RoN's Single Player Experience: Promising!

[Carch]

The thing that has amazed me the most in my first few games is seeing the AI retreat, regroup and successfully attack me from a different position. Completely blew me away.

[MahoTsukai]

I was russians, and everytime my cossacks blew their supply and artillery they retreat in haste !

Also I was attacking one of their cities, and at the same time they were attacking one of my forts, I sent em my reserve cossacks, but hey ye know what ? They left sieging my fort and tried to flank me with the same army after they have disapeared in the fog of war !!

Brian or Paul, can you confirm that the demo featured a weaker AI ? It seems moderate on gold is much harder...and smarter.

PS: thanks for stopping by Mr Reynolds, awesome support !

[FrostyBoy]

I love the way the AI actually targets the buildings that hurt you the most during times of war.


Why has only BHG able to make a game like this?

[Grandpa Troll]

As stated on first night, I concur once again, simply awesome game!!

I am simply floored how the ai attacks..
I love it..odd..because I get smacked down...but am learning

I thank the folks over at B H G's

A simply awesome job with ai and battle plans..

I really enjoy how ai will stand up to your attacks..and yes..watch yer backdoor!!..

First time they went to my AR$E I couldnt believe it, figured it was a fluke..then each game after same deal..


Only deal I would like to see is MORE POP CAP..but I can live with 275-279..is what i got with Germans....I forget, I think I built Statue of Liberty or Eiffel Tower..at anyrates, just a word to the wise...clocks a tickin..nights here..soon the mornings coming.....

I remember..CIV..just..One..more..turn..

well, this is similiar..just a little more increase in borders..maybe 15 more minutes....

Have fun...

Peace Unto you


Grandpa Troll

[PrinceBimz]

I have got the living daylights beat out of me more then once by the AI in the demo.

[MxM]

Once I lost to moderate AI in 5 or less minutes. It was able to a) locate my capital with the scout b) send an army to capture the capital, when I was still in ancient age and c) send additional troops so that my few units that I have managed to produce (I needed to build a barrack at my second city) could not recapture the capital.

The lesson that I learned from this – if you are trying to boom, build a tower not in advance position, but in the capital!

[dearmad]

Just got my ass handed to me again on moderate- thought I had it this time... I DID mod the game so advancing ages takes about 2x resouorces base and I played on "very expensive and long" OMG it took a lot to advance, made for LOTS of battles in each age! Lots of me losing battles, and whatnot!

I'm so glad there's an armaggedon possibility, it makes losing so palatable! Although this time I nearly didn't even get up to nukes before exiting the world stage. it only took one... I CAN"T BELIEVE how nuke happy the AI went on each other- like a bunch of rabid dogs! And the political map didn't change a wiy because of it... nukes are fun but THREE LAUNCHES IN ONE SECOND!? ahaha....

[LordTheRon]

Wow that sounds really promising! My game should arrive tomorrow or if I'm really lucky even today (I live in Europe).

Can't wait to take on the AI this weekend.

Of course in the longer run people will find (cheese)tactics that almost always work against the AI but still that's going to be VERY hard vs and AI with a little advantage (like on the toughest two levels).

Me want game now!

[tenordruid]

Yep me too. i played earlier today and the moderate AI attacked me somewhere where I didn;t expect it to. I attacked his east side cities and he defended them adequately while doing so he took a small army and attacked a west side city. He did retreat however becasue he was getting some attrition damage I also had some knight and crossbows take some of his army as well. Feeling as if the city was safe he brought in a bigger army and with it some siege and a couple of supply wagons.


Bravo BHG'S!!!!!

[SpecialK99]

Ya Moderate is really tough..but I managed to beat them with alota practice. Also I can beat tough on regular land map. (still trying navy) I suggest you guys play at normal game speed, it really helps you keep up with the computer.

[yin26]

Well, folks, the AI in this game is the absolute best I've ever seen in an RTS. No hype. I gave Moderate level another 2 hours of play last night and got pounded again. In part this is because I have no sense yet on how to prioritize build orders, research, etc.

But let's face it: this AI that comes in balanced armies, that retreats and rebuilds, that hits you from more than one direction (sometimes simultaneously and often in an area you thought was safe), that targets the buildings/troops that you need the most, etc., had an awful lot to do with it!!!

I really am stunned here. This is the AI we've been praying for.

[Sky Dog]

I've beaten Moderate once (in about 8 or 9 tries). I agree that right now this looks like the Holy Grail of AI. It will be a great help to my marriage that I won't have to play online for a challenge. The pause button is a wonderful thing when your wife walks in the room!

[UnOrthOdOx]

Hi all,

I only played my third game last night, the second try at Moderate (I only have the demo). I have been sticking with the Bantu, and faced off against Germany.

I think I may have found a chink in the armor of your AI, though. I was playing along fine, the AI attacked a forward town, just where I expected, and I beat them back. It DID, then attack me on a recently created town, that I had placed as bait, totally undefended, far from the 'front'. This also left some of it's own towns relatively unguarded, and I made my move. With a defensive group positioned to prevent the AI's other army from getting to my 'core', I advanced and stole a town from the AI, quickly placing up a stable, barracks, and seige factory, and was able to build Terra Cotta in that city as well. I had a nice stronghold deep within AI territory.

The AI beat me to tanks by about 30 seconds, and was amassing them. They also were able to out-produce me and were sending ever increasing numbers to this battle. The way the boarder was, we each were well within artillery position of each other, and each were pounding the others positions. My army was nearly wiped out, reinforcements were running thin, my economy was straining, those free German fighters were strafing Terra Cotta, and I had just lost boarders when my fort collapsed. It looked like the end was slowly going to come. It was time to reach into the age old bag of RTS tricks. Cheaper units + focus fire

I cut production on the tanks, built some AA around Terra Cotta. and saved the oil for the next age advance. Producing many a bazooka, I soon was cutting through panzers as if they were butter. 10 or so bazookas work wonders on the Panzers, knocking of each one at a time. Machine gunners were at the ready to deal with German infantry, and all those free units from Terra Cotta kept flowing in.

I split off a VERY small force (4 artillery, 5 light inf, 1 supply wagon) and was able to take a poorly defended (nothing but a few airports) town to solidify my position, and gain another oil resource and was able to out tech the AI to more modern units, and eventually overran a huge vacuum that was created by a massive launch of 5 nukes in their general direction.

The AI never did attack from anywhere else but that single front, though, after that battle had begun. Perhaps that is due to the threatening nature of my forces within easy striking of the capitol, and 2 cities holding wonders? Perhaps the AI knew it had a resource and production advantage, and was confident Panzers would decimate my mostly infantry army? Whatever the reason, the charts at the end showed the AI simply STOPPED research and produced nothing but military from that point for the space of about 5 minutes, this is what eventually led to their destruction, that, along with focus fire and microing the battles on my part.

Heaven help us if they ever teach the AI focus fire, though.

[yin26]

UnOrthOdOx:

Good post. I have also noticed that the AI will sometimes pull all its troops off your area of focus in order to hit you at a soft spot ... which is great, but it can lead to your taking of a key city.

I sounds, though, like you just made some superb adjustments in-game, and while I certainly hope the AI will continue to evolve in reaction to how players learn to exploit it, I'm still stunned that this AI is at least making you have to think and play like this. Really, the AI is playing so far like a very adept human in many respects.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Yes, this is very good AI indeed. I was initially shocked, horrified, and extremely pleased the first time I met AI in battle. An army standing there ready to defend while the Artillery did the work, it was beautiful.

As I mentioned, though, it was baited rather easily by a town I never cared about, I placed it there to bait the AI, if it never fell for that trap, one more town for me, I figured. It also appears threatening their capitol, or simply being withing striking distance, will cause the AI to forget all else. I learned alot that game too, many hotkeys, more functions of some of the buildings, etc. Im anxious to see how much use I can put that to.