AI tactics...

[Faridus]

Hello,

i tried a few things over the past few nights. i kinda tested the AI used in different mods. it's quite interesting to see how the units/armies behave.

for this little experiment, i used Romans (AI) and Greeks (player). actually, my first experiment i used Epeirotes. then i took pix. i cropped them and added some info.

in my opinion most of the mods did a good job in representing the republican legion, with the three lignes Hastati, Princepes and Triarii. as you can see, RTW 1.5 didn't do such a great job...the cohorts attacked the main greek like at an angle (which drives me nuts!!!). in the other mods, the cohorts attacked in line.

as far as throwing the pilum before the hand to hand combat, it was not represented very well. SPQR seems to be the only one where the legionaires threw their pili massively prior to the charge.

- 3 line-formation (see first pic of each set)Draknar and RS, you can clearly see the different types of units, SPQR shows a good 3 line formation with gaps in the cohorts, Darth shows an overall 3 line formation with much wider gaps.

- charge/pilum throwing: SPQR did the best job, many cohorts throwing their pili prior to the hand to hand combat and the cohorts that were not yet engaged in fighting also threw their pili at the enemy, over the heads of the fighting units throughout the battle. in Darth, a couple of units threw their pili, not very significant.
the charge itself varied according to the mod.
RTW 1.5 showed a general charge the length of the enemy's front and some enveloping movement.
in Darth, the charge was staggered and dispersed, some outflanking took place.
in RS, the charge was along the whole opposing line in waves, hastati, then princepes then triarii, it seemed that the triarii were kept in reserve (excellent!), minimal outflanking.
in SPQR and Draknar, the charge was more concentrated in the center, minimal outflanking .in Draknar, the the waves were well defined, but their succession was quick, which ended in a massive hodge-podge (see pic 4).

here is what it looks like ( i hope this is going to work!!):

[68 Powers]

in my opinion SPQR has the toughest AI out there.

[Hader]

Moved to Battle Planning.

[Eccentric]

I hate how the ai always stretches their armies across the map in a long thin line
in rtw1.5.

[Double A]

Yeah, Its like: "OK, I'll just take my entire stack, separate it into groups of 3, and a few groups of 1 (the elite units) and send it at you corse by corse! MUHAHA!! NOTHING CAN STOP ME... except that. Crap. O well, I just... DO IT AGAIN!!!" Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[Legionem Insanis]

Ya, no need to "divide and conquer" because the AI divides for you, lol

[AqD]

hmm AI in RTR never uses a long line in my campaigns. Instead there are always 3-5 lines, strongest infantry (usually hypasists) are at flanks and general cavalry at the rear but it's protected by heavy infantry at left & right sides.
________
Vaporizers

[Barry]

SPQR really does provide a challenge far greater to Vanilla

[_TubbZ_]

SPQR has got a tough AI and fair unit balencing, although its easy to heroic the AI with a Auxilla legion + 2 good cavalry units vs a full legion with lesser cav if you use the horses correctly so it still doesn't realise the flanking cav till its too late. but that isn't as bad as vanilla AI...