weak AI

[Hannibalus]

Generally I would say it`s a successful mod and I like it.
However I encountered yesterday a weak AI behavior what I never saw before by other mods and by basic Kingdoms also not.
Playing Rohan, large unit size, no battle time limit, battle and campaign medium difficulty.
A Mordor wooden castle had about 8 infantry units, no ranged and no cavalry.
A weak scout cavalry from me was near and I make a siege to the new acquired wooden castle of Mordor. They break out. Battle on the tactical map is following.
I am running with my scout in the edge of the map and all the enemy infantry is following me letting open the gate. When they are near me in the edge of the map I run back and I put my scout in the squire of the castle.
4 min is over before their infantry could come back and I won the game and all their infantry is destroyed. (even if they would be back before 4 min wouldn't help them to much because the gates are closing behind me when I am entering with my scout the empty castle)
I encountered situations by other mods also when I came in the settlement through the gate running after routing units but this was the weakest AI behavior whatever I saw.
I hope that can be fixed.

[Legendary_Mercenary]

If anything, other mods/Vanilla have even dumber AI. The game is aging (gracefully i might add). I personally think that M2TW is the most technologically solid title in the franchise. Considering the scale of the game (larger than any other out there) you have to forgive the sometimes lacking AI. But it will surprise you one day...not to mention you are on Med/Med...if its so easy, take it up a notch or two. It wont really help the AI itself much, but odds will be stacked against you.

Also if i recall, there were some massive AI overhaul mods out there, but i believe they were incorporated into TATW. I may be wrong.

And be thankful the AI isnt as bad as games like Empire or its successors

[Venia]

If anything, other mods/Vanilla have even dumber AI.

other mods,
How many other mods did you actually play to make a judgement like that?

[Legendary_Mercenary]

other mods,
How many other mods did you actually play to make a judgement like that?

Plenty. There are other mods out there that dont improve upon the vanilla AI at all, therefore i added a "/".

Ive been trying plenty of mods since this game came out...and have lurked the forums of places like this for years. I consider myself a veteran of the total war series, at least enough to judge different AI patterns. And ive seen mods break AI pretty badly as well. The question is, how many other mods have you played and noticed no difference?

[wohnzimmer]

letting open the gate.

This is the problem I'd say.
It's often annoying when I sally out and the gate keeps open. I believe it's when the general/captain is outside the gate, but why happens this?
In my opinion this should be changed if it's possible...

[Lugiahua]

nothing to do with the general
it's either the whole settlement is empty, or an unit is blocking the gate.

[odrid]

you have never seen this before? you're kidding...
it's a known exploit that you can use whenever the garrison doesn't have any cavalry units

[Space Voyager]

Ha, I didn't know this. Nor would that change anything for me.

[Rogue Warrior]

Just don't use such exploits. We all know how dumb the AI can be and exploiting obvious faults to gain cheap victories is no fun in my opinion. I try to set myself simple house rules to avoid this. No enjoyment otherwise.

[Mikail Mengsk]

Just don't use such exploits. We all know how dumb the AI can be and exploiting obvious faults to gain cheap victories is no fun in my opinion. I try to set myself simple house rules to avoid this. No enjoyment otherwise.

*

[gloin99]

I would also say don't use it. There are many other problems, for example when the enemy sallies out you can pause the game before the gate opens and exit. Through this the result is a draw and you can continue the siege. After some rounds you have won without fighting.

[MasterBigAb]

This was also possible in vanilla, but honestly i have to say it's a very coward way of conquerign a settlement (that is no offense i just mean it's kind of cheating)
And it doesn't make much sense to complain about a bad AI behavor when you play it like thatlike cheating it's not meant to be played like that so why don't you simply fight your battles valid and that doesn't even happen.

It does not make any sense to complain about something the AI does cause you do cheat on the AI while you can simply not do it (for me it would ruin my campaign, too it's unrealistic and feels too easy to take a settlement...)

Think abbout my words !

[Hannibalus]

I am really surprised how some people react on a question if an AI weakness can be improved.
If I am playing I try to find a way to win like it would be real. And almost every situation, even those called exploits can happen in the real situation.
A battle on a bridge could also happen in real situation. Conquering a city after locking out the garrison with 10 times less but mobile forces is also possible (and Timur Lenk used also this way of conquering).
The problem is when you can use this situation by every siege and so conquer a lot of cities or you can occupy every bridge around and no jihad or crusade of the AI can deal with it. This is already unrealistic.
How would you expect to play ? Keep a table of 30 exploits in front of you and by every action check out if it doesn't fit. Or every realistic exploit action use only once.
If there is an exploit or two which you know the AI cannot deal with it you can avoid it but it is also locking to do sometimes but if they are many of them you cannot even keep in mind.
I mean everything is an exploit when an AI weakness is coming repeatedly.
And people and empires had also weaknesses in the reality. Which weakness you may use and which not if it seams that half-realistic ?
If you don't succeed in a battle and load it again you go back in time and this is never possible so this is the most evident exploit and nobody is upset about it.

[WelshDragon]

Just don't use such exploits. We all know how dumb the AI can be and exploiting obvious faults to gain cheap victories is no fun in my opinion. I try to set myself simple house rules to avoid this. No enjoyment otherwise.

This.

Certain exploits a human can do to the AI just takes the fun out of the game... and IMHO, FUN is why we play... "Winning" is not the goal.

[Chyeaaaa111]

That isn't bad AI at all. It is you using an exploit that you aren't forced to use.

Its on the same level as putting wooden stakes at the gate so the enemy loses all its cavalry. If you don't like it, don't use the exploit.

[NSFW]

That isn't bad AI at all. It is you using an exploit that you aren't forced to use.

You're wrong, the exploits only exist because of poor AI.

I agree that exploiting them too much is probably going to make things too easy & ruin the fun of the game for most people, but that doesn't alter the fact that the underlying problem lies with the AI not having the smarts to leave at least one unit in a settlement to guard it.

It doesn't seem unreasonable for the OP to report the issue and ask if a fix is possible, it's not as if he's endorsing it as a tactic.

[Ruanek]

This problem isn't unique to TATW. It exists in vanilla, I think (though to be honest I haven't played vanilla in a long time). The problem is some parts of the game are hard-coded, so the AI can't be made to react to everything humans can throw at it. I'm not an expert in modding, but I think that this particular problem is impossible to fix, or at least really difficult.

In any case, if you don't want the AI to do unrealistic things like doing this several times in a row, that's completely up to you. There's a reason most of the players here call it an exploit and avoid doing it.

The way I play is to just try to do things realistically. If it wouldn't work in real life (this tactic, for example, wouldn't, because in reality they'd still be able to come and kill you since there isn't a four minute countdown timer) then I don't do it. If it puts the AI into a situation it isn't smart enough to avoid (such as running into stakes in a settlement gate) I don't do it. Ultimately, you can have an effect on how the AI reacts by not doing things it can't react to.

If you have fun using exploits, then go ahead and use them. If you don't, then don't use them. It's that simple.

[NSFW]

yeah, many of the problems are caused by underlying limitations in the TW engine itself, and having tinkered with the moddable AI files myself I've got nothing but respect for what Germanicus, Archaon and some of the other AI modders have managed to achieve so far!

[Chyeaaaa111]

You're wrong, the exploits only exist because of poor AI.

I agree that exploiting them too much is probably going to make things too easy & ruin the fun of the game for most people, but that doesn't alter the fact that the underlying problem lies with the AI not having the smarts to leave at least one unit in a settlement to guard it.

It doesn't seem unreasonable for the OP to report the issue and ask if a fix is possible, it's not as if he's endorsing it as a tactic.

I must respectfully disagree. While I agree you could consider this problem "bad AI," it is far different from the "bad AI" in ETW.

For example, the bad AI in ETW was units not lining up properly and shooting in each other in the backs. There's nothing you can do about this issue. The AI will do it no matter what you do. This is a problem with the AI, and the player has no control.

The example of running around with your horse is the PLAYERS choice. The player can choose to take advantage of the exploit or not. If the OP didn't use this exploit, than the computer would not run all of its units around the map.

[Domino]

Well the AI is way better then in original m2tw

-lock alliance, no more suicidal betrayals. Diplomacy is something that you can use now. (Ok, you could bribe the pope's favor in vanilla...)

-free stacks for the ai, that prevent us from just using human intelligence and attack all weak spots the AI can't recognise.