Total war vs. the player AI script

**Morty** · June 23, 2009, 05:54 PM

English vh/vh with BB 2.2 and all script is turned on, its turn 85. These comments are meant to be constructive and informative in order to help create a more better DLV

. I do not know how to "mod" AI behavior so my commentary reflects this since I don't know what specifics you need.

I had recently taken Cordoba with a successful crusade. This left me in a pickle as the catholic religion was still on the rise but not high enough to allow me to recruit. Additionally I only had Grenada as the only friendly province on my border, which also had the same religion problem as Cordoba.

While I was working to fix my religion problems the Moors helped me out. The Portuguese decided to worry about me vs. the Moors and kept all 3 of its field armies (about 15 units per stack) along Cordoba's northern border in the Badajoz province. The Moors still have Seville and sent a full stack to Lisbon since it only had minimal defense (they had 2 stacks in Seville). The Portuguese only reacted to the Moors after Lisbon had been besieged. Too little too late. The Portuguese had a tower in the Lisbon province to warn them of the Moors but decided that I and Cordoba with my weakened full stack required all his fields armies attention.

Solution) If the Portuguese had spread out his field armies instead of just "focusing" on the player by putting them all in Badajoz the Moors would have stood fast at Seville which would have caused me to wait several/many turns before being able to field another field army to take on either. A much more realistic and desirable situation.

Now the question becomes should I now take out Seville which has 3 units defending or Badajoz which only has 4 units defending, since everyone is at Lisbon. Badajoz is slightly higher up on the priority list since its mostly catholic and decently advanced for a castle. I will prolly split my army in half, hire some mercenaries and take out both.

Earlier in the campaign the Flemish did this too, they were aggressive and acting hostile even though we had an alliance. I thought my alliance would stick since I was using someones diplomacy mod that supposedly makes alliances hard to break. Anyways... once they assaulted Caen they sent stack after stack at Caen, totally ignoring the Danes who took out Bremen. After they lost Bremen their assaults lost steam and I was able to take out Bruges and Antwerpen in 1 turn due to using arty units and 2 separate amphibious assaults from London. These assaults were made easier because the Flemish holdings were down to bare bones defense since they were "focusing" on the player and sending all they had at me.

Solution) They shouldn't have attacked me in the first place... but having done so, should have treated the French stacks along its southern borders and the Danish stacks along its eastern borders as threats as well. This would have caused them to cease their assaults and prolonged any possibility of me taking them out. By keeping Bremen their long term threat to me and my ability to take out 3 provinces vs. 2 would have been dimished substantially. Clearly a better situation.

The French are down to Dijon and Marseille. The Germans own Hohenstauffen and Bern and only have 3 units on defense in each. I just took out French Metz which of course means the Germans will start sending everything it has at me since we now share a border... Which is all fine and good, and also very predictable. Something to be used to my advantage. Neither German province has a field army within 1 turn move to relieve a siege because the French and the Germans are practically ignoring each other. I am tempted to blitz these since they only have 3 defenders in each. This would cripple Germany as a long term threat by taking out 2 of its 3 castles.

France just committed a huge error by sending its only field army into the Reims province allowing me to kill it without getting myself excommunicated (I currently have a cease hostilities mission under penalty of excommunication). Dijon has about 8 units on defense now. Thanks France for hastening your death by focusing on the player and sending your only and last stack into Reims (a very poor stack consisting almost entirely spear militia). Why attack Reims with its 16 units and Paris just a hop skip and a jump away with 12 units, not to mention the fact that they know I have a field army lurking around somewhere hiding in the trees.

Solution) The French should attack the weak German garrisons and their 3 unit defenders, they'd get a nicely upgraded castle and by the time I got around to finishing off the French it would put the Germans all along my borders causing me to have to wait and build up overwhelming force. Alternatively the Germans should have annihilated the French holdings of Metz and Dijon along time ago. They are weak compared to the Kaisar's war machine.

The Spanish did something similar to the Flemish and are on the way out as well... thanks Spain for sending stack after stack of jinetes + javalinmen for 30+ turns. This allowed me to earn 2 knights of the grand cross defending Narbonne. This also subsequently left nearly every one of Spain's 8 holdings with 3-5 units on defense because the rest were busy dying in Narbonne. Spain never once attacked Moor or vice versa even though they were at war since turn 41 due to the total war script. Since Spain "spent" itself on Narbonne (somewhere in the range of 20 dead stacks) I easily marched on Zaragoza and Pamplona and the only reason I haven't taken more is because of the Papacy not its military. Pamplona didn't even have a drill square, I'm sure do to spending all its money on units to send at me vs. buildings.

Why does Spanish Toledo have 6 units defending, Spanish Murcia with 10 units defending when the Moors "had" 8 stacks in Cordoba? This was just before the crusade on Cordoba was called. Thats because the Spanish were sending everything and the kitchen sink at me in Narbonne and the Moors enabled this by not attacking, ever. Since the Moors never attacked, the Spanish garrisoned few troops, so when I finally broke its cycle of assault on Narbonne I easily marched on their holdings. If Spain actually considered Moor a threat they would have garrisoned more troops and made subsequent assaults on them more time consuming/costly vs. only keeping "front line" (because they border the player) provinces semi-decently garrisoned.

These situations are created by an AI that focuses too much on the player and makes really bad decisions vs. other AI factions at times, which in turn sets up a nice little domino effect. Breaking that first domino is fun and challenging but once it falls its all too easy

. Is this what total war AI script (with special focus on the player) does?

Morty

**Morty** · June 24, 2009, 01:29 AM

Speaking of the Danish... After I had taken Antwerpen they starting massing troops on the border of Bremen since they "focused" on the player... (3 stacks) thanks!!! By doing so they totally ignored Norway and lost Lund and Visby to weak stacks even though they have ample troops in Bremen. When I do decide to take out Bremen (prolly via a 1 turn amphibious assault) I can rest assured that the Danish are neutured as a long term threat since they will no longer have any castle troops and I can stop at Bremen vs. having to deal with them constantly sending units because they have Visby and Lund.

Morty

**Morty** · June 24, 2009, 01:47 AM

The DLV AI clearly reads these boards. They must have read my original post because the Moors removed the siege on Lisbon, who cares that they had to only kill 5 units and pulled back to Seville. By now the Moors have 3 stacks in Seville. The Portuguese pulled their 3 stacks back along Badajoz/Cordoba border and Toledo sent a full stack towards Cordoba. Thanks guys for focusing on the player

. This is the first time the AI focusing on the player has actually worked out for the AI. I will just hold tight and wait till I can call a crusade on Seville and work that angle.

The Germans aren't faring too well. Thanks to the French suiciding its last and only field army by sending it to Reims vs. say taking out a very poorly defended German position the army + arty I had in Reims is free to move about. Hohenstauffen just fell with 3 units on defense (prior to the AI spawned army of course) and Bern goes down next turn. Innsbruck will be the only and last German castle I have to deal with. But I'll have 2 spanking new fully upgraded castles to start recruiting from.

If the French had assaulted Bern, the closest German outpost, this would not have been possible. The Germans would have started sending all kinds of troops to its borders 1 turn earlier and I would have thought twice about taking on Hohenstauffen if not aborted entirely. Additionally the French would have a brand new castle fully upgraded to start recruiting from and ensuring their faction survival for several more turns if not longer.

Morty