Can I mod the AI and combat odds?

[AusSpyder]

Every time I play they contact me every 2-3 turns or so to swap iron for fish or change civics or religion, or to stop trading with someone or other

the other thing that annoys me to no fixed end is to lose tanks/choppers to macemen etc.

Serious, how is it even possible for a samurai to kill 1 chopper let alone 3?

Is there any way to make certain units completely obsolete versus units they wouldn't possibly be able to kill? etc archers/melee etc couldn't possibly damage a tank/helicopter

[jnh140]

one thing i've noticed is that some fights seem to ignore probabilities entirely. The combat system is supposed to avoid this, but after losing a rediculas matchup, i did a reload and tried the same match again. Died again. And again.

As far as losing a tank to a maceman, if you drive a tank that is leaking gasoline and kind of on fire up a steep, heavily forested mountain path, and 50 crazed lunatics with maces jump out and manage to pry the hatch off your tank, they will beat the tank.

now the choppers against the samurai, it would really depend where the guy was. Forested mountains with defense bonuses... bad luck i can see losing a helicopter, the samurai has 2 first strikes. 3? I don't know that i've ever lost that matchup.

but seriously if you have choppers against against samurai, they don't even have rifling yet. i think you are fine

[Krill]

one thing i've noticed is that some fights seem to ignore probabilities entirely. The combat system is supposed to avoid this, but after losing a rediculas matchup, i did a reload and tried the same match again. Died again. And again.

That's because standard rules has the random seed locked in the game, so that if you reload and fight the same fight over and over without doign anything different first, you'll always get the same result.

[Blaupanzer]

Originally posted by Krill
The standard rules have the random seed locked in the game, so that if you reload and fight the same fight over and over without doing anything different first, you'll always get the same result.

You can make the fixed seed random on reload in the custom game settings at the beginning of the game. It is not an item I adjust, figuring a loss is a loss. Let it go and move on.

As to the famous spearman versus tank story -- how can a spearman at str 4 beat a tank at 28 -- the odds of 99.9 are serious. You, the tank, will lose one in every thousand turns. As to the Samurai in the age of mechanical war machines and modern firepower, you are better off to think of that unit as a sort of militia/partisan unit with a proportionate strength compared to the rifleman/infantry/tank it is fighting. Two first strikes can be devastating even to a substantially superior in strength unit.

I was told by some very frustrated pilots that wooden weapons such as spears and arrows did bring down some helicopters in Viet Nam. Helicopters are quite fragile in the area of their blades and rotors. To drop people off or pick them up they fly close to the ground. The rest is history, as a lucky placement of a spear or arrow could ground them on the spot.

[Ming]

As stated by jnh140... if you are that far ahead of your opponents, why worry about the loss of a unit. While it annoys me to lose a 99.9 shot (usually a great general), no big deal. Stuff happens. I've won some low odds battles when I really needed to, so things even out in the long run.

I expect to lose units... that's why I build so many of them

[jnh140]

I KNEW it wasn't random on attack, they roll the dice at the start of the dang turn!

Originally posted by Ming
As stated by jnh140...

i really need to change my login name.

[Theben]

Originally posted by Blaupanzer

As to the famous spearman versus tank story -- how can a spearman at str 4 beat a tank at 28 -- the odds of 99.9 are serious. You, the tank, will lose one in every thousand turns. As to the Samurai in the age of mechanical war machines and modern firepower, you are better off to think of that unit as a sort of militia/partisan unit with a proportionate strength compared to the rifleman/infantry/tank it is fighting.

Or you can figure some technologically superior civ has loaned them weapons able to defeat your forces. If none exists, that they've altered their tactics and weapons somewhat to counter you. It's not impossible.

As for the game itself- a samurai in a city on a hill, fortified, with +50% cultural bonus and Combat II vs a Com I heli is 17.6 with 2 1st strikes vs. 26.4. Odds in favor of the heli for sure, but the samurai still has a good chance.

[Theben]

Originally posted by jnh140
I KNEW it wasn't random on attack, they roll the dice at the start of the dang turn!

Sort of. Once a combat happens the result is locked in unless you choose "random seed reload" at game start. However you can alter outcome by other, if unpredictable, means.

You'd be surprised what can effect the outcome. One game I axe-rushed a neighbor and got a result I didn't care for, so I reloaded (hey, it's SP, I'm allowed )and tried a different approach. Normally this involves me changing the turn or order of units that attack, but on reload I noticed I could whip out another axe in my capital so I did. The next turn, using the exact same method as in the 1st assault, I got a different result and the only thing that had changed was my whipping out another unit!

[rah]

Hmm, didn't kow whipping used up a rando. Why would they use up a random number on a whip?

What other non combat related activities require a random number.

Spreading a religion. (only when one is already present or does it always use one regardless)

Huts obviously

Any diplo activities?

[Ming]

Originally posted by rah
Hmm, didn't kow whipping used up a rando. Why would they use up a random number on a whip?

I don't think it does... notice he said "next turn"... a turn change does change the seed

[rah]

Not always, early in the game if none of the AI activities require a random number, it won't change. It doesn't happen often but it can happen.

[Theben]

Originally posted by Ming

I don't think it does... notice he said "next turn"... a turn change does change the seed

The turn after I whipped, but the same turn as the original assault.

Believe me, nothing else changed. I even re-tried the original attack just to check numbers and got the original seed.