Broken AI during siege battles

**jus2121** · July 02, 2013, 02:35 PM

Hi everyone,

Im playing this mod for a few weeks now and i started a Pontus campaign. I managed to occupy Antiochia. Almost every turn the SE is trying to take it back and is sieging the city. When they discide to attack my city i play the battle. I retreat all my units to the center of the city and i wait for my opponent. When i press 'end deployment' my enemy is doing nothing... It sends 1 or 2 units to attack me and when i defeated te 2 units the AI is completly froze. I have no timelimit for my battles so i need often to leave my city and fight off the army from SE who is waiting outside the city. I completly lose my advantage as a defender and my battles are boring because it happens every time again.

Has anayone a solution??

**ImperialAquila** · July 02, 2013, 03:20 PM

Now that's what I call an "Intelligent" AI. Seriously though, Do they have siege engines, towers, ladders, or rams with them? If not, then it's natural for the AI's units to keep their distance because it doesn't see the point in assaulting without the means to scale the walls or to batter the gates down.

**Darth Bane1** · July 02, 2013, 04:23 PM

This only happens when all of the enemy siege equipment is destroyed. Is this the case, then the AI should retreat because he has nothing to attack the walls. Strange thing indeed. Never saw something like that. Well, I was always the attacker...

**DwailerY** · July 02, 2013, 05:56 PM

Hell you're supposed to automatically win the battle...check for lithbolos and elephants chances are that is their emergency script army that appears when you take one of their important cities. Elephants of any kind ...still counts as siege...and even if you rout/madden them you won't win the battle untill they're off the field

**xsithspawnx** · July 02, 2013, 11:51 PM

You're not the only one to have run into this. I've had the exact same thing happen to me multiple times and it is quite annoying.

**ur-Lord Tedric** · July 03, 2013, 11:06 AM

It's also one of the 'sensible' game reasons to leave the Timer on (apart from the knowledge that a lack of timer makes it easier on the Player, which is counter to the overall intent). Sometimes a battle just will not end otherwise.

As to the situation given in the OP - as a counter, think on this......would you attack in the circumstance knowing that you would lose?

Perhaps AI isn't quite as stupid as you think!!

**LoGaL** · July 03, 2013, 01:52 PM

timer vs HA nations is DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
you need to Q.Q for at least 6-7 mins just to wait they finish arrows

**White Knight2** · July 03, 2013, 10:44 PM

There is another thing I encountered recently. A enemy army laid besieged and then attacked one of my cities (they had scorpions, proving the point AI can also be very stupid

). During the battle they ran out of ammunition before they could take down my gates. After that it was a standstill . I thought I had won the battle but the victory screen never appeared and when I quit it, it said I had lost. This was very ridiculous since when they had run out ammunition they should have been automatically forced to withdraw.

**ImperialAquila** · July 06, 2013, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by White Knight2

There is another thing I encountered recently. A enemy army laid besieged and then attacked one of my cities (they had scorpions, proving the point AI can also be very stupid

). During the battle they ran out of ammunition before they could take down my gates. After that it was a standstill . I thought I had won the battle but the victory screen never appeared and when I quit it, it said I had lost. This was very ridiculous since when they had run out ammunition they should have been automatically forced to withdraw.

That's how the AI is I'm afraid. Once they lose the means to break your defenses or batter down your gates, they will turn on to a more defensive posture and wait for you to attack and lose your advantage behind the walls, especially if they have the numbers. But I suppose that in itself makes the AI "smarter" because he is goading you into open field. The AI must be following Sun Tzu's Art of War because of this:

"Therefore one who is good at martial arts overcomes others' forces without battle, conquers others' cities without siege, destroys others' nations without taking a long time."

**CatoTheYounger** · July 04, 2013, 06:21 AM

Timers ruin the game. The battle is over when it is naturaly over. Way to arcade to play with a time IMO. Times up!...but i had them surrounded and was about to break in the ring after a long battle! too bad! times up! Hate it.

And it does not make sense for the attacker to attack and then...not attack. Then he isn't attacking. Doesn't make him smart it makes him retarded.

**High Fist** · July 04, 2013, 08:46 PM

Yeah I was playing Armenia for a bit there. The SE kept sending less than half stacks to attack my nearest city to them. I would sally out, kill one or two of their units and then they would all run away. Just right off the map. They did this several times and it was getting pretty annoying until I got some HA to "escort" them off the map.

They didn't learn though. They lost over 5k men (at least) due to their half arsed commitment.

**landkarte** · July 05, 2013, 03:41 AM

Yeah that happened to me several times too. But that has been so in vanilla, if I remember correctly. Have the timer on.

**CatoTheYounger** · July 05, 2013, 09:09 PM

Then you have to forward until the time elapses? thats anoying too. Why would i want to wait an hour for the timer to elapse when the enemy is already defeated? Seems there is no winning wih such a bug.

**Primative1** · July 06, 2013, 12:31 PM

Originally Posted by CatoTheYounger

Then you have to forward until the time elapses? thats anoying too. Why would i want to wait an hour for the timer to elapse when the enemy is already defeated? Seems there is no winning wih such a bug.

You can just hit the x3 timer.

**White Knight2** · July 07, 2013, 10:49 PM

Makes sense, but I tend to agree with what CatoTheYounger said. If AI decides to storm the city and then pulls out then he isn't storming at all, just sitting there sieging. Also if AI decides not to storm ( after deciding to storm) then why should I attack if I don't want to attack especially when my city is capable of surviving for 8-10 turns. Why doesn't the AI just backs down make some more siege equipment and have another go. That's sounds like a more logical approach.

**Crymson** · July 08, 2013, 02:42 AM

Battle AI is hardcoded.

**jus2121** · July 08, 2013, 06:03 AM

The AI siege equipment is not destroyed but my walls are already down from previous battles so the AI actually doesn't need equipment. They can just leave there siege towers and rams and walk into my city. But they dont.. they just stand there doing nothing.