Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Campaign AI advice

  1. #1

    Default Campaign AI advice

    This forum doesn't seem very active any more but I figure this is worth a shot.
    I've never actually played Shogun 2 before, but I am an experienced TW player. I am familiar with the limitations of the AI and how we all suffer through the pain of trying to make it as challenging but fair and realistic as possible.

    So, with that in mind, I started out hopeful when I saw some good mods for Shogun 2. I went ahead and grabbed Darthmod, installed Bran's AI, Endless Domination and finally the Bran-compatible AUM SHO mod.
    The advice on Brans mod is hard campaign, very hard battles. The battle AI is well and good, at least I think it is, I never played vanilla so I don't have anything to compare it to, but the BAI isn't my issue here anyway.

    Campaign, on hard, as the Date.
    Things go well for quite a while, I'm doing well, manage to grab the province to the West and hold it down. I get a couple of trade agreements, because that's what I'm used to doing in TW games. The clan to the North declares war on me and I manage to snag a province from them. So far so good.
    But then it all started to change. The trade agreements get broken because "relations are worsened" though I've done absolutely nothing to those clans. I later work out (thanks to checking through dozens of forums and trying to figure out this crazy CAI) about Realm Divide, and how it's not a good idea to even make trade agreements or alliances unless you're already really, really friendly with a clan. If they're indifferent to you they will probably end up breaking the agreement and you get punished for it. This makes no sense what-so-ever but there we have it. Anyway it snowballed on me, and now I'm 60 turns in, got only 4 provinces, nowhere near Realm Divide, and every clan I'm in contact with is hostile and at war with me.

    I was holding out fine for quite some time, defending my two frontier provinces okay, but never managing to expand because of the stacks someone or other sends my way every 5 or 6 turns. My ninjas and diplomats get found and turned almost as soon as I recruit them. And now a couple of stacks have invaded by sea in my home province, which is poorly defended because everything I have has to be sent to the front. It's disheartening and I'm unable to progress.

    I understand that it's partly my fault for not knowing that making trade agreements would back fire, and I also didn't use my Daimyo to lead armies for the first 30 turns or so, because I didn't know about honour. So I have -10 honour (despite never looting, always conquering peacefully, I've been a good leader, so why is it -10? Just from trade agreements breaking down? If so, that's ridiculous. I shouldn't be punished because someone else breaks an agreement.)

    Anyway, obviously the CAI gets it's bonuses and free units/stacks on hard difficulty, and I'm seriously considering starting over on Normal CAI, Very Hard BAI.

    But would it be any better? Would hard difficulty be just too easy for an experienced player? I don't want to steam-roll the map, I want challenge, but I want challenge against one enemy at a time. Instead, should I start over with the same difficulty I'm currently on (H/VH) but try to maintain relations instead? Would I be able to avoid everyone hating me? If so, what's the best way to keep the peace?

    I really would love some advice before I commit to a time consuming campaign. There's nothing worse than putting in hours then finding it's impossible to survive because of poor mechanics or a wrong choice on a difficulty slider.

    I hope there's still people here who are willing to help a TW veteran who's late to the party enjoy this game.
    Thanks in advance, and while I'm here, I might as well just say that TW have always been some of the best games ever made, and so much of that is down to this amazing community we have. I think it's simply awesome that the TW modding community has always been such a strong force, and I'm proud to be a tiny part of it.

    Cheers.

  2. #2
    Bran Mac Born's Avatar Artifex
    Patrician

    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    3,067

    Default Re: Campaign AI advice

    Play on Normal Campaign.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Campaign AI advice

    Just started playing Shogun 2 again, FOTS campaign with Saga on hard, can hardly maintain an army and navy at the start, development was very slow. Then after some time started trading and making allies with neighbouring imperials. Not at war with any clans so I sent my fleet to defend an ally's trading port and business was a booming. Then came the plot twist, after clearing out the waters near my (very friendly) ally's port, he declared war on me for god knows what reason, followed by the rest of Japan. Defended rounds and rounds of sieges, endless enemy agents lined up outside my castles killing converting and rioting. After some 10 turns my Daimyo was dead, fleet destroyed, not enough income to repair damages by agents and ended game. Like wut?

  4. #4
    Bran Mac Born's Avatar Artifex
    Patrician

    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    3,067

    Default Re: Campaign AI advice

    toshiki- play Bran campaign Regional Development on Normal. See post #13 of Bran Mac Born sub mod thread.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •