AI Seaborne Invasions (and request for AI improvement)

[TinCow]

First, I'd like to emphasize that the AI is much better militarily in this game than it ever was in Civ 1, 2, or SMACX. The AI almost always escorts its troop transports and will make major attempts to do cross-ocean invasions. This is much better than before, but these invasions are still pretty ineffective because the AI does not coordinate its transport ships and lands troops at different spots at different times, thus allowing them to be chopped up piecemeal by a much smaller force that can rest a few turns between attacks. Since it is obvious that the AI script can tell the computer to send escort ships along with the transports, could it also tell the AI to prioritize grouping transports together? (With their escorts as well of course.) If I understand the current system well enough, this would mean the transports would group up together (3-4 would be a good number to set it at) with their escorts on a single square before setting out for the invasion. This would result in all their troops being dropped at the same time in the same place, just like human players do. Such a large invasion would be much more difficult to counter than the current system.

Thoughts?

[sachmo71]

Well, it depends on the situation. I had a war going with the Romans and the Zulus decided to jump me at the same time. Bad management by my left some of my rear area devoid of any reaction force. Result? A Zulu trieme dropped off 2 horsemen, and they wound up razing one city, tearing up multiple improvements including a road to an iron deposit (this seemed to be the primary target) and generally pissing me off. Now, if he had waited to organize a larger force, I would have seen multiple ships loafing around off of my coast and would have been able to move in reinforcements in time. Of course, if it were planned as a large scale operation, this little diversionary force might have been slaughtered. He tricked me pretty well, and you can be sure that I will ALWAYS have a reaction force within 2 turns of all of my cities from now on!

[TinCow]

I never see transports 'meet up' with their escorts anywhere near my shores. In fact, the few times I've seen the transports leave a friendly city bound for somewhere else, they are escorted from the very first move. This means to me that the transports and the escorts meet up in that city before they load up and move out. I imagine the 3-4 transports 'meeting up' in a friendly city and then going out as a group. They would not sit around your coast waiting for others, they would sit around their own territory waiting for others... thus preventing your from knowing they were coming unless you have a naval force of your own patrolling their waters.

[sachmo71]

Let me clarify...if I had seen multiple triemes leaving Zulu territory and skirting mine, I might have reacted quicker. The difference in this situation is that I could see the city they were leaving from. If suddenly a hoard of transports had just showed up on my coast, the story would be different. What I read from your post is that you would like the AI to land troops in waves instead of dumping everyone in one spot...is this correct? My point is, I think that the AI is capible of pulling off end runs and diversions (and possibly second wave attacks) like the ones you are looking for. Please steer me in the right direction if I am understanding you wrong!