Ultimate AI - Feedback and Discussion *UPDATE 1.6*

[Gorm the old]

I have a bug, my game kinda freezes in the second turn, it stops when it france are making their moves. I can still pres Esc and guit the game, but the game dosen't process any further no matter how long i wait?! and what faction i play!

Help pls.

[Phatphal]

your mod is the sole reason im still playing medieval 2, cheers mate

[danfromiran]

Thank you for the mod. it is "very good"
here are things I liked very much:

1- the "AI" works very well, unlike the original version of the game, factions thrive if they have enough money. I remember Scotland did not make any movement to capture the rebel Dublin even if they had money, but with Ultimate AI I gave Scotland a huge sum of money and I whitnessed their army building and invasion to Dublin (It took about 12 turns). however I have not checked out the ligitimacy of alliances or if the " Attack Faction" option in diplomacy works well.
2-the flags of most factions have been changed which makes it historically accurate.

here are things that could be better:
1- please dont give too much money to factions, I understand that money is necessary for developement of factions, but the amount of money they earn out of nowhere each turn is too much. I am almost completely sure that the money is not earned via farming, tax and trade and it is completely out of nowhere.
2- I dont know if this is possible but try to make factions appreciate money when they are bankrupt.(even if the offer is not so much in their favour.) I made Milan totally Bankrupt early in the game and then tried to get Genoa for 50 000 but they rejected it. it would be realistic if factions had to succumb to offers if they are in crisis.
3- please increase the farming income. when I pay a lot of money and I wait 6 turns to construct Irrigation, I would like to see a change afterwards.

I hope my voice will be heard by the mastermind modders out there.
your mod is awesome. I cant play the original game anymore.

[Manchild24]

hey im having trouble installing. the download page is in german and i dont see any download button and dont understand what their sayig. any help?

[Jakoporeeno]

I can't download the AI files! The official link takes me to a german download site and there's nothing to click to download the thing.

[uk_john]

GrandViZ, fair enough. Appreciate the honest answer! Still tells me that the AI cheats as if you have money coming in to the AI whatever the circumstances, as in my one, then that's a might unfair and has larger implications. Ie, what if the French attack me? Or another nation? I potentially lose the whole game because My UK economy of 20 plus cities/castles doesn't match a 2 town (both embargoed) nation? Leaving me to pull in troops from other towns and run short of capital to deal with eventualities to deal with these last two towns?

What I decided to do was just leave them there on their Island prison. They did not seem interested in building ships to break the embargo given the land bridge was sealed, as were their towns; I could have gone bankrupt as a nation and left very weak on my southern border having to use my whole economy to deal with them, with no likelihood of raising an army that was large enough, quick enough, to deal with them because of their 'secret' income!

[akagi28]

are the rebels set to be not that active? I noticed that their cities are garrisonned pretty good, 1/2 stack. But when they are out and about they just sit their.

I've also noticed that attacking them with arrows, they just sit around and let the arrows kill them. So unless i make a charge they seem very passive. Also, one seige (which i lost) the rebels seems very disorganized when sallying to meet my army. They would come out try to form up but then some would run back into the city and this would repeat a bit, all while my archers were target practicing. They eventually attacked but it took them awhile. Is this normal behaivor for rebels? However, rebel navies are really active, they completely wiped out mine.

As for other factions, france attacked, but they attacked with a small army of 3 units. Seems odd.

Will have to see how things progress, maybe it gets better.

[Eles]

Thanks for reply.

I stayed with my spy in an enemy castle. I saw the castle had for ex. 6400 people and 1,5 percent growth rate. In the next turn the castle had 6700 people... If you dont set any bonus rate, where is the problem then? In the difficulty settings? I started the campaign with very hard difficulty. Is it possible that it add these bonuses which wouldnt be there on normal or hard?

[Dimitri_Harkov]

Hey GrandViz!

A great one, as always.
I'm currently using your AI pack with my mod, and I really like the AI behaviour, but I noticed that there is no single alliance in the game, even after 65 turns (I made no changes to any AI files).
Strange, isn't it?

BTW, I think a money script is a must. M2TW is just too easy without one. If based on the difficulty setting, the script should be ok for any player.

[uk_john]

BTW, I think a money script is a must. M2TW is just too easy without one. If based on the difficulty setting, the script should be ok for any player.

But like any mod, go too far and it ends up creating silly situations like mine, which takes you out of the immersion of being in a real world, which more accurate AI is supposed to be about isn't it? I mean isn't what you're saying about the fact that something isn't happening realistically? And without being rude Dimitri, why is your 'this isn't realistic' okay and my 'this isn't realistic' not?

[GrandViZ]

Not sure if this is a bug or a feature, but Crusader Armies are attackable by other catholic factions.

This is no bug. But if a catholic faction attacks a crusader army it will suffer a huge reputation loss and its relations to other catholic factions, especially the Papal States, will drop.

Hey GrandViz!

A great one, as always.
I'm currently using your AI pack with my mod, and I really like the AI behaviour, but I noticed that there is no single alliance in the game, even after 65 turns (I made no changes to any AI files).
Strange, isn't it?

If you use the AI pack, then you should initialize the diplomacy section in your descr_strat.txt properly. Compare it to the one of the UAI (you can download it here) and make the according changes manually. The diplomacy section is located at the bottom of that file.

@akagi28
Rebels are not easy to implement when it comes to campaign AI, as they are practically at war with everyone and the odds are against them. This is a limitation of the game engine, and I haven't found a way to make them more active yet.

Second, initial attacks with small stacks might occur, but once a war has started you will notice, that the AI will gather bigger armies and starts attacking with superior forces.

[Dimitri_Harkov]

@ GrandViz:

Thanks for the quick response!

@uk_john:

But like any mod, go too far and it ends up creating silly situations like mine,

True, of course.

I mean isn't what you're saying about the fact that something isn't happening realistically?

Sure, but our possibilities to mod the AI are very limited. We can only try to get the most out of it.

And without being rude Dimitri, why is your 'this isn't realistic' okay and my 'this isn't realistic' not?

It seems you do not know what you want. In the other thread you complained about naming factions in their own language and here you complain that a money script isn't realistic. What do you want then, gameplay or realism?

[uk_john]

Dimitri - you know it's not black and white. Sure, more realistic AI with regard my problem, ie giving money related to difficulty and situation, ie, how much money you give to a 5 town empire should not be as much for a 2 town empire, is not the same as changing names to their historic names. Making all the names and language historic, have all the countries speak in their original languages so you need a translator to play, have the Pope send you messages in Latin, all that's realistic, but would make the game totally un-immersive. So it is with the money script as it is set up and so it is to have one name for a country in one place and having it described another in the rest of the game. And all it means is you spend a while associating the word with the country and then when you see the word you do an immediate translation in your mind. But that little mind thought is what the unimmersive part is, ie it's reminding you you're playing a mod where they changed the names in one part of the game because they could, and didn't in the rest of the game because they couldn't and because of the latter they should have left it alone but went ahead on the bit they could change even though it would be a dichotomy and be unimmersive!

[GrandViZ]

The amount of money is determined by the number of settlements.

[mkk]

Not much time to play right now, but I did manage to notice that smaller factions like for instance Denmark now uses their correct voices without any extra file management. Good work.

[uk_john]

Wow GrandViZ then 2 settlements get a lot of money then based on what I have seen as said above!

Also, can I ask, if you send out your Calvary to deal with ladders and then bring them back into the castle, does the AI assume you sallied out and then just wait for you? That's what is happening right now! Oh yea, and 'Neutral' France has just place a full stack outside Cork waiting for whoever is left out of England and Scotland on the Island of Ireland!

[GrandViZ]

@uk_john

Scotland has a base income of 1500, as an AI it gets additional 750 every turn plus 250 for each settlement, which would make 1250 gold additional income per turn.

Is there a reason for the sarcasm in your posts?

[uk_john]

Yes - because I am going probably going to lose the game and waste 20 hours of gaming because of the money my tiny little enemy gets and I reckon it's cheating! Other than that, no not sarcasm, but a little dry English humour!

[GrandViZ]

Losing against a 2 province Scotland after 20 hours of gameplay seems to me a little exaggerated.

[uk_john]

Losing against a 2 province Scotland after 20 hours of gameplay seems to me a little exaggerated.

I meant I had played the game for 20 hours and if another nation took advantage of me not being able to get rid of the Scots because they can just keep building units and I lost the game, it would because of those Scots being able to build those units helping me lose the whole game. Ie, all my money and armies are going after the Scots and other nations seeing me getting weaker militarily!