Battlefield AI competence

[rjacko10]

The pike discussions got me interested in whether the AI actually realises what pikes are and uses tactics to target their weaknesses.

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Method 1: On flat grassland, I lined up all unit types from Macedon (cav, skirmishes, pikes, spears, swords) in one long row, repeating the sequence 3x. Mixed AI Roman army attacking.

Result 1: Roman skirmishers and melee infantry consistently marched up to my line and fired/charged at any unit that happened to be in front of it. No preference shown. Approx half the cav flanked the end unit and attacked from the side, the other half just charged in and joined a blob. General joined the blob too.

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Method 2: Same as 1, but all roman units were velites.

Result 2: Again, all the velites lined up, marched up, and fired at whatever unit was in front of it.

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Method 3: Same as 1, but all my units were pikes and all roman units were cav.

Result 3: Same cav tactics as seen in result 1. Half charged into the pikes head on. The other half flanked the end units attacking from the side. Eventually the roman cav became more adventurous around the back of my line and started attacking from behind. However the ones remaining in front persisted on trying to attack my pikes head on.

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Method 4: Same as 1, but half my units were pikes and half were slingers. The units were lined up in a row, but all slingers on one side and all pikes on the other. All roman units were cav.

Result 4: Same cav tactics as seen in result 3. No preference for pikes or slingers.

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Conclusion: A rather basic battlefield AI following the same, simple process for attacking an army arranged in a single row. Type of unit makes no difference to the AI tactics. Cav are the only units that display any sort of tactic. These methods are by no means exhaustive and there may still be hidden treasures buried within the AI.

[Timhawk]

Nice experiment. Kudos.
Disturbing results though. I wonder how much, if any, can be modded/fixed.

[zonks40]

I've noticed this as well, and it's not just that there is no variation between unit types when it comes to tactics, there is no variation between cultures either, Romans form up like Romans, then they attack like barbarians.

[Scavrvs]

Very interesting....
The more I look for a mod to fix RomeII, the more I'm evaluating to re-install RomeTW...

[Hjalfnar_Feuerwolf]

Problem is: Not the fault of the DeI-Modders...it's basic AI-Programming. Should have been "perfect" at the release of vanilla, especially as they were claiming the Rome-2-AI would be the best TW-AI of all times. Instead it's one of the worst. Even the Shogun-1-AI was better in some situations. The Rome-1-AI was certainly better in siege battles, not to mention the Medieval-2-AI.

[TheOrangeProject]

Thx for testing this out mate.

At least while defending gates,passages and such the Ai prioritize the "first" unit it can reach and this - at least in my battles with pikes - the pikes units, which is fine, because pikes are weak to missiles.

Anyway i agree the AI should improve in this matter.