Rome II

[RooksBailey]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hICsD39TzU8

just because i have nothing else to do

Good find!

Here's another vid:

Even though they tried to make it sound like the AI was being smart, truth is the AI just rushed out, launched a mindless frontal assault, and lost badly.  LOL!  Based on this, the AI seems like your typical TW AI.   ;D  Oh well.  I can live with it until the modders get to work.

[undercovergeek]

[Nefaro]

Seriously! I'm mystified at all these people playing ROME: Total War II and picking Athens, Sparta, Ptolemies, etc. Guys, they didn't name it LOSERS: Total War!  ;D

Will definitely have to check out the Roman side first, if only because that's where much of the development effort was placed so will be the most filled-out. 

But I'd probably start a fresh one as someone else, before it's finished.

Even though they tried to make it sound like the AI was being smart, truth is the AI just rushed out, launched a mindless frontal assault, and lost badly.  LOL!  Based on this, the AI seems like your typical TW AI.   ;D  Oh well.  I can live with it until the modders get to work.

Do we expect anything less from the Total War tactical AI?  Hell, I think the biggest reason Shogun 2's AI improved was because the campaign AI didn't march all it's soldiers around in tiny little armies as much as it did before.  It actually started concentrating it's forces instead of running around piecemeal and getting rolled by twos and threes.

To be fair, there was one or two earlier games in which the tactical AI would try to sit and turtle up on a higher spot than you.  Even when you moved forward to engage in battle, the damn thing would always counter-move it's whole army to a new position based on your fresh orders (despite your men not actually being there yet).  You were just chasing them across the battlefield instead of having a battle.  That would drive me nuts at times.

[Gusington]

Isn't part of the TW games taking what was a historical loser and dominating the game universe? Come on now.

Parthia!!!

[undercovergeek]

Isn't part of the TW games taking what was a historical loser and dominating the game universe? Come on now.

Carthage!!!

always with the fixing the posts

[RooksBailey]

LOL!   ;D  You're right, I am being negative.  It's just that I think we reached a tipping point in gaming where the visuals and sounds are now incredibly realistic and immersive, but the AI is so stupid and incompetent that it just spoils any immersion there is to be had.  I wonder if game devs are cognizant of this fact?  That their pitiful AI is now undermining their creations? 

[Gusington]

Carthage is another excellent choice, and I will play as Carthage very soon. O yes. AI be damned. It's not like I'm some tactical Einstein myself.

[mikeck]

Try keeping the camera at or near ground level instead of gods eye in battle. Makes it a lot harder. I just move my commnader around the field and give orders to units when he gets near them. A house rule I guess. Makes it a lot tougher when you don't give yourself an artificial view of the entire battlefield

[mikeck]

No way man... Rome for me. With the new Army recruitment and tradition system, it's just screaming "Legions"

[RooksBailey]

Try keeping the camera at or near ground level instead of gods eye in battle. Makes it a lot harder. I just move my commnader around the field and give orders to units when he gets near them. A house rule I guess. Makes it a lot tougher when you don't give yourself an artificial view of the entire battlefield

That's a good idea!  Basically, turn R2 into Scourge of War.   :D

Speaking of, I thought SoW had some decent AI.  Yes, the AI would often hit you with a frontal assault, but once it met resistance, it would start shifting to the flanks in an attempt to find a weak spot.  It really keeps you on your toes in that regard. 

[magnus]

 A whole page and no one mentioned the legionary kicking the guy in the nuts and then stabbing him in the neck?

Hopefully it shows how the individual soldiers act and not just a set routine they throw in.

[son_of_montfort]

Carthage is another excellent choice, and I will play as Carthage very soon. O yes. AI be damned. It's not like I'm some tactical Einstein myself.

Considering that battles often take 30 minutes or so, if we had a HAL level AI, we would never finish a session!  :) Actually, I'm not sure I've ever finished a game of Total War!

[jomni]

The rule in total war is: nevermind the poor tactical Ai. You need to win those battles in order to not get clobbered in the strategic aspect.

[Gusington]

^There has always been that, yes.

I have finished and won campaigns of STW, MTW, RTW, and M2TW. I have finished campaigns of ETW, NTW and S2 but have lost the campaign. Still continuing to try and fix that.

With Rome 2 who knows. But I think I am better at the melee combat based games than the shooty ones. So I hold out hope.

Still thinking of starting as Rome. I am now more grounded in this than I was when I was considering one of the Greek states, Carthage or Parthia as my starting faction.

All will be played soon. Becoming interested in playing as the Iceni too now.

It never ends.

[son_of_montfort]

I've certainly lost campaigns in Shogun 2. The tactical AI might be lackluster but that strategic AI is a demon!