Tips for dealing with new AI?

[gbfanjoe08]

I read in the release that there is a new AI for 3.0 and I've been struggling against it..

so far I have tried campaigns as Norway, the Moors, and Egypt. in my experiences so far, if you aren't a Catholic faction you are in trouble! it seems like the AI will go out of its way to attack you while also avoiding war with AI factions (I'm about 30 turns into my latest campaign and France & Sicily are the only factions at war besides myself and Turkey .. similar experiences with lack of war have been observed in my other play throughs)

Playing H/H as Norway I didn't experience anything out of the ordinary: maintained a long alliance with Denmark. on going war with Scotland & England. conquered North America. the only time something out of the ordinary happened was when I was excommunicated. Lithuania then sent an army overland, past multiple Danish settlements, to attack me in Oslo. But I can be at peace with this - normally catholic factions will attack you once you no longer have Papal protection.

Playing H/H as the Moors I made an alliance with Portugal and focused on capturing Africa. When I pushed the Sicilians out of Africa all hell broke lose. A crusade was called on me to take Cordoba (due to the # of factions that joined I vacated the city and let France take it..of course I then took it back!). For the next 50 or so turns after the crusade ended it felt like I was in the middle of a bee hive as Milan, Sicily, Papal States, Hungary, France, Denmark, England, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Venice continuously blockaded ports (even after destroying Danish fleets they sent more). The Italian factions + France launched amphibious assaults against coastal & island territories. Each crusading faction demanded 15,000+ for a cease fire which I couldn't afford. all the while none of the Italian factions made a move against each other (with no alliances between them!)

Playing M/H as Egypt I made an alliance with Damascus and quickly captured Jerusalem and other cities in the Levant (all south of Tripoli). Armenia randomly sent a large army down to Jerusalem and then...just sat there. I eventually attacked it because I was annoyed with their presence. about 10 turns later Turkey attacked me by blockading a port. We did not share any land borders and they were not at war with my ally Damascus or any other faction. it just didn't make any sense! they also sent a small size army to Jerusalem which I defeated. a ceasefire was agreed to but now they are sending more units near Jerusalem - not declaring war on any of their neighbors Armenia, Byzantine, Caliphate, or Damascus.

has anyone else had similar experiences with the AI? I thought changing the difficulty to medium would help prevent the giant bullseye that is on my non-AI faction but it didn't seem to help much.

[Cokjan]

Playing as a Non-Catholic factions, you are subject to being targeted for a Crusade yes. But if you can, send a diplomat asap to the Pope and keep making relations with him.

Recently I played as the Turks vh/vh, I expanded rather 'peacefully' and only destroyed Emirate of Damascus. Went as far as Acre, Tbilisi, and Smyrna. But before stretching that far, the Armenians attacked me but I beat their army and they issued for peace which I accept for a tribute of +- 2000 fl. I wanted to make them my little puppies and let them take Jerusalem to prevent crusade to Jerusalem of course. Then the Byzantines attacked, killed their king when defending and killed off their stack that was attacking a fort. They issued for peace but of course I decline because they pissed me off.

I also think Egypt wanted to attack me as they sent a stack to Aleppo but returns due to a crusade called on Cairo (HA! TAKE THAT! Still I think the Catholics will pass through my land) and I have bad relations to my neighbours (Caliphate of Baghdad, Khwarezm, Armenians, and Russia) and I have dubious reputation. But they refrain from attacking me because I have strong border protections and is ranked the 1st in military strength.

What I suggest is that you play rather aggressively and build a very strong army (also fleet if you can, I don't have any fleet and I regret that decision). Create an Alliance to factions that you don't want to invade anyway (Like if you are Norway, Ally with Novgorod/Russia/Lithuania, not Denmark) and build forts at choke points. THIS is rather important in the mod as forts are very strong although rather expensive.

[4zumi]

Well, in my experience the first thing to recognise is, that the AI will honor alliances at all costs. But I am not so sure about it if it also applies, if you are from a different religion.

I have experienced, that the AI now is rather more orderly and less chaotic (as in: I will attack everything that is near me).
Also allies will now join wars, so you have to be careful who you attack.

If you are target of a crusade you will have to accept that the catholics will make passionate love to you.

A simple but effective strategy could be by making early allies in the direction you do not want to push. You can always buy regions from them later in the game.
Choose one front, or one main front and a very distant one.

As an example, I would think a good strategy for the moors would be:

1. Grab everything rebel like you can in spain.
2. Expand steadily in Africa. Sicily will most likely grab Tunis, so you want to stop there before declaring war on them. Try getting Tripolis (the in North Africa) and stablish an alliance with Egypt.
3. Take Timbuktu and Arguin as soon as you can. Then go get Fortalezza. Those will grant you a very big income that you can bolster up with merchants on the resources there.
4. The one who is calling the crusade on Cordoba is spain. You may have about 20 turns to kill spain off and evade that crusade.
5. Spain has "Mr Hanky" units in the beginning and you are not better of. So squish them with as much numbers as you can.
6. If you have exterminated spain you may want to push a bit further north and take Bordeaux and Toulouse, you are lucky if Bordeaux is still a rebel settlement. If not, try to buy them from France and make an Alliance with them. Those two castles will be your northern wall of defence.
7. In the meantime pay a visit to the Portugese. Depending on how fast you are, you might want to built up a larger force, before taking them head on. Remember if the last settlement falls, they fall as well. So don't bother fighting their armies if you can take out their last settlement.
8. With the Iberian Peninsula secure, you will just have to worry about occasional invasions from England or Ireland.
9. Now built up your economy and strenght, your next mayor problem should be Sicily so you might want to push into Southern Italy.
10. Meanwhile some crusade should have been called. If it is not on you. This would be a good time for invading Italy.

The Moors are a hard faction to start with, because their early units can do next to nothing and they are most likely the first crusade target. They will gain power, when they reach advanced barracks and have strong city units.

Bonus.: If you have been blessed with a crusade to Cordoba early things will be a little bit more difficult but try following the above regardles. Sue for peace if you can, but remember, that allies will most likely just join the war a turn or so later again.

So these are just a few thoughts from me.

[Virian]

Well, Orthodoxs also have little problems with Catholics because in my Byzantine campaign so far only Venice attacked me and after I took two of their cities they have been strangely compliant for the last 15 turns. Now Damascus is a funny pain in the ass as their almost full stack army they sent to take Nykosia rebelled and the army they sent to take back Tripoli did so too.

My advice for when playing The true roman empire is simple however: Take every single rebel town nearby, build a lot of stuff ASAP, expand east, and never trust the Venitians or Hungarians because they ALWAYS betray , eventually

[Solomasoko]

The IA does seem more agressive especially for amphibious assaults but i consider that a good thing. On VH as Damascus i conquered Malta/Sicily/Sardinia/Africa while turtling in the Middle East (bypassed Egypt) for gameplay/roleplay purposes, and having a big fleet that i micromanaged every turn in the mediterranean was definitely helpful, sea warfare was just as important as land warfare and lots of full or half stacks were sunk. Now i have an insane number of war galleys with 3 gold experience level lol. Regarding land warfare well it's important to have the best troops possible and good army compositions which goes in hand with a good economy. Thing is, this mod actually rewards turtling/good management and punish overexpanding/blitzing more than the base game.