My observations on the effect of patch 1.2.1.

[unmerged(73090)]

Well I thought I would share what I have seen so far with you all.

1. Peace. The AI is way more reluctant to accept a peace , even at 99%. Any offers it makes and any offer it accepts will be way lower than it would have been in 1.1.

2. Naval. The AI now makes monster fleets and, on the whole, uses them aggressively. There are still cases where they have a fleet which just sits, passively, in dock watching the enemy fleet sail by with and invasion force , but it is , thankfully, much rarer.

3. Armies. I think that the AI still 'cheats' (apologies for the term). He is able to sit 60k armies in a 1/10 province receiving no attrition. I also experienced the AI changing leader MID-BATTLE.

4. Strategy . The AI is now much better at spotting and making attacks. He will now pop into neutral territory to find a battle , something he never considered in 1.1.

5. Advisors. I an not sure I totally agree with the changes. Whilst the new reputation/colonist chance/missionary chance advisors are really good, I miss the increase in missionaries and colonists you used to be able to get. On the upside to this, the slider settings are more important tho seeing as they are the only way to increase the nr per year (exxcept via NI's)

Overall I think that the latest patch has massively improved the game (it was already excellent before the patch!)

A Big thumbs-up from me!

 

[asaura]

In re point 3, I've changed leaders mid-battle myself. Have the good general lead a cavalry army and then run to the sound of guns. I'm fairly certain I've noticed the AI do this as well. It's merely reinforcing an ongoing battle with an army. That army happens to have a good leader.

 

[unmerged(71953)]

In re point 3, I've changed leaders mid-battle myself. Have the good general lead a cavalry army and then run to the sound of guns. I'm fairly certain I've noticed the AI do this as well. It's merely reinforcing an ongoing battle with an army. That army happens to have a good leader.

I think the AI still can cheat a bit here. I seem to recall on quite a few occasions an AI general jumping from one battle to the other while battle still is on without any troops leaving or entering. Though it could've been in 1.1, I can't say for sure...

 

[unmerged(73090)]

Yeah, I have done the same thing changing leaders via reinforcement but the AI didn't do that. I am pretty sure that it was his king that died mid-battle and was then immediately replaced mid-battle by the heir.

 

[unmerged(73090)]

and I forgot the most noticable 2 effects of 1.2.1.

6. no spamming for a free papal state ... YAYAYAYAY!

7. the AI use spies... fairly intelligently too. Dunno if the rest of you are gettng the same nations aggravating you but for me, its the tuscans, the brandenburgers and the incans spamming my part colonised provinces with revolt and inciting troop desertions.

 

[Darkrenown]

Yeah, I have done the same thing changing leaders via reinforcement but the AI didn't do that. I am pretty sure that it was his king that died mid-battle and was then immediately replaced mid-battle by the heir.

If it really was the heir then it must be cheating, but it could also have been another leader already in the battle but not in command. If the leader commanding dies and there's another leader in the battle he'll take over.

 

[unmerged(70954)]

I think the AI still can cheat a bit here. I seem to recall on quite a few occasions an AI general jumping from one battle to the other while battle still is on without any troops leaving or entering. Though it could've been in 1.1, I can't say for sure...

Yeah, I noticed that, too. Aragon laid siege to two of my provinces. My army attacked one army being led by their king. It was a small stack that held on to the end, so they were wiped out. I attacked the next army, and lo and behold! it was led by their king. As far as I know, the player isn't allowed to change leaders during a siege. But I guess, the AI needs all the help they can get.

 

[unmerged(40278)]

1. Peace. The AI is way more reluctant to accept a peace , even at 99%. Any offers it makes and any offer it accepts will be way lower than it would have been in 1.1.

this is a bit too negative.

a) the ai doesn't accept offers > 100% anymore
b) the ai will accept any proposal < warscore once it is "defeated". you may need 3 or 4 tries, but it will accept eventually if it is "defeated". i've even had ai accept 100% proposals.
c) the definition of "defeated" has changed a lot. apart from 100%, it is now more about how many armies opposing alliances have, than about how many provinces have been occupied.

 

[unmerged(59737)]

The navy is a bit disappointing; the AI now builds insanely large fleets (I once saw a Ming fleet of some 50 Carracks and 150 Galleys/Cogs) but it still isn’t very good at using that fleet. That Ming Navy sat at port while the Japanese fleet dropped off some 20K men to besiege Nanjing.

It’s definitely a step in the right direction, but still…