First thoughts and impressions of AI in 1.33

[ArtFart]

Just doing a quick observer game to 1500 to see any changes to AI behaviour in terms of estates etc. And wow oh wow are these some good changes.

Firstly, AI behaviour on map:
Forts seem to stay now, and AI actually build more too. I've noticed Castile have built a lot around Navarre. Presumably aimed to help against France in case of war. There doesn't seem to be much mothballing, however that is explained by the countries economic situations.

I've also noticed that in Island countries, such as England, there doesn't seem to be any forts built in unnecessary area's, eg in the middle of the country were it would serve no purpose.

However, colonisation is still off. In this game the area's seem to have reversed, with Portugal claiming the Caribbean and Castile Brazil. Not sure what has caused this, but it was a bit disappointing to see.

So far, the AI behaviour on map is significantly improved!

Now, on to a biggy, AI's economy. This was what impressed me the most, the AI can now deal with the economy very efficiently. Every country I tag switched too so far has had positive income, even countries that have been at war periodically for a long time, eg France. Each one has positive, with no loans taken/paid them all off. They achieve this by actually defunding the armies now and not constantly drilling. Although I noticed that the AI did still drill when it had positive income, but significantly less countries drill now, and I noticed bigger countries like Castile not drilling at all.

Trade wise, each country seems to be managing it very well, with England and Castile consolidating significant power in their respective capital nodes.

Another focus of this update was AI taking estates and using them. And it is VERY impressive. Each country I tag switched too had not only used all the estate slots available to them, but they also had majority land owned to them and they had chosen actual viable estates eg land of commerce etc. Very impressed there too.

Overall, the AI changes seem to have been very very well done, and I am super impressed. Well done Tinto! If there could be a bit more time put into AI prioritisation over colony placements, it would be damn near perfect!

Oh and for some reason Hesse took the HRE emperorship and have kept it ever since, they also have 100 Imperial Authority, and have one doen 1 reform. Not sure if this is WAD.

 

[RMS Oceanic]

Back to the drawing board for Byzantium, we've been relying on fort-sniping since 1.28. Oh well.

 

[ArtFart]

Back to the drawing board for Byzantium, we've been relying on fort-sniping since 1.28. Oh well.

Yep, although probably a good thing

 

[ArtFart]

Potential bug. Been like this for a while. None of the AI are supporting any HRE reforms, so the emperor has 100 IA. Maybe it's working but Hesse has good relations with almost all the HRE and the reformation only just started (like a month or 2 before this screenshot), so I'm not 100% sure on tis one. Will let it play out and update.

 

[RMS Oceanic]

Don't princes get a penalty to reform support if the Emperor's not large? Maybe that needs rebalanced.

 

[ArtFart]

Don't princes get a penalty to reform support if the Emperor's not large? Maybe that needs rebalanced.

Good point, yeah that may need a rebalance because as of right now, all the electors support Hesse and Hesse is sat on 100IA still.

 

[Korsjan Rīkis]

Oh and for some reason Hesse took the HRE emperorship and have kept it ever since, they also have 100 Imperial Authority, and have one doen 1 reform. Not sure if this is WAD.

Happened in my current Munich->Bavaria run (1.32), as well.

 

[PtY]

However, colonisation is still off. In this game the area's seem to have reversed, with Portugal claiming the Caribbean and Castile Brazil. Not sure what has caused this, but it was a bit disappointing to see.

Check to see if Portugal colonized Tenerife. It usually does, thereby blocking Castile's Plus Ultra mission requirements.
I don't know if Castile getting Tenerife and thus +20% colonial range would cause it colonize the Caribbean first and Portugal to subsequently colonize Brazil instead of the Caribbean, but Tenerife going to the "wrong" Iberian power is at least part of the issue. It delays the point at which Castile has the colonial range to reach the Caribbean in the first place.

Overall, the AI changes seem to have been very very well done, and I am super impressed. Well done Tinto! If there could be a bit more time put into AI prioritisation over colony placements, it would be damn near perfect!

Hopefully they'll revisit colonization later this year.

 

[EastonAugustus]

Check to see if Portugal colonized Tenerife. It usually does, thereby blocking Castile's Plus Ultra mission requirements.
I don't know if Castile getting Tenerife and thus +20% colonial range would cause it colonize the Caribbean first and Portugal to subsequently colonize Brazil instead of the Caribbean, but Tenerife going to the "wrong" Iberian power is at least part of the issue. It delays the point at which Castile has the colonial range to reach the Caribbean in the first place.


Hopefully they'll revisit colonization later this year.

I think they should remove the province of Tenerife from the game or give it Castile.

 

[The_Boominator]

Back to the drawing board for Byzantium, we've been relying on fort-sniping since 1.28. Oh well.

I find the AI is more aggressive, so I just go over my relations limit temporarily and let the Ottomans attack me. Of course, the strait cheese still works if they attack someone in Anatolia, too.

 

[Sete]

If Portugal role in Castille sucession crisis was proper integrated, this would be sorted with Alcacovas treaty, that later gave rise to tordesilas treaty.

 

[NoXeno]

Just block the mission with restoration of union CB by a timed nation modifier? Like HOI4 national focus.
If civil war is concluded with Portugal support, a modifier block the CB mission for 100 years or so.

 

[ArtFart]

Check to see if Portugal colonized Tenerife. It usually does, thereby blocking Castile's Plus Ultra mission requirements.
I don't know if Castile getting Tenerife and thus +20% colonial range would cause it colonize the Caribbean first and Portugal to subsequently colonize Brazil instead of the Caribbean, but Tenerife going to the "wrong" Iberian power is at least part of the issue. It delays the point at which Castile has the colonial range to reach the Caribbean in the first place.

Portugal took all the Islands near to them and then settled on Haiti, blocking Castile's mission tree. Meanwhile, Castile decided to colonise Brazil, and by colonise I mean took like 5 provinces and the gave up. No idea why.

Tenerife issue could be solved by a Treaty of Alcacovas event maybe where if Portugal has it, they just auto give it to Castile.

 

[Brynjar]

I wish this thread did not exist. Not because I don't want it to be true, but because I have seen too many like it in the past regarding AI changes that have turned out to be awful after actually playing the game myself for a while. AI development can't rely on first impressions. It requires a lot of testing, and it requires human testing. The AI needs to react properly when encountering a human player. There are plenty of things a player may notice at first glance, and take advantage of when playing themselves that the AI may not react to at all in an observer game.

What the game needs this time around is a long enough beta to actually allow proper testing though gameplay. For that to become a reality we need more than 1-2 weeks for players to provide feedback. Paradox also needs to allow for enough time after that to be able to implement any changes that are required.

Here are a few examples of 'good' AI changes I believe I have seen people create threads on:
- I have seen people hail the AI naval invasion changes which caused the AI to abandon their homelands.
- I have seen people cheer a 'fix' to AI siege stack sizes that caused the AI to siege with the minimum amount of units and at most 1 artillery unit, with a doomstack standing guard in the mountain province next to the fort instead.
- I have seen people celebrate the AI building larger navies when in reality the same navies combined with changing the AI building priorities broke the AIs economy completely.
- I have seen people congratulate the devs on a job well done for improving the AI in the same patch that sent the Iberian AI walking around the Mediterranean to siege down provinces just across the Gibraltar since it could not break a blockade. Result? The rest of its allies got trashed in Iberia, and it didn't arrive in Morocco in time.

 

[RMS Oceanic]

One neat AI thing I've noticed: If they're budgetarily constrained they'll actually mothball their capital fort. I've never ever seen that before, I think they were hardcoded to leave it on.