AI's a bit wacky

[Napoleon Complex]

First of all I want to say this is a brilliant mod. However the AI seems a bit out of whack. They sometimes wander around the front of my army when attacking, always shying away from a frontal assault while I bombard them with the now absolutely lethal arrows. Other times, while fording a river, they will mill around indecisively on the far bank or come over in complete disorder before running around randomly on the other side of the bank without attacking. Combined with the positively fragile morale (or maybe I'm just used to Medieval II's habit of having peasants fight to the last man) this makes picking their units off with well placed cavalry charges very easy.

...of course as I found out fighting one of the historical battles (I had to rescue a king on a hill and got slaughtered by helmeted nightmares) the AI is also capable of surprising brutality.

Essentially the AI isn't hopeless, but it is a bit wacky and unpredictable. Has it been changed from BI's standard format or have I just forgotten what Rome is like?

[Aradan]

The AI is not moddable, so that's just standard RTW stupidity, the AI sometimes (depending on its perception of its own and your strength) can't decide what 'mode' to stay in and which formation to use, so it keeps going back and forth.
The morale of certain factions' units is indeed too low, that will be fixed in DoM.

[Napoleon Complex]

Thanks Aradan.

[atheniandp]

Have you guys heard of GRANTO and Resef's port of the Realbadai to RTW? The latest release is in the GRANTO submod for Ogniem i Mieczem. It enables a script that allows the AI to perform differently. You'll immediately notice more maneuvering by the AI.

[atheniandp]

I haven't had time to play and contrast the regular RTW AI from GRANTO's script, but in the first few battles I've tried there are some differences like the AI moving its cavalry to your flanks and waiting for the appropriate time to charge, as well as splitting its army in two and using those to fight you.

I think you guys should look into adopting the GRANTO script for the next version of Fourth Age.

[Aradan]

I've seen the thread, in the OiM forum, but I hadn't tried it. I'll download it and have a look, but I'll reserve judgement on its awesomeness until I've tested it myself. Don't get me wrong, but so far every "AI improvement" in the history of TW is a mix of equal parts complete BS, self-aggrandisement and placebo effect.

[Aikanár]

Don't get me wrong, but so far every "AI improvement" in the history of TW is a mix of equal parts complete BS, self-aggrandisement and placebo effect.

[Aradan]

Ok, just so that I put my money where my mouth is (and I don't appear like an obnoxious bastard belittling other people's work), here is all the AI-related code I could find in Granto's OiM script - which I believe was taken by Germanicu5's ReallyBadAI.

;;;;;;;;;;better aI

declare_timer battle_timer
restart_timer battle_timer


declare_timer battle_timer_flank
restart_timer battle_timer_flank


monitor_conditions I_InBattle
and I_TimerElapsed battle_timer > 30000
ai_active_set off
wait 0.5
ai_active_set on
restart_timer battle_timer
end_monitor


monitor_event BattlePlayerUnitAttacksEnemyUnit BattleDirectionOfAttack != front
and I_TimerElapsed battle_timer_flank > 30000
and I_InBattle
ai_active_set off
wait 0.5
ai_active_set on
restart_timer battle_timer_flank
end_monitor

What that does is: Every 30 seconds or when an AI-controlled unit is attacked from the flanks or rear by a player-controlled unit (and 30 seconds have passed from the last time that happened) the AI is switched off and then on again.

So, by turning the AI off and on again, every 30 seconds, the AI somehow learns to split its forces, and flank, and time its charges, and manoeuvre better? I must say I'm sceptical.

[atheniandp]

Just reporting what I've observed in two battles. Never made any substantive claims, nor do I have any dishonest agenda. I'm sorry if you take that as hyperbole.

[Aradan]

No no, that wasn't directed at you, sorry if it came across that way, I didn't mean to imply you have an adenda or anything,. That was more of a general complaint against all the "AI-modding" and the claims made by the modders who do it. I believe players honestly report what they think they experience, but placebo plays a role here.

[sanderman2]

Yes, that´s how it works.