A Lot of New Info from Gamestar

[Marvzilla]

First Photo - siege of the city - I will be translating the relevant info. stuff like explanation of the testudo formation are for non-TW gamers.

1 Siege engines like the Ram are equipped before the battle, the player decides(no info about other types of siege deployables)
2. Hastati in testudo formation
3. General at a safe distance, the blue circle denotes the radius of his influence on the troops, the effects of which depend on the general's traits(and maybe skills?)
4. Slingers in the wood to attack the defenders.
5. Balistas shooting at the enemy
6. Cavalry plays a secondary role because first the wall must be brought down or the gates broken through.
7. After the gate is down, the Hastati and Principes attack to kill the defenders.
8. Clearing of the wall by hand-to-hand combat
9. Towers can be taken by change of possession of the control point(so just like Shogun 2, right?)
10. Wall brought down and cavalry rushes in
11. Close vigilance advised during street combat - Line of sight and houses mean that there might be enemy reinforcements just round the corner.
12. Three capture points, possession of the majority ensures victory.
13. Alternatively we can take the back door of the city (I didn't understand that very good, apparently that way we gain control of the city due to there being no escape for the enemy? Hmmm...)

They could position their army where they wanted. Atleast thats how I understood it (regarding point 13).

[nameless]

unfortunately the AI apperently hasn't improved much with the notable exception of one flanking maneuver on the battle map. On the Campaign map the AI likes to send mini-armies arround the map ( we are reminded, that the game is still no finished and that the tester was only able to play the proluge on the easiest difficulty)

That doesn't make sense.

Armies are limited so unless it's a major faction it'd be weird to see the AI not utilize its army to its maximum potential. Hell it wouldn't be able to recruit units.

In any case let's hope that they get these worked out in both the Campaign and Battle AI.

Indeed. Knowing CA's track record, I'm starting to lower my expectations. At least i won't be too disappointed then, if it turns out to be c**p.

Meh, knowing CA's track record they'll fix it if it's screwed up. That's what happened in MTW2 and ETW so hopefully they won't have to.

That's pretty disappointing.
I like what Gamestar does, cuts to the chase without wasting readers' time on hype and subjective opinions on how awesome the game is. If the AI is crap - the game is crap. I still have a hope this is not the case. I was going to say Shogun 2 AI wasn't too retarded, but the challenges that AI faces in Rome 2 are much more complex.

The funny thing is that if Gamestar came out praising and saying good things the people here would be spinning conspiracy theories but whatever.

[Eisenhart_IV]

Meh, knowing CA's track record they'll fix it if it's screwed up. That's what happened in MTW2 and ETW so hopefully they won't have to.

Fingers crossed, my friend. I do hope i'm wrong on this one. I agree, they will eventually fix things, but, how long is it going to take after the release, if the game comes out partially broken?

[alanschu]

Just as a general note, is a place like TWC liable at all for people sharing these?

[StealthFox]

Just as a general note, is a place like TWC liable at all for people sharing these?

Yep, we cannot have these images here on TWC as it illegal and violates copyright laws. I have removed the images, please no one post them again. Those of you who have access to them may summarize their contents via text.

[Raikou]

Yep, we cannot have these images here on TWC as it illegal and violates copyright laws. I have removed the images, please no one post them again. Those of you who have access to them may summarize their contents via text.

My apologies


edit: I also posted these images in the Total War: II - Pictures & Videos Thread If you can delete those as well thanks

[alexanderh86]

If only Darth was still around to fix the AI

[Adreno]

If only Darth was still around to fix the AI

when has he ever? its still the same ai, and honestly the darthmods are great but its supposedly better ai, really isnt all that much better than vanilla honestly

[Spartacus041]

While some of the campaign info on agents and such are interesing the stuff about the AI is downright disappointing. I guess it's business as usual with TW

I really hope this is not representative of the campaign or battle AI come September 3rd.

[sword and shield]

Can somebody translate the text next to the fleet?

[simonsimons]

Would someone be able to translate it but in more detail?

[RoyalNobody]

Perfect AI is a gamers pipe dream that I've never seen realised. As long as its an improvement, even a slight one, from Shogun 2 I'll be happy.

[Revan The Great]

Perfect AI is a gamers pipe dream that I've never seen realised. As long as its an improvement, even a slight one, from Shogun 2 I'll be happy.

The problem is that, according to the information provided, the AI appears to be in a dysfunctional, illogical state. A lot of people were already on edge because we haven't been allowed to see anything but scripted battles/gameplay so far, so this could be seen as confirming a lot of fears.

It'd be nice if CA could come out and at least deny what was claimed. Preferably release a video of unscripted gameplay, finally.

[IlluminatiRex]

The problem is that, according to the information provided, the AI appears to be in a dysfunctional, illogical state. A lot of people were already on edge because we haven't been allowed to see anything but scripted battles/gameplay so far, so this could be seen as confirming a lot of fears.

It'd be nice if CA could come out and at least deny what was claimed. Preferably release a video of unscripted gameplay, finally.

That's pretty disappointing.
I like what Gamestar does, cuts to the chase without wasting readers' time on hype and subjective opinions on how awesome the game is. If the AI is crap - the game is crap. I still have a hope this is not the case. I was going to say Shogun 2 AI wasn't too retarded, but the challenges that AI faces in Rome 2 are much more complex.

It did say however that they were on easiest, and I would expect that sort of derpyness out of that difficulty. If it's like that on harder difficulties I would definitly be concerned however. I have noticed a difference in how the AI reacts between easiest and the harder difficulties in Shogun 2, so if it's like that hopefully it won't be too bad. Fingers crossed.

[Alpha TWC]

The problem is that, according to the information provided, the AI appears to be in a dysfunctional, illogical state. A lot of people were already on edge because we haven't been allowed to see anything but scripted battles/gameplay so far, so this could be seen as confirming a lot of fears.

It'd be nice if CA could come out and at least deny what was claimed. Preferably release a video of unscripted gameplay, finally.

Normal when the game is still in development.

IA discussions are a waste of time now, the only real good method is play the game at a decent level of difficulty

A video of normal gameplay is.. useless, it does not clarify anything.

I remember the endless discussions on the IA of shogun from the gameplay video .....

[Revan The Great]

It did say however that they were on easiest, and I would expect that sort of derpyness out of that difficulty. If it's like that on harder difficulties I would definitly be concerned however. I have noticed a difference in how the AI reacts between easiest and the harder difficulties in Shogun 2, so if it's like that hopefully it won't be too bad. Fingers crossed.

I don't know. I'm excited for the game, and I want it to be great like I'm sure you do. But sometimes it seems like you go out of your way to be an apologist. If things are as they're described, I think it shows a lack of basic functionality, even if the actual AI performance is toned down. The ships aimlessly meandering, never attacking? Not putting archers on the walls?

There's a line between 'making it easier' and 'making it stupid easy through completely dysfunctional AI'. It makes me a little worried, though I hope the article's impressions are incorrect.

Normal when the game is still in development.

IA discussions are a waste of time now, the only real good method is play the game at a decent level of difficulty

A video of normal gameplay is.. useless, it does not clarify anything.

I remember the endless discussions on the IA of shogun from the gameplay video .....

But we're one month from release day. Surely at this point the AI should be mostly ironed out by now and they're spending this time polishing the game, chasing down a few last bugs, etc.

[Alpha TWC]

I don't know. I'm excited for the game, and I want it to be great like I'm sure you do. But sometimes it seems like you go out of your way to be an apologist. If things are as they're described, I think it shows a lack of basic functionality, even if the actual AI performance is toned down. The ships aimlessly meandering, never attacking? Not putting archers on the walls?

There's a line between 'making it easier' and 'making it stupid easy through completely dysfunctional AI'. It makes me a little worried, though I hope the article's impressions are incorrect.



But we're one month from release day. Surely at this point the AI should be mostly ironed out by now and they're spending this time polishing the game, chasing down a few last bugs, etc.

For example is confirmed that the build of the batttle of the Nile is more than 3 months old

The build for demo, public pre-release event, etc is not the same build that CA (like all other software house) are working on in this moment.

[SturmChurro]

some of the weird the ai pulled:

- Letting the cavalry run in circles (while being shot at)

- During a attack on a coastal town two transport ships calmly rowed arround the whole map instead of attacking the player

-During a siege the ai placed their infantry on the walls and their archers in the middle of the town.

The problem is that, according to the information provided, the AI appears to be in a dysfunctional, illogical state. A lot of people were already on edge because we haven't been allowed to see anything but scripted battles/gameplay so far, so this could be seen as confirming a lot of fears.

It'd be nice if CA could come out and at least deny what was claimed. Preferably release a video of unscripted gameplay, finally.

How would this be "confirming a lot of fears"? I see progress with those 3 details.

The AI letting their cavalry run in circles while being shot with arrows? At least it is doing something. In past games, in fact in SHOGUN 2, I have wasted all of my units ammunition shooting at stationary units like cavalry. This AI is trying to figure out something to do about it it seems. Maybe it didn't see a charge as a valid option? Who knows, we didn't see what was going on in the battle. It is still progress, nonetheless.

Two transport ships rowing around in a coastal town? What else are they supposed to do? Just land and do nothing? It is trying to find something to fight at sea. Now if it still had its units still on board doing nothing, and not yet landed them, that could be an issue. Again, we haven't seen the battle ourselves.

The AI placing its archers in the middle of town? How is that a bad thing? What the AI doesn't get the two volleys off before it gets rushed with infantry on first assault? I see here the ai protecting it's archers. It is a weaker unit, now placed behind it's stronger melee units. Now the archers can fire longer over the cover of melee units, thus getting more volleys off in the long run. Either way, yet again we haven't seen the battle ourselves.

You have to compare it with past Total War games. I would, personally, hold judgement for the moment until after the game is released, or we have at least seen the AI in action.

[Neige]

Hopefully derpy AI is left to the lower difficulties, but a man can dream...

AFAIK, the only thing changing difficulty in TW games does is it gives morale buffs, stat buffs and lower training costs to the AI and also makes the AI more aggressive towards the player and more prone to backstab.

Two transport ships rowing around in a coastal town? What else are they supposed to do? Just land and do nothing?

Umm... how about land and attack the player?

The AI placing its archers in the middle of town? How is that a bad thing? What the AI doesn't get the two volleys off before it gets rushed with infantry on first assault?

Not using archers during a siege is stupid. What's the point of having walls then if not as an advantage to shower the besiegers with missiles? I think what's even worse here is that the AI keeps splitting its units. Like in Shogun 2 the AI would often peel off one or several units to harass the player for some incomprehensible reason.

[IlluminatiRex]

AFAIK, the only thing changing difficulty in TW games does is it gives morale buffs, stat buffs and lower training costs to the AI and also makes the AI more aggressive towards the player and more prone to backstab.

I noticed that when I played Shogun 2 on the easiest difficulty they just kind of rushed their units at me, and that's when they decided to do attacking. Many times they would just sit there. When I started trying Legendary campaigns I noticed the AI kept their units in formation and at least tried to be somewhat tactical and take initiative, even if it wasn't the most suburb AI moves ever.