Ai too passive during wars

[Aodh Mór Ó Néill]

I'm a roleplayer that usually plays on H/M difficulty. When I declare wars I usually take one or two settlements then defend them until the AI sues for peace. I actively avoid blitzkrieging their territory unless they're a huge empire.

Problem is that wars can be so boring without blitzkrieging. No matter how many provinces you share a border with the AI, no matter how many stacks they have milling around within sight of your watchtowers, they're allergic to taking the offensive. I've been surprise attacked on a lightly defended border with my main army abroad, and the extent of their offensive was to blockade a few ports.

On my last KH campaign, after Sinope rebelled to me, one FM and a 3/4 stack held that isolated province for almost a decade against the Hayastan because the largest army they sent was a 3/4 stack. Only time I got a proper fight was when I parked that army in their province for a few turns. And, of course, they won't accept peace terms. The majority of my wars turn into cold ones once the initial fighting is done.

I've increased my FL movement points to 300 to try and combat this AI passiveness and it is still very much the same.

So I guess my question is, is there any way to make the AI more aggressive after war has broken out? I don't mean diplomacy wise, I know there's VH difficulty for that.

Also as a follow-up, how does the AI calculate whether it wants peace? Battles, blockades, anything else? Does devastation count?

[Lusitanio]

As a starter, playing on Very Hard campaign is always the best for AI aggressiveness and still the AI isn't that aggressive. You can change some scripts to improve that such as the amount of money the AI receives and even remove entirely the AI recruitment script for the first 100 turns, that not only makes the game run faster but the AI is able to use more armies.

Apart from that there isn't much you can do besides tweaking some values and the AI behaviour but if you want to test something different (submod), send me a pm.

[Dooz]

I've increased my FL movement points to 300 to try and combat this AI passiveness and it is still very much the same.

If you've only increased FL movement, and not captains, it won't have any effect on armies. Only solo FL units will get the increase. Try bumping up the captains to see if it opens up AI armies. And navies too for that matter, increasing their range is a separate line and should make for more interesting AI invasions.

[nvm]

Siege a city of theirs and wait to starve it out instead of assaulting after one turn. They will definitely attempt to bring an army over and defend it, if they can.

[bismarck 1899]

What I find far more annoying is the AI parking armies near your cities during peacetime and if I attack them then I get the diplomatic reputation hit.

[Kwebib]

What I find far more annoying is the AI parking armies near your cities during peacetime and if I attack them then I get the diplomatic reputation hit.

Agreed. I wish there were a "GTFO my land" diplomacy option, that, if refused, meant they have declared war on you.

[skuzzy]

This is purely speculative but I feel the AI is more passive in 2.35A in part because of all the rebel scripts that generate huge stacks across the map. I feel like it is making the AI more timid as compared to previous versions but YMMV.

[Dooz]

From what I've read on the forums, the largest stack the script generates is 8 units. Why would that make for passive AI? What campaign difficulty do you play on?

[bismarck 1899]

These 8 stacks often combine into a formidable force. Carthage especially seems incapable of dealing with them. Every game I looked there was a big army on the Baleares which forces the Carthage AI to have a big stack there as well just draining them and often losing to Numidia as a consequence.

[Dooz]

Oh I see. I wonder if they spawn any more often than random stacks used to with the vanilla system

[QuintusSertorius]

These 8 stacks often combine into a formidable force. Carthage especially seems incapable of dealing with them. Every game I looked there was a big army on the Baleares which forces the Carthage AI to have a big stack there as well just draining them and often losing to Numidia as a consequence.

It's the Command stars. They spawn with 3, but gain lots more as they win through the AIGeneral trait.

I've corrected that in the next release, they spawn with no more than one and don't gain any except through CommandExperience.

[Aodh Mór Ó Néill]

I've corrected that in the next release, they spawn with no more than one and don't gain any except through CommandExperience.

Can we expect the next release any time soon?

[skuzzy]

It's the Command stars. They spawn with 3, but gain lots more as they win through the AIGeneral trait.

I've corrected that in the next release, they spawn with no more than one and don't gain any except through CommandExperience.

Is there any way to target the provinces that the stacks spawn in to prevent what was mentioned by bismarck_1899?

[QuintusSertorius]

Can we expect the next release any time soon?

I honestly have no idea, there's one thing in particular I'm waiting on a resolution of before I can release it.

Is there any way to target the provinces that the stacks spawn in to prevent what was mentioned by bismarck_1899?

The merging of stack is CAI behaviour. It doesn't matter where they spawn, the Rebel CAI will merge them together if they're left inactive long enough.

[QuintusSertorius]

Back on topic, z3n has updated the CAI, which will be in the next release.

[bismarck 1899]

Back on topic, z3n has updated the CAI, which will be in the next release.

Updated in what way?

[OwainKGB]

How large of a garrison do you maintain in your cities? If strongly defended, it's not surprising that the AI doesn't want to come break their teeth attacking.

[randy_cat]

I'm a roleplayer that usually plays on H/M difficulty. When I declare wars I usually take one or two settlements then defend them until the AI sues for peace. I actively avoid blitzkrieging their territory unless they're a huge empire.

Problem is that wars can be so boring without blitzkrieging. No matter how many provinces you share a border with the AI, no matter how many stacks they have milling around within sight of your watchtowers, they're allergic to taking the offensive. I've been surprise attacked on a lightly defended border with my main army abroad, and the extent of their offensive was to blockade a few ports.

Easily fixed by playing VH/H difficulty, where the ai is more aggressive and battles are harder. There are ways however, to modify the ai behaviour to suit your tastes... for example go to the data folder in the main directory, or the mod main directory in mods folder, you will find the " descr_campaign_db " and " descr_campaign_ai_db " files, open them with notepad and you will find many variables that can be modified to make the computer more aggressive, attack with more troops, etc...

[Roma_Victrix]

Easily fixed by playing VH/H difficulty, where the ai is more aggressive and battles are harder. There are ways however, to modify the ai behaviour to suit your tastes... for example go to the data folder in the main directory, or the mod main directory in mods folder, you will find the " descr_campaign_db " and " descr_campaign_ai_db " files, open them with notepad and you will find many variables that can be modified to make the computer more aggressive, attack with more troops, etc...

Interesting, good to know, so +1 rep! However, in my experience, simply playing the game on H/H mode, the AI is plenty aggressive if you just leave settlements undefended or lightly defended. Then they'll get all giddy with expansionary desire, to the point that even allies have betrayed me for small minor settlements (especially the Ptolemies and the Pritanoi, the most treacherous). Also, the AI takes advantage of your situation when you are either bankrupt or have a meager amount of funds, by trying to twist the knife and having multiple factions attack you all at once if it feels your empire is simply too big or you are dangerously too close to achieving victory conditions.

On my last KH campaign, after Sinope rebelled to me, one FM and a 3/4 stack held that isolated province for almost a decade against the Hayastan because the largest army they sent was a 3/4 stack. Only time I got a proper fight was when I parked that army in their province for a few turns. And, of course, they won't accept peace terms. The majority of my wars turn into cold ones once the initial fighting is done.

There's a question mark button in the top right of the diplomacy scroll that forces the AI to accept diplomatic overtures and deals. The AI is notoriously stupid and suicidal when it comes to prolonging wars, so this button is useful, especially if you're just trying to make peace and move on. I've also used it to create client states when the AI is still fussy even though the bordering enemy faction has no more than two settlements with at least two full stack armies of mine occupying their territory.

As for your Sinope situation, Hayastan eventually just took it, right? Or did you allow it to rebel by emptying its garrison? If Hayastan took the city that doesn't sound enormously passive to me. In my experience Hayastan has laid siege to cities of mine even when my garrison is a full stack or 19 out of 20 possible units. Are you playing with the updated version 2.35a? Even with the brigand rebel situation mentioned by others in this thread, the AI still eventually finds time to attack and I usually don't get bored by the AI, while I sometimes grow tired of defensive sieges trying to wear me down in one region as I'm trying to expand somewhere else.

One should keep in mind a constant rule of the game: the AI despises those who don't defend their territories with enough troops. I would suggest decreasing the amount of troops you have in a certain region if you want it to be attacked. It is difficult to garrison a lot of cities anyway given the economic handicaps built into the game. You'll soon notice you barely have any available funds at all once you've built an impressive navy that's a bit too big for state coffers to support (sometimes necessary when fighting a relentless thalassocracy faction like Carthage or Rome).

This is purely speculative but I feel the AI is more passive in 2.35A in part because of all the rebel scripts that generate huge stacks across the map. I feel like it is making the AI more timid as compared to previous versions but YMMV.

Indeed, and +1 rep for that idea, since rebels in the latest version are no joke, and are quite powerful when they huddle together after multiple spawning events.

Also, only nine posts since 2007? Glad to see you posting at least.

I honestly have no idea, there's one thing in particular I'm waiting on a resolution of before I can release it.

The merging of stack is CAI behaviour. It doesn't matter where they spawn, the Rebel CAI will merge them together if they're left inactive long enough.

Very good to know, +1 rep!

[randy_cat]

Interesting, good to know, so +1 rep! However, in my experience, simply playing the game on H/H mode, the AI is plenty aggressive if you just leave settlements undefended or lightly defended. Then they'll get all giddy with expansionary desire, to the point that even allies have betrayed me for small minor settlements (especially the Ptolemies and the Pritanoi, the most treacherous). Also, the AI takes advantage of your situation when you are either bankrupt or have a meager amount of funds, by trying to twist the knife and having multiple factions attack you all at once if it feels your empire is simply too big or you are dangerously too close to achieving victory conditions.

I almost sweared when i had seen that the enemy was " camping " on my borders or a little further with huge armies but unwilling to attack for no other reason than trolling me ... also i noticed how the AI often attacks settlements with underwhelming forces and they get beaten in return. I fixed all of these and many more in a sub mod that i released this morning, i hope anyone who wishes for a more " hardcore " game gives it a try. Cheers!