Combat AI

[raven63]

I feel that it would be great if PDX spent more time refining the combat AI, or revising the gameplay mechanics so that the AI does not struggle so much with combat.

In my experience the combat AI is poor. For example:

1) in defensive wars it would send its main army away to attack the enemy lands, leaving the enemy army free to roam.

2) it does not give enough weight to defending its capital. For instance recently I have seen a defending AI army (3k strong) siege the enemy capital while leaving the enemy army (2k strong) siege its own capital. The two capitals were adjacent. It makes no sense to risk having your character or family imprisoned if you can just attack their army.

3) The AI sometimes commit its army to very remote areas, even though it's fighting multiple defensive wars.

I feel that other forum members probably have tons of examples where the AI makes super poor decisions.

 

[malibooth]

This is so true. I recently saw the Byzantines lose all of Anatolia without doing anything to stop it. The attacker was in Spain, so the whole Byzantine army got into ships and sailed over there. Meanwhile the attackers were in full "help yourself" mode when it came to taking territory. After a bit the defenders returned, did nothing, then went back to Spain. Then they set off back but the war was lost before they'd finished being seasick in the Mediterranean for the fourth time.

 

[raven63]

Another example, this time in an offensive war:

4) recently I saw a Turkic conqueror with 39k troops lose an offensive war against 8k troops. Here is what happened at one point: roughly 25k troops were spread over a few adjacent counties. The enemy attacked with its 8k troops against 9k troops. The AI failed to reinforce in time. Instead, its armies arrived one by one to get defeated.

The enemy 8k army probably had lots of buffs and was lead by a very good commander. If this were a single instance of a small army defeating the odds I would be fine with it. However, in the same campaign I saw another Turkic conqueror (Seljuk) get pummelled by a much smaller adversary. I suspect that the movement-lock thing is partly responsible, since it makes it harder to reverse bad decisions.

 

[Whizzer]

Point 1 is of paramount importance. I think it was introduced with 2.8 and it's absolutely horrible.

 

[FifthMonarchy]

This is really frustrating trying to help defend the Christian OPMs in Africa as a fellow Miaphysite - defender troops are much worse than the Muslim neighbours who attack so right to avoid fair fights, but in time defenders will usually outnumber the attacker as plenty of neighbours join the war. That's when the AI marches all the way round to Mecca with its allies in tow to siege there while an army a fifth its size quickly takes the seriously underdeveloped three holdings back home.