CAI is getting better

So i left the game for a while like 5 months or so months and reinstalled it and so I played as Prussia, Sweden, Poland and Then Britain


and I noticed somthing very interesting every game

Russia took advantage of military access and attacked france by sending Multiple armies through my and their territory with more than 4 regions apart just to take french territories

also I had a rebellion instead of doing nothin russia came from the border of another providence (it was close)
and attacked the rebels for me (even though I was trying to lose the region)



something else that happend as I played as Britain


im at Normandy and i lay an ambush and wait france had an army at rennes(?) so france marched from paris to attack my city they beat my ambush (auto resolve) and seige my providence and then their army from Rennes(?) also comes and reinforces the siege
im thinking I couldve totally beat them in that ambush so I load and do it and I win no attack happens from Rennes(?) the next turn so they coordinated an attack with 2 armies and it was depdant upon the main army
this is one of the most realistic CAI moves ive seen yet (also the ambush was counted as decisive which was also true because if I lost I wouldve been pushed off Europe and been delayed like 10 turns)


has anyone else noticed the CAI getting better from the past game ( take in consideration this was on N/N vanilla)


also I love the supply system in NTW helps the CAI alot I wish their was supply routes though

Well its a improvement from ETW thats for sure and compared to... You know what since this game was most refined I´d say that CAI here is the most complete one in the whole Total War franchise.

The land CAI is ok, but the naval one is very bad.

Originally Posted by Yarkis

The land CAI is ok, but the naval one is very bad.

Yeah, playing as France, I had most of the trade nodes. Great Britain only had one, even though it had the largest fleet of warships. I think they went under financially because I kept sending sloops to attack their ports, and they never moved warships into position to intercept.
The land AI does seem better. Playing as France, Russia had been using military access to move stacks against me before I invaded them. Not that it saved them in the end.

I can stand NTW's CAI by now, although it's still easy to manipulate.
Also they know how to build up massive stacks and attack from every surprising places.

about the same I think

Better, but haters gonna hate.

I'm still trying to figure out how the CAI handles allies. I am playing as Austria and have a military alliance with Russia against France. Russia sends a full stack into my area bordering Alsace and Switzerland, both enemies. For several turns, the stack just moves back and forth in my land going near Alsace then Switzerland. I finally formed and army and took Alsace. On the AI turn, Switzerland moved most of its army out of the city and stopped. The Russian stack hit it from the side and made it run. The Russian stack then headed straight for the city, but ran out of movement just short. I only had one unit that could reach the city, a cav unit. I ran that at the city and the Russian stack reinforced. I picked up the city for something like 4 horsemen. What I can't understand is why the stack kept moving back and forth. Was it programmed to hit armies outside of cities initially? If so, why didn't it chase the defeated Swiss army and go for the city then instead?

In addition to this, I keep seeing Russian units heading EAST instead of towards the fights. Once they get near Moscow, they just keep moving back and forth on the same road. What is the meaning of that?

I am only at war with France, Spain and Batavian Republic at the moment, and Spain doesn't seem to send any units through France to reach anyone. Why do they stay home while the Russians at least sent some units through?

At least I don't see the "everyone is at war with everyone" that ETW was plagued with for a while. The CAI does seem to do a better job of forming sides, with neutrals like the Ottomans waiting until a weakness is displayed.

There has perhaps been slight improvements since etw but its still hurrendous!

I wouldnt know, I always use Jossts UAI and that is a God-like CAI

Originally Posted by pvtgunny

I wouldnt know, I always use Jossts UAI and that is a God-like CAI

God-like? As in the Judeo-Christian version, or Zeus? Because those greek ones did a lot of infighting that reminds me of game CAI...

I had the unusual experience last night of watching a larger Austrian AI-run army lose to a smaller AI Northern Italy Army. I had a single cossack unit attacked originally by the NI army, but the Austrians were dragged into the battle as my nearby ally. The Austrians had to amble onto the battlefield from off the map, so obviously they led with all five of their cavalry units which were immediately charged head on into the waiting NI infantry and decimated. The Austrian artillery then showed up, unlimbered and proceeded to shoot the ground immediately in front of their cannons. It never occured to the NI cavalry to attack these artillery units. Finally, the Austrian infantry ambles unto the field and vaguely attempts to form some semblance of a line, but only after they had advanced into the NI infantry's range of fire - as a result they were constantly enfiladed during their evolutions. It was humorous watching an NI cavalry unit circling an Austrian line unit which keep revolving in line to get a shot at the cavalry unit rather than forming square - the cavalry eventually got bored and moved away. So I ask myself, if the AI seems to be somewhat of a challenge when it attacks me, what does it say about MY capabilities! Soul searching is never a healthy thing.

better but still bad

Both... combined!