Moroccan AI- Brilliant or retarded?

[schaedel]

Hi Folks,

just started around with the "Deconqista" (that really sounds nicer than Re-Re-Conquista) this Weekend. Obviously not through yet and I think it will take several more restarts, but alas...

But there was one Thing that happens in EVERY game and I'm not sure if I think it's brilliant or retarded. Of course, 3 years in at the most, Portugal will attack Marocco for Melilla, Cassablanca, Tangers or a combination of those targets. Marocco is (at least most of the time) allied to Tunis. They are lacking a natural ally in me (Hey, Granada wants that juica mediterranean provinces) and Algeria is their arch-enemy (allied with me). So they know there will be an attack from this side sooner or later (Of course it's not that hard to win that war against Marocco with Algiers by your side, but that is not the Point)
Very often Marocco is attacked by a combination of Portugal with Aragorn, once even with Castille in the mix. This Special case of course means utter defeat, but: sometimes (really, more than once) Portugal attacks them alone, twice even when they had to subdue Fezian Nationalist in Ceuta first, costing them lots of Manpower.

Now the issue: Marocco NEVER (and I literally mean never, no matter what alliance they were attacked by) engages in actual battles with the Portuguese, even when those pesky Iberians attack alone. Of course the Portugese navy is way stronger, so bringing the war to them is out of the question, but with their around 15.000 soldiers it should be perfectly feasible for Marocco to get a white peace (siege Ceuta and fight back the numerous smallish invasions). The never do! They will siege Ceuta, but Portugal will siege down Tangers, Melilla and the like. Instead of conquering that stuff back, what I think Marocco could do, they will ALWAYS concede defeat which will inevitably cost them at leats one (sometimes 3 or even 3) of their richest provinces. From there I think it's down the drain for them.

Or are they actually quite smart not to waste soldiers and Manpower in a war presumably lost anyways and instead spare this ressources for Algiers? I'm still torn by this question and probably will try Maarocco myself one day, what do you think about this issue?

Cheerio

 

[Marcus Septim]

id go with retarded i always take ceuta back from portugal doesnt matter if all ibearia (aragon , portugal and castile) attack early game they are weak and they can only land small stacks very easy for played however its so simple that i dont really know how the ai marroco messes it up

 

[schaedel]

So is it really possible for human played Marocco to fight back ALL of Iberia in that first war? Without Ottoman help? Granada won't help for sure or they will get eaten by Castille on the mainland, Algiers hate your guts...I don't think one can field more than around 20.000 soldiers...would that be enough?

 

[Marcus Septim]

i usualy do it with 5 cavalry and 10 infantry yes its very doable first war is easy good luck with the rest (its not that hard really) i suggest u rush vassalise granada

 

[Garevel]

The iberians land about 4 to 7k Soldier. I was surprised how easy it was to win the first war.

 

[aragonFTW]

Brilliant. If they exhaust their manpower defending themselves against just Portugal, the door is wide open to being attacked by you, Castile or even Algiers. In the meantime the longer they resist the inevitable the more money they lose from blockades and unit maintenance etc...

 

[Strangedane]

Retarded.

Even with a full Iberian alliance, including the English navy, you can quite easily get back Ceuta.

The AI really needs help in Morocco.

 

[Schmoekoeksklok]

You can defend against Portugal, Castile and England just fine on your own at the start of the game as Morocco. But ofcourse if they're players that's no longer possible. Having said that, if it's just Portugal, then Portugal wouldn't have much of a chance to win in pvp (until they get the techadvantage), so the same should be true AI vs. AI.

The problem is, Morocco can't attack Portugal's army in all of its provinces, since there's defensive terrain in many of them. So they need to get in there when Portugal is sieging Tangiers, or it's not really going to work out all that well. I think that level of tactical thinking is still too much to expect from a game running this many AI's at once.

 

[Alblaka]

There'S enough mountain terrain in Marocco for it to easily win vs Portugal/Castille even. So, I vote for retarded AI, I would use mountains to smash troops, then take back the portugese province and probably invade hispania if they just leave one sea tile open for a moment.