the bitter end.

Once you have stopped the Welsh invasion and defeated them you simply expand the economy, and destroy the Irish and then the Scots. The AI simply goes nowhere. The Irish attack in Ireland but rarely achieve anything. The Scots didn't manage that. The Norwegians had been practically destroyed by the time I took Isle of Man. The Scots got William Wallace's army which got as far as the border and then sat there until I gathered an army together and destroyed it.

That being so easy I'm trying a Scottish campaign. The Norwegians are even more stupid than I realised. I put a decent force into Inverness Castle, the Norwegians attacked it unsuccessfully with three full-stack armies which ended with their king and another faction member getting killed on the ends of my pikes at the gate. End of Norwegian faction. So I went round and mopped up all the (now) rebel settlements and by turn 30 I have the whole of Scotland unified and am about to unleash an onslaught on England (where there has been a Baron's revolt - never had a hint of one when I played as England - perhaps that's coz it's scripted or the AI plays really badly?)

The Irish are keeping themselves to themselves and I have an alliance with the Welsh, who are allied to the Barons. In England King Edward has been on a crusade and has now returned. Let battle commence!

[Armoured Hoplite]

The Border Reiver. Nobody is trying to impress anyone, we just want a challenging game. I didn't blitz at all, I never do. I attacked more out of boredom as the enemy jusy sat there and didn't build up its troops or recruit armies to defend settlements. Nor did they move to attack my less defended settlements which often bordered theirs. Even when they had sufficient troops, they just sat there, not moving to engage at all. Furthermore, there is no excuse for full stacks to just move in an out of a fort that is nowhere near the action for 30+ turns. Judging by the responses in this and other threads, it is much more than of an issue than letting the AI build up. Still, I look forward to your mod because this campaign has much potential.

[Rorarii]

Don't get me started about the crappy AI. I played as the Welsh adn basically destroyed the English very easily, the AI of the enemy generals was appauling, charging into my staked longbowmen, AI standing there while I flattened them with catapult fire, non-defending of settlements or forts etc etc

R

[John of Gaunt]

I've play to games on Britannia, Norway on H/VH and Wales VH/VH. Both were ridiclously easy. The AI seemed to be confused as to the purpose of the game as it made few moves which could be described as warlike.

Plus the Battle AI is the worst of any TW game.