Napoleons’ Battle AI

What will the Battle Ai be like in Napoleon TW ? Have we any evidence yet that it will be an improvement over Empires other than the word of CA? Sure the game will look lovely but for me the BAI is at the core of the game. Will the BAI be able to form a line and open fire this time? Will it be able to keep formation? Will the melee bug and mindless squares be there again?
My other concern is that if the BAI is improved CA will release a patch at some stage that will mess the BAI up as they did with Empire after 1.4
I’ve had my fingers burned by CA not fixing Empires BAI and as much I have an interest in the period I’m in no rush to put my hand into the fire by buying Napoleon TW unless there is a massive improvement over Empires pathetic BAI.

kieran promised the ai would be better and a lot of previewers have lost historical battles against the ai however these battles could have been scripted

Originally Posted by Ulan1990

kieran promised the ai would be better and a lot of previewers have lost historical battles against the ai however these battles could have been scripted

I don't believe that previewers are so skilled as us hardcore fanbase to judge correctly how is the BAI.

1.5 ETW AI + the following:

Originally Posted by Kieran

We've improved the battle AI for Napoleon. Improvements include committing to melee when more appropriate, using height terrain to better advantage. More committed behaviour, multi tasking on plans and improved siege behavior.

Originally Posted by Redbeard

1.5 ETW AI + the following:

Yes that would just be 1.5 ETW BAi again then

Originally Posted by nigelnire

Yes that would just be 1.5 ETW BAi again then

Agreed. 1.1 AI was quite good, and was actually half-decent at fighting. They would hold their ground and even rout some enemies without even charging. 1.5 AI was unresponsive, buggy, and broken. However, hopefully they've revamped the AI rather than just building on to it.

I wish they'd use 1.1 AI as a base point.

Yeah let’s wait and see but if it’s anything like Empires Battle ai it will stink. They have been happy to leave us with broken bugged battle ai for Empire that’s more like a medieval melee battle than 18th century warfare. So they may be happy enough to give us more of the same.

Originally Posted by nigelnire

Yes that would just be 1.5 ETW BAi again then

precisely. they released 1.5 in roughly october, that is as far as they had gotten with the AI at that time. In a little less than 1/2 a year, how much different do you think it is?

I'm betting not much. They've been working on this AI thing for nearly a decade... don't expect a whole lot.

Warning Melee bug

The most 'Human' thing to do is to retreat in this scenario but if you can't retreat I would charge one line to just to kill some... By the time you would form a proper line you would be decimated anyway by the flanking and frontal fire...

In other cases (without being surrounded) :
But if they still charge head on without firing a couple of volleys and staying their ground like they do in ETW then it sucks... But I don't judge, the 'melee bug' can't be seen from a screenshot imo, ...
We need gameplay vids with BAI. A bug that I saw in one of the screens here was : "The ultimate move by BAI : Forming the X " (2 infantry units crossing each other and firing) so with much friendly fire casualties which is sad...

I expect the BAI to be marginally better in some areas, and introducing new problems in others = about the same. I think the player 'drop in' feature is an indication that CA don't have much faith in their 'new' BAI. In mathimatical terms, based on all previous TW games, we have about a 10% chance that the BAI will be good and the majority of consumers will be happy with it.

I see no evidence of classic Napoleonic tactics in any of the screenshots. I'm seeing more Blob Melee warfare than anything.

Originally Posted by irish437

I see no evidence of classic Napoleonic tactics in any of the screenshots. I'm seeing more Blob Melee warfare than anything.

If the BAI is "blob" and "melee" happy like in ETW...I won't be getting NTW. Still pretty steamed (pun intended) about CA's complete abandonment of ETWs outstanding bugs so we'll see.

Originally Posted by jimmy44

I expect the BAI to be marginally better in some areas, and introducing new problems in others = about the same. I think the player 'drop in' feature is an indication that CA don't have much faith in their 'new' BAI. In mathimatical terms, based on all previous TW games, we have about a 10% chance that the BAI will be good and the majority of consumers will be happy with it.

Less than 1% I would say.

But I want at least an AI which doesn't make really stupid mistakes. I can play with higher difficulty level (cheating AI), but I don't want to see any chicken dance or mob charge behavior. It's far from being good what I want

There is currently no evidence that shows any improvments made with the BAI. All we have is Kieran speak at this point proclaiming it will be better. Unfortunately that's an overused word which, as of late, is shallow.

A definitive lack of gameplay videos with one month before release is worrysome.

Originally Posted by Abspara

There is currently no evidence that shows any improvments made with the BAI. All we have is Kieran speak at this point proclaiming it will be better. Unfortunately that's an overused word which, as of late, is shallow.

Especially when they talked a load of bs about having three guys working on the ai then it getting "hal" then their guy leaving and that's why it sucks. If the AI was really going to be better they would put it in empire too.

I will eat my pre order napoleon statuette if its good.

Originally Posted by ForlornHope.

Especially when they talked a load of bs about having three guys working on the ai then it getting "hal" then their guy leaving and that's why it sucks. If the AI was really going to be better they would put it in empire too.

I will eat my pre order napoleon statuette if its good.

Heh. How very true. They also told us they had a "team working on the Empire BAI" and then we got told that it was a question of "resources" and that they would focus instead on NTW. What never ceases to amaze me is how many naive people continue to fall for hollow promises from a company that never intends to deliver.

With the twenty unit limit you put a full balanced stack in the field (as shown by the screenshot) and I count 1,760 men. That's the elephant in the room with this game -- how can these little skirmishes possibly recreate the feel of Napoleonic battles?

Originally Posted by Huberto

With the twenty unit limit you put a full balanced stack in the field (as shown by the screenshot) and I count 1,760 men. That's the elephant in the room with this game -- how can these little skirmishes possibly recreate the feel of Napoleonic battles?

I agree, it would be nice to at least have the reinforcement feature of RTW in order to fight larger battles and this would perfectly reflect the operational doctrine of Corps reinforcing during a battle. But even that would not come close to the size of a Napoleonic battle. We simply must remember that each individual soldier figure is representing many soldiers. I usually try to think of each unit as representing a brigade and the name is only for the senior unit within the brigade. It helps a bit but yeah it would be nice if we had around 30 units in an army as well as controllable reinforcement.

Originally Posted by Abspara

There is currently no evidence that shows any improvments made with the BAI. All we have is Kieran speak at this point proclaiming it will be better. Unfortunately that's an overused word which, as of late, is shallow.

A definitive lack of gameplay videos with one month before release is worrysome.

Its not worrisome. Even if they had gamepley videos it could very well be human vs. human portrayed as human vs. AI to trick the consumer. And "Baahh Bahh" go the sheep.