EB 2.X AI Faction Progression Thread

[Simonides]

Playing as Bosporos, H/M campaign, with CAI v2.

State of the world as of turn 100:


The only faction to disappear so far is Baktria, destroyed by rebellion on turn 92. Out west, the Iberian peninsula has been one long series of wars and truces. Rome is doing well for itself, and has just declared war on Makedonia (?!), while still being embroiled with Carthage and Epeiros. The Getai and Lugones were both stalled for a long time in front of tough rebel settlements, but have finally started expanding over the last few seasons.

[QuintusSertorius]

Turn 193:



I had to intervene in Sicily to prevent the Romans losing the island, and then southern Italy to the Karthadastim. Having given them Messana and Lilibeo, I'm hoping they'll leave me alone for a while.

[Petite Wolf]

Turn 193:



I had to intervene in Sicily to prevent the Romans losing the island, and then southern Italy to the Karthadastim. Having given them Messana and Lilibeo, I'm hoping they'll leave me alone for a while.

Could you explain to me why it is you do your best to keep every faction alive or whatever it is you're doing? Half of the fun for me is watching the different ways things turn out with the AI in different campaigns and it's strange to me to see someone doing things in the completely opposite way.

[mr mojo risin]

Could you explain to me why it is you do your best to keep every faction alive or whatever it is you're doing? Half of the fun for me is watching the different ways things turn out with the AI in different campaigns and it's strange to me to see someone doing things in the completely opposite way.

i am testing for the long term not the short term , this mod will have reforms and a lot more stuff in it later down the line, im just looking at the bigger picture.

[QuintusSertorius]

Could you explain to me why it is you do your best to keep every faction alive or whatever it is you're doing? Half of the fun for me is watching the different ways things turn out with the AI in different campaigns and it's strange to me to see someone doing things in the completely opposite way.

Because I find the unaugmented mid/late game of a handful of super-factions sending stack after stack at each other boring in the extreme. I like variety and as many AI factions still at work as possible, even if some of them have to be changed into something else in another region. A faction dead is a little bit of the game's potential gone, and a lot less fun. Holding the balance of power is more fun to me than simply dominating all the other factions, and maintaining the chaos is more fun than having a conflict concluded.

The sweet spot for me is having 10 or less provinces and 2-3 armies defending those regions, fighting no more than a couple of battles a year during distinct periods of war, and no battles in peace times. A sprawling empire of 30-odd provinces, where administering them becomes a routine chore and fighting 2-3 full stack on full stack battles every single turn isn't my idea of fun.

[mr mojo risin]

Because I find the unaugmented mid/late game of a handful of super-factions sending stack after stack at each other boring in the extreme. I like variety and as many AI factions still at work as possible, even if some of them have to be changed into something else in another region. A faction dead is a little bit of the game's potential gone, and a lot less fun. Holding the balance of power is more fun to me than simply dominating all the other factions, and maintaining the chaos is more fun than having a conflict concluded.

The sweet spot for me is having 10 or less provinces and 2-3 armies defending those regions, fighting no more than a couple of battles a year during distinct periods of war, and no battles in peace times. A sprawling empire of 30-odd provinces, where administering them becomes a routine chore and fighting 2-3 full stack on full stack battles every single turn isn't my idea of fun.

yes indeed.

[Shokifer]

Bleh. Micromanaging other factions just seems so boring. I don't WANT to be in control of everything. That's why I like starting as a faction at the edge of the map (like saba or the pritanoi) and then coming to promenence and see what the other factions turned out as. Besides, I just increase unit replenishment times so i'll only have to fight armies they currently have. Balance is fine, but balance the player has to maintain just seems silly.

The only time I intervened was when the amount of stacks was getting debilitating in EB1, and that sort of required plunging the lusitanians or qart-hadast into debt.

[TheVerySpecialK]

Campaign as Bosporus at turn 195:



Although Carthage lost its Iberian and Sicilian possessions early on, it went on to dominate the Ptolemaic Empire to the East (which now only holds a single territory). Macedon has also grown exponentially, destroying Greece, Pontos and Pergamon, while reducing Eperios to a mere client state. The situation in the North East has remained static for many turns now, with Pahlava and Saka retaining their respective territories. The Seleucid Empire has also retained its territories while emerging as victor and the dominant power in Anatolia after a long war with the Ptolemaic Empire. The Germans have grown exceptionally strong, forcing the Boii to flee Eastward (where they became a client state under the Getai. Iberia has been dominated by the Areuakoi, who are now contesting for control of the peninsula with Rome and the Gaelic kingdoms.

Edit: Crete and Rhodes are both colonies of my kingdom.

Because I find the unaugmented mid/late game of a handful of super-factions sending stack after stack at each other boring in the extreme. I like variety and as many AI factions still at work as possible, even if some of them have to be changed into something else in another region. A faction dead is a little bit of the game's potential gone, and a lot less fun. Holding the balance of power is more fun to me than simply dominating all the other factions, and maintaining the chaos is more fun than having a conflict concluded.

The sweet spot for me is having 10 or less provinces and 2-3 armies defending those regions, fighting no more than a couple of battles a year during distinct periods of war, and no battles in peace times. A sprawling empire of 30-odd provinces, where administering them becomes a routine chore and fighting 2-3 full stack on full stack battles every single turn isn't my idea of fun.

Couldn't agree more!

[mr mojo risin]

Campaign as Bosporus at turn 195:



Although Carthage lost its Iberian and Sicilian possessions early on, it went on to dominate the Ptolemaic Empire to the East (which now only holds a single territory). Macedon has also grown exponentially, destroying Greece, Pontos and Pergamon, while reducing Eperios to a mere client state. The situation in the North East has remained static for many turns now, with Pahlava and Saka retaining their respective territories. The Seleucid Empire has also retained its territories while emerging as victor and the dominant power in Anatolia after a long war with the Ptolemaic Empire. The Germans have grown exceptionally strong, forcing the Boii to flee Eastward (where they became a client state under the Getai. Iberia has been dominated by the Areuakoi, who are now contesting for control of the peninsula with Rome and the Gaelic kingdoms.

Edit: Crete and Rhodes are both colonies of my kingdom.



Couldn't agree more!

Cheers for the feedback...version 3 CAI is shaping up very nicely.iv solved quite a few things today,

[Kull]

Here's a technique the EB2 playtesters used to show faction "progress on the map" over time - a .gif file showing sequential views of the campaign mini-map in the lower left-hand corner. Here's an example from a 100 turn Lusotannan game last December:


A few things you'll need to know/consider:

1) Decide what a good sequence consists of. My snapshots are taken at 10-turn increments, but you could use some other number - it's best if the interval is consistent, however.

2) You will want to see EVERYTHING happening on the map, so first bring up the console (press the ~ key) and type in toggle_fow. This makes all factions visible on the minimap (and everywhere else).

3) The easiest way to grab the screenshot is (while playing in "windowed mode") to use the Windows "Snipping Tool" (Start/All Programs/Accessories/Snipping Tool). Just drag the cursor around the minimap and "save as" to a folder (file type should default to .jpg) And make sure to use a recognizable name (like "KH_turn_10") so you can easily identify the sequence later:


4) After you've played long enough to accumulate quite a few screenshots, it's time to create the .gif file.

5) GIFMaker is by far the easiest way to do that. It's a website, so there's no need to install any software or run a specialized program. After clicking the GIFMaker link, it brings you to this screen:


6) As per the attachment below, click the "Upload Images" button first (circled in red). That will bring up an explorer-like interface. Navigate to the folder containing your screen shots. Click the first one and then - while pressing the Ctrl key - click all the other screenshots you'll need for the .gif. When you are finished selecting files, click the "Open" button (also circled in red):


7) You'll see a visual of the text file names uploading to the website, after which they will all appear as thumbnails (below). In the "Control Panel" at the upper right you can already see the gif action taking place. If any of your screen shots are out of sequence, just drag the thumbnails into the proper sequence. The "Canvas size" settings are fine, but please change the "Animation speed" to "2000" (circled in red), so people have time to recognize what's going on as the factions grow and shrink. Once that is done, click the "Create Now" button (also circled in red). Three new options now appear below the "Create Now" button. Select "Download the GIF image now" (circled in red), click "Save" in the resulting message box, and then (when the explorer-like interface appears) navigate to the folder containing your screen shots and give it an appropriate file name.


8) Your new .gif file can be uploaded to IMGUR (like the one in this post) or posted at some other location of your choice.

Congratulations - you are now a .gif making expert!

[anonimo272]

kull. is there any way to do this while on full screen ?
mr mojo will the new CAI be released with the control script or it is still too soon ?

[mr mojo risin]

kull. is there any way to do this while on full screen ?
mr mojo will the new CAI be released with the control script or it is still too soon ?

it will be released without any scripts at this point ,
the thing is to get the best possible base to build on before any file changes.hope to have version 3 out by the weekend.

[Henri]

Ran an Epeiros game H/M v2ai and decided to throw all my eggs in one basket and blitz Rome.

50 turns in :


102 turns :


150 turns:


201 turns:


Some things I noticed along the way:
1. The AI has real problems with the forts ~ it either parks units in there and wont move them ever or they do a step/step out loop each turn.
2. Stacks rebelling really breaks down AI attacks ~ they'll be pushing hard towards a city, a stack rebels and they just sit there for a few turns then go and do something else.
3. the AI is really too fond of vassalising its enemies ~ wars will just stop with a 4-5 stacks on each side while a diplomat approaches the remaining city each turn.

[mr mojo risin]

VERSION 3 CAI released....http://ge.tt/9QsnMVv1/v/0

An evolution from version 2 to version 3......the op will be updated soon.
please leave feedback on AI aggression, faction development and diplomacy.ta

PLEASE START A NEW CAMPAIGN {it may be save compatible for some}

select Med or Hard campaign difficulty.

[malibu.stacey]

Thanks you very much, mr!

Gonna try asap

[Dom Pedro II]

Great work mojo, too bad i can't try it myself atm, do you have any progression pictures to share? i.e late campaign.

[Artannis Wolfrunner]

Neat site, Kull. I just used it for mine to make a gif.

Playing as Baktria H/H here, I thought I'd post this just because I found the progression around Italy / Europe interesting. Namely, Rome was completely wiped out in my game by Carthage and Arverni.

This gif is 3 images each from 237 / 224 / 213 BC. Rome is attacked from the south by Carthage, which captures Roma itself, and Arverni come in from the north and end up turning Rome into a protectorate. Sweboz then moved in and finished off Rome as Arverni pushes back at Carthage to take most of Italy and Iberia.

[mr mojo risin]

Great work mojo, too bad i can't try it myself atm, do you have any progression pictures to share? i.e late campaign.

no ...iv had real trouble posting and editing on here for while now, im sure there will be some soon though.

[alin]

Sweboz, VH/H:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[mr mojo risin]

Sweboz, VH/H:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

your thoughts on the campaign alin? looks like you blitzed quite fast at the start.