Silly AI stories

[mattycraig1]

After experiancing some very very silly AI, just wondered if any one else had some silly AI stories;
I'm playing as Sicily and after a succesful crusade to Gaza I was promptly besieged left right and centre. My general and his men bravely held onto Gaza (my general now has command of 8 and 2 gold chevrons). Despite these victories the egyptians kept throwing more and more men at Gaza, eventually besieging it with two armies of roughly 700-800 each compared to my generals 700 battered veterans. The siege started as normal, the siege towers/ladders came but my brave defenders beat them back, the ram broke through my gates and my spearmen prepared for a glorious death..now it gets silly... the AI sent in their general straight at a horde of spearmen, where he was promptly cut down, his men rushed en mass through the gate, completly disregarding the siege tower/ladder route. They became choked in the gateway with spears and burning oil devestating them...it wasnt long before they fled. The second AI army could have easily mopped up my battered defenders (numbering now roughly 300 men) yet thier army didnt move, not even an inch, and just waited until the battle timer ran out and they lost.....silly AI much?

[Basileus Antiochus]

The one with the charging general and cavalry in general through the gates first is standard AI procedure, somehow it considers thats a very good idea...

[oxxid]

Sadly, this is a very usual story you're telling us... I can remenber dozens of siege battles like this one.

[philipjd]

I still think that the silliest part of the AI is it's diplomacy... such as me being the global superpower and they're a vassal, they then declare war with their 2 stacks of spear militia plus some mercenaries against me even when there is a weak ai controlled nation bordering them.

[SulleDodger]

This is actually a tactic I use a lot, I call it "Gates of Hell"

You need at least 2 horse-units.
Place Stakes in front of the gate.
Put archers on walls.
Put all infantry surrounding the gate.
Put javelins and crossbowmen behind the infantry.

Start Battle.
Ride out with the horse-units and attack all non-ram siege equipment (You just need to attack and they'll drop it). Many of the horses will die but the end justifies the means, now they only focus on the gate.

The Gate is broken open.
Enemy Cavalry charge in and die at the stakes, infantry can not advance more than a few meters through the gates and face massive showers of javelines and arrows as well as some hot boiling oil.

This tactic usually leaves me with bout 10% loss in general (sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on wether I up or not). While the enemy is vanquished. Works every time.

Defended Constantinople against one full Moor army, one full Egyptian army and one full turkish army at the same siege during a jihad, easiest ever.

Ok so apperantly the F-word is baaad... Enjoy the hearts.

[Amaranth]

That's a classic. Just like when AI charge it's General on to your Spearmen/Shieldwall/Stakes. I avoid killing AI general mostly, because I don't want see an early rout. But that's almost impossible to keep AI Genral alive for long. Another silly thing that AI can not see the Stakes placed on the ground. They throw themselves on to them. Sad.

[Rat-tail]

Stakes placed in front of gates or on roads SHOULD be blocked by the game designers ... OR ... blocked by Stainless Steel.

The retarded AI should not be abused and taken advantage of that much my a proper player of a strategy game.

[SulleDodger]

Stakes placed in front of gates or on roads SHOULD be blocked by the game designers ... OR ... blocked by Stainless Steel.

The retarded AI should not be abused and taken advantage of that much my a proper player of a strategy game.

You cant place them on roads actually. Just in front of gates.

[Amaranth]

Stakes placed in front of gates or on roads SHOULD be blocked by the game designers ... OR ... blocked by Stainless Steel.

The retarded AI should not be abused and taken advantage of that much my a proper player of a strategy game.

I don't think that sort of thing should be forced on players. I don't abuse AI stupidity in that way, but there might others who enjoy that sort of thing, maybe just for the sake of fun. No one should tell players how they enjoy their games. In my humble opinion of course.

[popovic]

Stakes placed in front of gates or on roads SHOULD be blocked by the game designers ... OR ... blocked by Stainless Steel.

Players who want that can just install the newest Germanicu5 Battle AI. Bundled with it is the "stake blocker" script. It does just what you want to: it disables the option of placing stakes in front of gates.
One can still use them elsewhere, though.

[Rat-tail]

The AI needs a lot of help ... hence we mod in giving it more money per round, movement points and attribute bonuses. All this is done just to make the AI more playable.

The "cheat" of placing stake in front a gate is something the AI can not "see" so it will ALWAYS run into them.
Best to block (mod) this and take that small advantage away from the player just to help level the field.

... but what do I know ... some people like to beat on retards to make themselves feel stronger.
enjoy yourself

[shailesh]

i'm not completely sure that the ai doesn't see the stakes at all . one time i was attacked by two full stacks at a fortress and i had placed stakes both at the outer and inner gates . the outer stakes were undefended as i didn't have any spare units and the ai just "walked" over it safely . when i made my stand on the inner gates the ai simply charges ignoring the stakes and dying in the process
granted i haven't tried it more than once . has anyone else noticed this ?

[Alesianduke]

Recent AI blunder: I was defending against a siege and it is about a fortress... the AI breaks through the first wall and and the inner gate they drop the ram and stay put... with all troops inside... until the battle time ended my missile troops were out of ammo and I had lost 0 soldiers whilst the AI 1/3 of its army... if it had broken through that gate I would have lost... I would have put up a good fight but lost in the end because my army was militia mostly and theirs superior.
It was my boring battle to date... just watching the AI stand in front of my gate with a 0% damaged ram and just moving troops around...

[Duck of Death]

Reminds me of some of the old Rome battles, where 4 properly placed Hoplite units, 1 archers and 1 general could easily defend against any size invasion

[Enarec]

I was the Khwarezmian Empire. I held Persia from the Mongols, controlled Baghdad, Tabriz, Gaza (was crusaded by Denmark, I jihaded it) and Eastern Arabia. The Crusader States only had Jerusalem, Kerak and Nicosia remaining.
For some reason they decided they REALLY need Gaza and attacked it with 2 full armies of Templar Sergeants, Urban Militia, Spear Militia and Crossbow Militia. My defending force consisted of only 1 General's Bodyguard, 1 Armored Spearmen, 1 Desert Archers and 1 Saracen Militia. You can guess the result...
First siege (1 army at a time ) they even managed to cross the 1. wall, but I repelled them on the inner walls. The massive routing helped a lot. Their army was crushed, I suffered only minor losses.
Second Siege I stopped them at the 1. wall. The General's Bodyguard slaughtered the men carrying the ram and then retreated into safety. They were dumb enough to build only 1 ladder, alongside a ram, and they decided to attack where I had positioned my Armored Spearmen and Saracen Militia The slaughter continued. Their weak troops were no match for my infantry. The Crusader States's troops climbed the wall, got killed by my men, routed, got killed some more while routing and the climbed the walls again. My Desert Archers ran out of arrows soon. After some minutes the walls were covered with the corpses of crusaders and I felt strong enough to led my troops out and slay the remaining men.