ETW vanilla. Why does the AI just stand and do nothing? Any mod that fixes AI behavior?
Quote from: jomni on July 17, 2014, 01:52:39 AM
ETW vanilla. Why does the AI just stand and do nothing? Any mod that fixes AI behavior?
Yeah. It's called Napoleon Total War. But that one still has some issues - just not as many.
It's too bad CA left ETW in such a shitty state. It would've been one of my favorites if it had been of Shogun 2 quality. :(
Lol. So no mods actually fix this behavior.
I play with the Darth mod and really love it. However, I enjoyed vanilla too, so YMMV.
Darthmod for sure. IIRC it does not fix the behavior of the AI during sieges, or the way sieges play out (with rope ladders and other oddities). Empire is my least favorite TW game, which is a shame because it was clearly an ambitious project. You're better off playing Napoleon for less headaches and a better AI.
Try DARTHMOD Jomni for ETW, it sometimes crashes though.
+1 re DarthMod. IIRC there is also another mod which adds lots of individual historical uniforms, ships etc - yep, the Additional Units Mod I was thinking rnamentum, but this mod includes that...
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?250655-Additional-Units-Mod-Empire-(AUM-EMP)-3-3-updated-11-12-13
Yeah I know about Darthmod but I'm more concerned about the AI which it apparently doesn't fix.
personally never had the AI just stare at me before - reload and start again?
Quote from: undercovergeek on July 17, 2014, 09:42:21 AM
personally never had the AI just stare at me before - reload and start again?
+1. Never.
I play with the American Revolution Mod and have enjoyed it a lot. It's very similar to Darthmod but with a lot of added units for all factions. The AI behavior is much better than vanilla but not more so than Darth. One big change is no unit can climb the walls of a fort. Instead the forts walls and gates have strength values that must be reduced by cannon fire before they collapse and make a breach. Almost any cannon will work if it's close enough but the big mortars and howitzers work best. And are more fun to watch. Battle AI is much better with either mod also. With the mods, Empire is probably my favorite TW game. I love the time period. The American Revolution Mod is an older mod and may not be supported any longer.
The AI in Empire suffers from a severe case of Chronic Backstabbing Disorder (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChronicBackstabbingDisorder) -- worse than in just about any other Total War title I've played -- but I've not had that particular problem (where it just sits there on the battlefield and stares at you) either.
Darthmod brings the game up to an acceptable level I think. It's not Shogun 2 or Rome 2 AI but it's good enough to have fun with
Slash that mod yiu mentioned is just cslled the American Revolution mod? I'd like to try it out.
I want to love ETW, but I just can't. I want to bring myself to play it, but I can't. DarthMod makes the tactical battles more than acceptable IMO, but the strategic campaign is just too horrible to describe. The strategic AI is just so incredibly poor, especially playing a sea power. It all has so much unrealized potential.
Of course, having a sane strategic AI has never been a strong point of a CA game. It's kinda amazing after working on the same type of game for 15 years they can still have such crappy AI. CA is always in search of new, more shiny graphics or aesthetic improvements, which they always make progress on. Yet when it comes to AI, its always one step forward and one step back.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on July 17, 2014, 09:47:56 AM
Quote from: undercovergeek on July 17, 2014, 09:42:21 AM
personally never had the AI just stare at me before - reload and start again?
+1. Never.
Dunno. Past few battles, they just sit in their area and do nothing (maybe because they are defending with inferior forces).
Quote from: jomni on July 17, 2014, 06:31:08 AM
Lol. So no mods actually fix this behavior.
DarthMod definitely improves the AI behavior in numerous ways, along with slowing down the ridiculous infantry speeds.
One bad thing about ETW, and to a lesser extent NTW, is that line infantry just tend to fire a volley and charge by default. Part of the problem is that the units move so fast in vanilla; their firearm engagement range is so short and the melee charge range so big that they'll often end up just moving through it so fast that they end up charging into melee without bothering to line up and volley. ::)
DarthMod reduces this problem by slowing down the movement speeds and increasing musket ranges. So the Unit AI's "Stop and Fire" zone is larger.
This is just one example of screwy behavior and issues. Another is having artillery constantly sniping your General's unit, even if it's behind your troops. This is a larger problem in NTW, IIRC. The Line of Sight system just blows donkey dicks and this resultant behavior is another huge annoyance. You end up having to hide your General behind a hill, because nothing else will block an LOS (and even that can be suspect). Maybe not as much of a problem in ETW.. I can't recall.
Off topic:
That comment about the Line of Sight System being wonky brought a chuckle to me. I haven't used that line in a long time but it is still equally powerful today as it was long ago.
On topic:
I've played a couple of vanilla campaigns on Normal/Normal and have not noticed the ai freezing up like a deer in the headlights. In fact quite the opposite. In the early game he is aggressive but if you can sue for peace he stays quite. Until the mid game when everybody starts to backstab you like others have mentioned. Then it feels like the 'bad boy' system in Hoi 1.
Yes, Gus it's the American Revolution Mod. It's still listed in the Total War Center mods for ETW but the comments on the forum speak of it's demise. It was a 2010 mod but it's unfortunate because it made the game much better. Darth's mod was another good one. And they both would crash on occasion. Usually when trying to load the battle screen. I just finished a campaign using TAR mod as Russia on the hard difficulity level and the campaign AI behavior wasn't too screwy and aggressive enough to suit me. The battle AI was predictable but a challenge against an evenly matched foe. I enjoyed the game thoroughly.
Quote from: W8taminute on July 17, 2014, 06:23:49 PM
Off topic:
That comment about the Line of Sight System being wonky brought a chuckle to me. I haven't used that line in a long time but it is still equally powerful today as it was long ago.
On topic:
I've played a couple of vanilla campaigns on Normal/Normal and have not noticed the ai freezing up like a deer in the headlights. In fact quite the opposite. In the early game he is aggressive but if you can sue for peace he stays quite. Until the mid game when everybody starts to backstab you like others have mentioned. Then it feels like the 'bad boy' system in Hoi 1.
That was another issue. The Diplomacy was crap too. Didn't matter how well someone liked you, or if you had been allied with them. They would just declare war on you whenever they felt like it. No matter how buddy-buddy you were with them, if you were in their vicinity, they would DOW in short order. I don't think diplomacy in TW really worked until Shogun 2. In the previous ones, it was just a means to establish trade agreements for a time.