BAI SUCKS

It still sucks. In 90% of my battles, the AI can't form or hold lines. They break up into mass blobs and run around in front of your infantry getting shot down. In other words, it's the same crap we saw in Empire. Where is the "advanced AI" CA is talking about? They gotta be the biggest con-men in the video game industry.

And its funny that they say the next Empire update won't feature the 'advanced BAI improvements' from Napoleon. Laughable.

On the bright side, the CAI does seem to be better, though they still break up their armies too much and leave their armies without a general.

Needless to say, I'm not impressed so far. CA continues to show that they can't get the basics down and probably don't even care.

This is quite contrary to the testimonies of most others on this forum. Do you have any evidence in the way of screenshots?

Originally Posted by Lord Faucon

This is quite contrary to the testimonies of most others on this forum. Do you have any evidence in the way of screenshots?

Maybe not every battle...but...often it happens...believe me.

I've seen things, like in Darth's review, but never in my games.

I will see outnumbered AI dither around, but I've seen the same behavior in MP. There are problems, but nothing as serious that I read about.

I don't know, I believe those that post about it, but I've not seen it.

Originally Posted by Shabby_Ronin

I've seen things, like in Darth's review, but never in my games.

I will see outnumbered AI dither around, but I've seen the same behavior in MP. There are problems, but nothing as serious that I read about.

I don't know, I believe those that post about it, but I've not seen it.

Apparently we must have different games, because this happens in at least 7/10 battles I've fought, and these are on campaigns.

It doesn't matter if I'm defending or attacking. The AI breaks up it's lines, and generally just has no coherency to it's attack or defense at all.

Originally Posted by josak

Apparently we must have different games, because this happens in at least 7/10 battles I've fought, and these are on campaigns.

It doesn't matter if I'm defending or attacking. The AI breaks up it's lines, and generally just has no coherency to it's attack or defense at all.

You went from 90% to 70% pretty fast . In all seriousness, you should take some screenshots next time, similar to what Darth did in his review.

I'm stumped, I can do a custom battle and the AI marches and fights in order. The only thing I have added that effects the AI is the 75% battle speed mod.

hmm,I agree with the Ronin,I do not encounter this BAI issue either...is it perfect??no,but does it stand and deliver???indeed it does as well as flank my forces and force my men to hold square under fire as they prowl with their cavalry rightly threatening but never foolishly charging.seems to me the ai is much better

edit:I use the 75% mod as well...wasnt it suspected in Empire that movement speed had some manner of effect,as abstract as it might have been?

Here's what I've noticed: at the beginning of a battle the AI will be formed up in a perfect line. And if I decide to wait, they will usually come forward, but by the time they get to me their line has already disintegrated into a mess, and I've already shot down about half of the their army before they've even engaged me.

If I decide to come to them, they will eventually move their line or break up for no apparent reason, and get shot down in the process.

I've also seen suicide generals multiple times. Siege AI is still crappy.

Originally Posted by Shabby_Ronin

I'm stumped, I can do a custom battle and the AI marches and fights in order. The only thing I have added that effects the AI is the 75% battle speed mod.

This happens for me in campaign battles. I've done some custom battles and those seemed to turn out all right. Right now I'm playing the French on the Europe campaign.

Just finished the Europe caimpaign. The BAI is a little better than it was in Empire. The new speed of units is the only thing that I find can punish you if you make a mistake the the speed of the AI can make you pay for it.

Cavalry AI still are attracted to Square formation. I put 1 on each end of my line and the cavalry can't resist them I left Napolean open in every single battle not once did the cavarly get around them. Even when the AI did get past the Squares they would sit back. Most of the Calvary kamikazes at the beginning while their support troops are minutes away.

AI cannons still set up behind hills & landscape. 90% of the time when they set up the defense barrier it basically makes them useless because they are stuck and can't shoot. I had only a couple good battles where the defenses was placed right and I had to charge them to take the cannons out.

AI infantry tends to bunch up in the middle sometimes like with Empire.

AI armies sometimes like to redo their lines for some reason before a fight which allows my cannons to punish them and also sometimes instead of having their units facing mine they will face east while I'm south.

Reinforcement AI for the computer would sometimes show up to side of me and then path their units across my front line to where the other army is instead of attacking my side and destroying me. I won a 1150 vs 4300 battle because of it.

Originally Posted by josak

Here's what I've noticed: at the beginning of a battle the AI will be formed up in a perfect line. And if I decide to wait, they will usually come forward, but by the time they get to me their line has already disintegrated into a mess, and I've already shot down about half of the their army before they've even engaged me.

What's wrong with this?!

Originally Posted by Belisarius

They "Blob" when you hit them very hard with shot as they come in range, they then seem unable to form up. Its the only issue I have noted with the AI.

What's wrong with this?!

Both of you are describing something where the AI starts faltering AFTER you hound them with whatever you have to throw at them while they're approaching. What is wrong with their line faltering in whatever way it happens to falter after you hit them with god knows what for the 2-3 minutes it might take for them to approach to firing range?

I've noticed several occasions in which the enemy cavalry (even general units) hang at the periphery as if to 'flank' but then inexplicably curve into the center of my line at full speed, pulling up short - suffering total annihilation by shot & cannon.

Originally Posted by Gaidin

What's wrong with this?!

What's wrong with this?!

Both of you are describing something where the AI starts faltering AFTER you hound them with whatever you have to throw at them while they're approaching. What is wrong with their line faltering in whatever way it happens to falter after you hit them with god knows what for the 2-3 minutes it might take for them to approach to firing range?

Gaiden, the AI falters way before I've engaged them. They hold their line only for the first minute or so of the battle. As they are approaching, or as I'm approaching, their line will dissolve into a mess. So by the time that I HAVE engaged them they have no coherent battle line formed, and they have no chance of winning.

AI Test Based Off Darths Suggestion and 1 Test of My Own.

2nd Test Video: This was suggested To Me By Darth to try so I did. And the results are you all that judged before you check owe him an apology. Bad AI behavior just like he said.

AI Test Video 3: This video I set up just like I would face in a Campaign game. I had to find out why we are all seeing such a huge differnce In AI behavior. This video proves that an AI that outnumbers you (which is what happens alot in camp games) and has none of those crappy impassable obstacles can put up a very decent fight. It still can't win but compared to Empire Total war. Its a big leap foward.

Ai does form and hold lines, it matter on the map, and army compositions. Suggesting that it doesn't 90% of the time is a white lie. It needs work though.

In 90% of my battles, the AI HAS NOT been able to hold lines, so it's not a white lie. I'm basing this on my experience in the French European campaign so far. If this happens to change I will certainly make note of it, but in almost all of my battles the AI has provided no challenge, and has reeked of stupidity.

Just throwing in; BAI is working perfect to me.

Musing non-accusatory note; I wonder if pirated versions are working on different release notes?

I'm really just entirely baffled how a handful of people keep claiming that the BAI is the same ETW. Something seems seriously weird about that.

I bought the game, sorry. I'm in the US. Unless they've shipped out different versions, we have the same exact game.

Obviously people are getting different results with the AI. All I can say is that from the few custom battles and historic battles that I've tried, the AI has seemed to be pretty functional. In my French European campaign, the BAI has been horrible in almost every battle. As someone else mentioned, they constantly want to reform their lines for no apparent reason, and when engaged, they bunch up and move around in front of my lines and get shot down.

Don't forget alot of people that post here also posted that they lose battles to the A.I so they will think the A.I is great.

I agree the A.I is still horrible. They still seem to want to melee alot. Overall i'm pretty disappointed. I would prefer if the difficulty made the enemy smarter rather than stronger. A few days in and i'm already bored because it's not challenging at all. The one good thing I see is that it is aggressive, hopefully they can work on it in future patch.

Please dude, I posted that I lost and I have been playing since Shogun and in 2001 was on unemployment and played 10 hours a day MP.

I have not encountered the things posted.

Are they real?

I'm sure, although I havn't seen it. In my games the AI does ok, tries to flank and holds a line.

Originally Posted by Shabby_Ronin

Please dude, I posted that I lost and I have been playing since Shogun and in 2001 was on unemployment and played 10 hours a day MP.

I have not encountered the things posted.

Are they real?

I'm sure, although I havn't seen it. In my games the AI does ok, tries to flank and holds a line.

You mentioned that you're playing custom battles though. Have you played through a grand campaign yet? That's where I've been noticing the issues. I didn't notice these problems in the few custom battles I've played.

Originally Posted by Lionel-Richie

I must've missed the part where tactical line warfare AI was considered as part of "the basics" for video game programming. That seems like one of the more ambitious things to tackle.

That being said, while the AI has its poor moments still, it's heads above ETW's. My AI usually forms and maintains lines relatively well.

Having functional AI in a video game is basic, and if you can't get your AI to work as intended then don't release the friggin game. I'm not saying that programming the BAI isn't complicated, but cry me a river seriously. We're forking down the cash and they're releasing half-assed, unfinished games. I have no sympathy for CA. btw, unpaid modders in the past have made the AI in RTW/M2TW 20x better.

That being said, while the AI has its poor moments still, it's heads above ETW's

Again I don't know what game your playing. In my campaign battles, the AI has had no sense of coherency whatsoever on the battlefield.

Originally Posted by josak

You mentioned that you're playing custom battles though. Have you played through a grand campaign yet? That's where I've been noticing the issues. I didn't notice these problems in the few custom battles I've played

I lost the battle in a Russia campaign, against Ottomans. I'v had the reduced movement speed mod basically since I started playing, whether it's making a difference I cannot say.

Originally Posted by josak

CA continues to show that they can't get the basics down

I must've missed the part where tactical line warfare AI was considered as part of "the basics" for video game programming. That seems like one of the more ambitious things to tackle.

That being said, while the AI has its poor moments still, it's heads above ETW's. My AI usually forms and maintains lines relatively well.

It wasn't directed towards just you ronin, I know the game just came out and it was probably a very uneven battle that you lost . But so far the only thing I see that has changed is the movement speed and rate of fire of units, which makes battles end faster and makes the A.I look more aggressive because it is recklessly running at you with a faster speed than in empire with no intention of trying to outsmart you.

I increased unit size x2.5 and reduced movement speed and the AI seems much better than ETW. They melee sometimes but not unrealistically. The cannons setting up wrong is a big bug.