Better Aggresive CAI for Rome 2 V 3.5 Official Release - Patch 17

[Comrade Roboto]

Honestly mate, there is no difference value in hard, easy, very easy, normal, or legendary for my mod, the difference maybe coming from other mod or vanilla campaign_difficult_handicap value, like giving CAI income boost and other stuff on different level

I recommend "hard" anyway, feel free to try 20 turn and write your review

Basically I'm looking for the one that has sort of balanced handicaps for me and the AI (same handicaps for me and the AI). But the AI shouldn't be so passive as in the CAI.

[Junaidi83 de Bodemloze]

Basically I'm looking for the one that has sort of balanced handicaps for me and the AI (same handicaps for me and the AI). But the AI shouldn't be so passive as in the CAI.

-Better AI 1.9 this is normal edition recommend for veteran or someone who want taste annihilation
-Better AI 1.9 Easy edition,well recommend for new player or someone who seek stand on equal ground with CAI
-Better AI 1.9 Very Human and Easy edition, its dedicated for someone who seek easy campaign but entertain with minimum CAI handicap,giving player fair situation

You want no handicap or certain handicap balance, just edit yourself using pfm on campaign_difficult_handicap,how hard can be mate

[Little Legionaire]

Is it intended or i dunno but as Carthage even if i have good relations AI factions never accept any trade dealings. (Played with all three families Barcid, Hannonids and Magonids) / Easy Edition

Just reporting,

[Junaidi83 de Bodemloze]

Is it intended or i dunno but as Carthage even if i have good relations AI factions never accept any trade dealings. (Played with all three families Barcid, Hannonids and Magonids) / Easy Edition

Just reporting,

I am still working on diplomacy aspect,honestly trade depend on how many resource you actualy have, and what culture you are,also do AI simply have need from you,its require lot of effort for diplomacy aspect, for example

1.You probably want to smooth relation by giving small gift first to build good tension
2.Then you can propose non aggresion deal first, if accepted
3.From this point you can propose trade deal, just add some little money and AI will accept
4.Then you can increase defensive,military access or military alliance
Basicly its require time and money to invest diplomacy, you cant force ai to accept trade with you, unless you give them something that they want, either join war, military access, money, just try each option and see how he respond.

That why you realy need carefull to what faction you invest relationship rather mindless treaty, i dont know if you think this is hardcore stuff

AI is quite smart too, by doing trade option with you, you already included to faction that he should not take choice to war, so you realy need to ensure him that you are good friend by any mean necessary.Since the benefit to gain 100-200 gold perturn, is quite small with access for raid and sack your province.

If you able to mastery diplomacy art,i think you have lots of chance to survive, since AI itself will try build block power,now the question is, do you know what block profit you more, and how to enter it.You can even tempt to help you ally halt enemy invasion, since you know for sure if this faction A loss, that mean you will lose solid power to cover your empire back if you plan launch invasion to foreign land like africa

Playing this mod without proper alliance, its realy suicide in long run. Since wolf always attack the lone sheep
Picking up what faction should be defensive ally is quite need a bit of reseach first, you dont want get stuck in AI conflict of interest either.

I can also make ai accept any trade proposal giving to him, but its will lead to the world peace, since ai will focus on trade, and for doing it, they cant war with faction that they do trade,even if they war,they will quickly try to propose peace to reenabled trade agreement and its slow them to expand. Thanks for reporting

[Comrade Roboto]

-Better AI 1.9 this is normal edition recommend for veteran or someone who want taste annihilation
-Better AI 1.9 Easy edition,well recommend for new player or someone who seek stand on equal ground with CAI
-Better AI 1.9 Very Human and Easy edition, its dedicated for someone who seek easy campaign but entertain with minimum CAI handicap,giving player fair situation

You want no handicap or certain handicap balance, just edit yourself using pfm on campaign_difficult_handicap,how hard can be mate

Guess I'll go with my first choice, easy edition. "on equal ground", that sounds pretty balanced to me. Thanks for your help man.

[Little Legionaire]

[QUOTE=Junaidi83 de Bodemloze;14291376]I am still working on diplomacy aspect,honestly trade depend on how many resource you actualy have, and what culture you are,also do AI simply have need from you,its require lot of effort for diplomacy aspect, for example

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

1.You probably want to smooth relation by giving small gift first to build good tension
2.Then you can propose non aggresion deal first, if accepted
3.From this point you can propose trade deal, just add some little money and AI will accept
4.Then you can increase defensive,military access or military alliance
Basicly its require time and money to invest diplomacy, you cant force ai to accept trade with you, unless you give them something that they want, either join war, military access, money, just try each option and see how he respond.

That why you realy need carefull to what faction you invest relationship rather mindless treaty, i dont know if you think this is hardcore stuff

AI is quite smart too, by doing trade option with you, you already included to faction that he should not take choice to war, so you realy need to ensure him that you are good friend by any mean necessary.Since the benefit to gain 100-200 gold perturn, is quite small with access for raid and sack your province.

If you able to mastery diplomacy art,i think you have lots of chance to survive, since AI itself will try build block power,now the question is, do you know what block profit you more, and how to enter it.You can even tempt to help you ally halt enemy invasion, since you know for sure if this faction A loss, that mean you will lose solid power to cover your empire back if you plan launch invasion to foreign land like africa

Playing this mod without proper alliance, its realy suicide in long run. Since wolf always attack the lone sheep
Picking up what faction should be defensive ally is quite need a bit of reseach first, you dont want get stuck in AI conflict of interest either.

I can also make ai accept any trade proposal giving to him, but its will lead to the world peace, since ai will focus on trade, and for doing it, they cant war with faction that they do trade,even if they war,they will quickly try to propose peace to reenabled trade agreement and its slow them to expand. Thanks for reporting

Salve,

Thanks for suggestions my friend, appreciated

[Celtik]

About diplomacy, I agree with the fact that trade agreements or alliances shouldn't be that easy to make. But what bothers me is that AI will go to war with you for no reason even if they are far away.

So far I tested this mod with Caesar in Gaul and it was fun. But now I started a Grand Campaign as Pergamon and here what happened:

End of turn 1 --> Knossos declares war on me... ok why not?
End of turn 2 --> Rhodes declares war on me... hey aren't those guys supposed to be my friends against Sardes or something?!
End of turn 4 --> after my army was on the sea to Knossos and Rhodes, Bithynia declares war on me... "Trade agreement + non aggression pact with you and at war with Tylis? I don't care mate I want to sack your city!" Next turn they attacked me, I managed to hold my city with some pikemen and I routed their army. 2 turns after that they got wiped out by Tylis, well done!
End of turn 7 --> Breuci declares war on me... wait, who is Breuci?
End of turn 9 --> Blemmyes declares war on me... I had a hard time figuring out where they were on the map! Why would they want to cross Egypt to come for me?
End of turn 10 --> Siraces declares war on me... Sira what? Come on!

At turn 15, the Breuci army landed near Pergamon. They lost their single city while they were at sea coming for me, here again well done! The same for the Siraces, while they were coming for me from wherever they lived, one of their neighbors took their only city.

Anyway, your mod is great because the AI now is aggressive, makes some invasions and always goes with a big stack etc... but is also weaker because they sooo want to go to war no matter what even if you are on the other side of the map they simply go on some kind of crusade

The AI moves are better on the map but its diplomacy is terrible. I saw some factions getting wiped out because they declared war on others while they were already at war with 2 or 3 other factions! If it's possible an AI should not declare war on others if it's already at war with several factions. And it should definitely not try to cross the whole map just to get to you

I'm gonna try it more and see what happens.

[Little Legionaire]

50 turns with Carthage,
(Medium / Hannonid family)

I followed the suggestions of Junaidi and it works perfectly fine to me. Diplomatic alliances needs extra care and requires attention to develop. But its solid and smooth. Generally error margin is so small and that makes you focus on developing events and leads you pick your battles carefully. I liked that fact a lot. Every action minor to major has its consquences. My most battles were (and still) against Rome and they do their job pretty well against me. They simply try everything to defeat you in many ways. And forces your hand a lot. As Carthage without leading my client states to war targets i'd never come so far (50 turns). All you need to do is cover your allies and pick your battles and develop diplomacy with other factions.

So, i enjoyed the game a lot! Nobody sits around idle and that makes you feel that you're in constant danger. And that feeling channels your full attention on ongoing power shifting around you.

I'm not a top class gamer though may be there are real TW veterans around who sees what i can't see but i enjoyed the game so far so good.

Thank you Junaidi for this wonderful mod. Now, the sense of accomplishment is back to Rome II with true campaign experience.

Hats off my friend! Keep up the good work
LL

[Junaidi83 de Bodemloze]

About diplomacy, I agree with the fact that trade agreements or alliances shouldn't be that easy to make. But what bothers me is that AI will go to war with you for no reason even if they are far away.

So far I tested this mod with Caesar in Gaul and it was fun. But now I started a Grand Campaign as Pergamon and here what happened:

End of turn 1 --> Knossos declares war on me... ok why not?
End of turn 2 --> Rhodes declares war on me... hey aren't those guys supposed to be my friends against Sardes or something?!
End of turn 4 --> after my army was on the sea to Knossos and Rhodes, Bithynia declares war on me... "Trade agreement + non aggression pact with you and at war with Tylis? I don't care mate I want to sack your city!" Next turn they attacked me, I managed to hold my city with some pikemen and I routed their army. 2 turns after that they got wiped out by Tylis, well done!
End of turn 7 --> Breuci declares war on me... wait, who is Breuci?
End of turn 9 --> Blemmyes declares war on me... I had a hard time figuring out where they were on the map! Why would they want to cross Egypt to come for me?
End of turn 10 --> Siraces declares war on me... Sira what? Come on!

At turn 15, the Breuci army landed near Pergamon. They lost their single city while they were at sea coming for me, here again well done! The same for the Siraces, while they were coming for me from wherever they lived, one of their neighbors took their only city.

Anyway, your mod is great because the AI now is aggressive, makes some invasions and always goes with a big stack etc... but is also weaker because they sooo want to go to war no matter what even if you are on the other side of the map they simply go on some kind of crusade

The AI moves are better on the map but its diplomacy is terrible. I saw some factions getting wiped out because they declared war on others while they were already at war with 2 or 3 other factions! If it's possible an AI should not declare war on others if it's already at war with several factions. And it should definitely not try to cross the whole map just to get to you

I'm gonna try it more and see what happens.

Wew so many Drama here just in 15 turn , sadly not every drama end with happy ending

Just some question do the faction that declares war with you already reveal on map ?If not i think i know how and where to fix it, about betrayal, AI will be inclined to betray you, even with trade agreement + non agression pact, that why you need defensive or military alliance,they not stupid anyway, they attack you on time when your power gone right, make it perfect time to capture you city, dont this behaviour also what we Human do, even in reality,Sometimes the AI join war, just part of agreement by your other enemy,you know lynch mob behaviour, they just blunder your weaker situation via diplomacy, making you common enemy, unless you got into powerful block of alliance, so they think twice before declare war on you because they also face other big Faction.Depend on your answer i can release the fix on another update next time

Well i guess the faction that backstab your enemy when he just want to join lynch mob party should be send gift , he dont make war with you right ? Every faction has its own agenda

I know the mod itself still far from perfect, that why i need lot of input right there, because with your input i can know which part of AI should be tweaked,hell yes, if CAI on Total War Games acted similiar like you feel right now on my mod, i doubt people will complain or ranting about how bad the AI on Total War.I even will preorder every release, since even without mod, extra unit, extra ui,music,etc,etc, just pure vanilla raw already qualifed as good strategic game.In the end strip all cosmetic beauty graphic, total war is tactical game like chess. Am i right or am i wrong about this part

50 turns with Carthage,
(Medium / Hannonid family)

I followed the suggestions of Junaidi and it works perfectly fine to me. Diplomatic alliances needs extra care and requires attention to develop. But its solid and smooth. Generally error margin is so small and that makes you focus on developing events and leads you pick your battles carefully. I liked that fact a lot. Every action minor to major has its consquences. My most battles were (and still) against Rome and they do their job pretty well against me. They simply try everything to defeat you in many ways. And forces your hand a lot. As Carthage without leading my client states to war targets i'd never come so far (50 turns). All you need to do is cover your allies and pick your battles and develop diplomacy with other factions.

So, i enjoyed the game a lot! Nobody sits around idle and that makes you feel that you're in constant danger. And that feeling channels your full attention on ongoing power shifting around you.

I'm not a top class gamer though may be there are real TW veterans around who sees what i can't see but i enjoyed the game so far so good.

Thank you Junaidi for this wonderful mod. Now, the sense of accomplishment is back to Rome II with true campaign experience.

Hats off my friend! Keep up the good work
LL

Enjoy mate, i still work on diplomacy still figure it out what best for it, enjoy the game for now, but i glad you finaly know how to use proper diplomacy, the mod itself still on developed level,but whatever improvement i made,in the end this mod will serve as base to port into Attila, you realize right , that the mod itself only 1 month old, consider its still infant that still need lot to learning, that why i welcome every feedback from you guys

[Celtik]

Hey Junaidi, yeah those factions were already revealed on the map because I used the fog of war removal, I wanted to see what the AI armies would look like with Better AI recruitment and by the way it's great, totally good addition to your mod they work great together.

I don't mind the AI backstabbing me even if we have a trade agreement and a non aggression pact. Bithynia declared war on me because my main army was far away at sea going for Knossos and Pergamon wasn't heavily defended so the AI thought it could beat me lol! But it didn't thanks to invulnerable pikemen on the narrow streets! If I had just autoresolved I would have lost and Bithynia would have been stronger to deal with Tylis so it wasn't a bad move.

What surprised me is that factions far away and already at war with numerous others declared war on me and chose to cross the entire map to get to me! Now I've just played 5 more turns and Insubres declared war on me too even though they're already at war with Massilia, Nori and Helvetii and now they're crossing the whole sea to come for me, leaving their city totally undefended. Maybe that's because I removed the fog of war right? But still it's weird. I noticed that no faction is at war with another located on the other side of the map, it's only towards the player so there's definitely something going on here

Other than that, the mod works great with the Caesar in Gaul campaign. I really enjoyed playing this one as Rome, I was constantly under pressure and when they couldn't attack me directly when I overpowered them, they came from behind and sacked my cities in Liguria forcing me to divide my forces and repair/rebuild my buildings!

I'm gonna try more with the Grand Campaign, this time without the fog removal.

[Junaidi83 de Bodemloze]

I already know how to fix the problem :
1.Basicly there is value that force ai to make random war with human, will try to disable it
2.Basicly there is value that force AI to make random war againts other AI, will also try to disable it

Will add this new feature into next update

About fog of war, yes practicaly when they see you, they will try to eat you, unless i disable that 2 value above, but still they will reconsider player action on diplomacy and will declare war if he see you are weaker then him, but for god sake AI will try not pick random fight with you human, or leave their small and beautifull country across sea to get you, unless its realy necessary and very important for them.Right now try not play with fog of war enabled since its just make AI doing crazy stuff to you until new update released

The next update will make AI to mind their own business, and will not bother to attack human unless you already reveal on map and he see oppurtunity arise, since with value of random hostile toward player that implemented on CAI already disabled.Now they will attack you purely
tactical strategy wise.Not because random impulsive even there is no benefit at all.

Its also help AI to not just randomly declare war with other AI, despite having full with enemy already,so next update AI will be wise, act only because there is benefit and not act because some random impulsive.

[Tenerife_Boy]

All I can say is bravo! hehe really enjoying my Pontus campaign for the first 20 turns really challenging. A quick question: I have 1500 hours played...tons of campaigns started and a good amount ended and everytime I see Rodhos and Crete factions completely passive. They NEVER get out of their islands. Just 1 or 2 times I saw Rodes doing it but never for Crete.

Can you tweak their behaviour according to your mod ?? Thanks.

[Junaidi83 de Bodemloze]

All I can say is bravo! hehe really enjoying my Pontus campaign for the first 20 turns really challenging. A quick question: I have 1500 hours played...tons of campaigns started and a good amount ended and everytime I see Rodhos and Crete factions completely passive. They NEVER get out of their islands. Just 1 or 2 times I saw Rodes doing it but never for Crete.

Can you tweak their behaviour according to your mod ?? Thanks.

I cant make your wish happen since what you ask already done before, right now every faction big or small including Rodhos and Crate completely want to expand and create their own kingdom,they will not sit idle and become spectator like usual.

[Tenerife_Boy]

Ouh yesssss!!! Let's see, maybe I rushed a bit with my request taking in mind that now I'm on turn 30 STILL early I supose =)

[Junaidi83 de Bodemloze]

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Better Aggresive CAI updated to v.2.0,enjoy the latest update its save game compatible with v 1.9 so your old save game is safe.

There are 3 edition like usual :

-Better AI 2.0 this is normal edition recommend for veteran or someone who want taste annihilation
-Better AI 2.0 Easy edition well recommend for new player or someone who seek stand on equal ground with CAI
-Better AI 2.0 Very Human and Easy edition,dedicated for someone who seek easy campaign but entertain with minimum CAI handicap and use default Vanilla army Caps or whatever other mod Army Caps limitation,giving player very fair situation and no need worry CAI will spam anymore since its just use default vanilla setting or other mod setting.

Change log V.2.0
-Increase fireball number from 18 - 24 for better Ambush scenario
-Fix random AI aggresive toward other AI
-Fix random AI aggresive toward human player

More about Random Aggresive AI, now in 2.0 version i already disable this feature that exist before, random aggresive AI itself its a value that control chance to let AI become hostile toward other AI or human players, even the AI itself no have interest and capability to do it actualy, we now already have CAI that independence and smart so there is no need to let AI use this random hostile feature, just let the CAI decide what best for him. And i believe this will increase the CAI behaviour during the game play.

What is Massive Invasion ? Its not like giving AI crazy income so he can field huge army to squash you, but rather force AI to actualy use whatever army he have on more focus target, so if they have 4 stack in their arsenal, rather they send 1 stack after another to invade you, the AI maybe send 2 or 3 stack moving forward together, which is also you Human do right ? I like to call this Better man power management

Now what make this more deadly then usual, for example you see in this picture Sparta and Athena is ally, both of them send their army marching together to invade Rome or any Faction that dare to oppose them. Combining their army you can see there is 5 stack in total, ensuring total annihalation and highly outcome of Victory. Now imagine if there are multiple faction make alliance and send part of their army into your land or whatever common enemy land. I am pretty sure epic battle will be commence.

Unless you like the old army management system where even AI have 19 stack in total, they keep sending 1 stack after another,either die on ambush or outnumber, since its seem only human that capable to do better army management,no wonder you can get easy win like usual,even the reality your army is smaller then AI,but your game your rule anyways. who am i to judge ?

Now the AI rather spread their power in army management now will be more focus, rather sending one stack after another only to get ambushed, repelled by human or other AI enemy, which is very wasted both on money and time. Combining this with multiple alliance, you can finally see what Medieval 2 Crusadder or Jihad effect in small scale. I highly reccomended this for people who have guts to accept this reality that CAI will not send 1 stack after another like usual, in poker term CAI will use what we call "ALL IN" The question is" are you have a guts to call this bluff throwing all you have in single gambling ?"

Enjoy the update, happy gaming, good luck and have fun everybody

[diego007]

Your description of Very Human and Easy Edition is confusing and doesn't say much lol, what are default settings? What is minimum handicap? Does AI still attack you with 2-3 stacks?

From what you have describe earlier. I have this impression. Other versions you give "discount" to upkeep cost of army so AI can have bigger ones, but Very Human and Easy Edition means they have the vanilla army upkeep cost. Is that right? Is that the only difference?

[Junaidi83 de Bodemloze]

Your description of Very Human and Easy Edition is confusing and doesn't say much lol, what are default settings? What is minimum handicap? Does AI still attack you with 2-3 stacks?

From what you have describe earlier. I have this impression. Other versions you give "discount" to upkeep cost of army so AI can have bigger ones, but Very Human and Easy Edition means they have the vanilla army upkeep cost. Is that right? Is that the only difference?

Very easy and human edition mean between ai and you only have different 5 % both cost and upkeep,and reseach 2x faster then normal human, so AI will recruit as much as human can recruit and build slower since they reseach slower, AI will use default vanilla army caps which mean less stack.And it will use whatever army caps limit other mods used, so if you use DEI or VV or AIO or other mod it will just follow what maximum army caps that mods enable for you.Basicly its the purest form CAI with very minimal handicap

The very easy edition the different betwen cost and upkeep just 10 %, but they can reseach 5 x faster then normal human, so even they can recruit as much like human capable, but they can build faster, and have access to maximum 57 army caps. Giving the right condition its can proved very capable againt human player.

The normal edition the different between cost and upkeep like 50 % , and can reseach 5x times then normal human, basicly they will beat you 2 : 1 in army power, so you need rely on your wits and tactical diplomacy,to survive this horror. Dont i already told you you will find "annihilation" ???

I will put this description on main page, i hope you not your pants

[diego007]

I still don't get what you mean by handicap . And 5% difference means I have 5% higher upkeep and recruitment cost than AI or the other way around?

[Junaidi83 de Bodemloze]

I still don't get what you mean by handicap . And 5% difference means I have 5% higher upkeep and recruitment cost than AI or the other way around?

Read again i just update my post above, its mean ai have 5 % cheaper to recruit and maintain army. I dont think 5% make heavy impact
So anyone who accuse that ai have some sort of income boost can keep it for themself.

[Tenerife_Boy]

Fantastic!!!

Bro As the mod size is too small, why not considering an Upload for Steam? those 3 versions would be very quickly to update. =)
Secondly, I have 2 files Better AI v.2.0 and Better AI v.2.0(cai only) What's the difference between them?

Thank you