is something wrong with my AI?

[smartspick]

I love anything having to do with Hannibal and I was very excited about this game and the hyped up AI. I played on the hardest level and captured Rome in 4 turns, and I tried again hoping it was a fluke and againt capture Rome in few turns on the Hardest level using different tactics. To be honest I haven't had any close calls. Hannibal annihalets the Roman legions and can concentrate forces. The AI seems to be forgetting to concentrate forces and it launches premature attracts to my lift my siege of rome. I'm kinda dis pointed seeing how this game was only one side ( Carthage) and single player and the all the hype about the AI, i was hoping to get a real run for my money.

[mercenarius]

Well, it's possible that you experienced a fluke but it's also possible that you have uncovered an Achilles heel in the AI.

Can you post a saved game as an attachment that shows the game when Hannibal set up his siege?

I'll look into this, of course, but a saved game would really help.

Naturally I am sorry that you haven't had much fun and I'll do what I can to rectify the situation.

[smartspick]

Thanks Mercenarius, I do not regret buying the game, I appreciate your work with this subject matter, I can tell there was a lot of passion in the making of the game. I will upload a save game, let me start one up.

[smartspick]

Mercenarious, it will not allow me to upload the .dat file on here, it says it is "unsupported". But i have the file ready for u to take a look at, it is typical of the first time I beat the AI in a few turns on the most difficult level as well.

[NefariousKoel]

ORIGINAL: smartspick

Mercenarious, it will not allow me to upload the .dat file on here, it says it is "unsupported". But i have the file ready for u to take a look at, it is typical of the first time I beat the AI in a few turns on the most difficult level as well.

Zip the save file and then upload it. The forum settings only allow a couple different formats.. generally zip files and a couple image types.

[smartspick]

it wont let me upload even a .zip file!

[mercenarius]

Yes, I see now that we can't attach .zip files to posts here. Please try sending me the file in a pm. If you can't pm me at all, please post something here and I'll have an administrator look into it. You should be able to attach a .zip to a pm.

Thanks for your patience. Again, please post something here if you can't get the pm to work.

By the way, did you start your games using the "Standard Move" option? It shouldn't matter that much to the problem that you have uncovered. But I am curious. Either way, I am eager to see your saved game. [:)]

[n01487477]

Usually ... and I don't know in this forum thread the Zip files should be uploaded to the tech section ... the normal forum area does not support zip ...

So make a new thread in the tech area and give it a go [;)]

[edit] Yep the tech section supports zip files.

[mercenarius]

Thanks!

[gwgardner]

Four turns to defeat Rome with a siege? Could you please walk us through how you achieve a victory in four turns?

The only way you could possibly defeat Rome in four turns is to attack the city, not siege it. The city has 8 garrison units at minimum guarding it. Hannibal can probably arrive max with about 15 divisions. The innate defenses of Rome, plus its garrison, are absolutely devastating to a direct attack.

I just don't see how a four turn victory is possible. Please enlighten us.

[smartspick]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner

Four turns to defeat Rome with a siege? Could you please walk us through how you achieve a victory in four turns?

The only way you could possibly defeat Rome in four turns is to attack the city, not siege it. The city has 8 garrison units at minimum guarding it. Hannibal can probably arrive max with about 15 divisions. The innate defenses of Rome, plus its garrison, are absolutely devastating to a direct attack.

I just don't see how a four turn victory is possible. Please enlighten us.

I shall enlighten you. What ends up happening is the following. I DO NOT ATTACK ROME. I siege it. The AI sends a large army to attack me and the Garrison of ROme attacks me as well, in other words, both the garrison and the relieving army combine. I destroy them all in the battle and that means I occupy Rome. Its happened twice, and I've played the game throught only twice, both times on the highest difficulty. On one it was 4 turns, on the other i think turn 5. THough not longer than that.

[smartspick]

I repeat I Never assault ROme, I siege it. I defeat the relatively large sized garrison because I fight them in a "defense of siege" battle.

[smartspick]

I think, the AI sends too small of a relieving army, and it combines with the garrison in the 'defense of siege' battle and I destroy the Garrison without their bonus of behind behind the city walls. I think this is the problem. The AI should bring a bigger reliving army and not have the garrison sally.

[mercenarius]

I have received and reviewed the saved game of the early siege. Here is what I think:

1) You might want to try playing the game without the Standard Move option because that will add some variety and might make your usual strategy a little harder. It's something to try, anyway. If you do decide to do that, please let us know how things go.

2) I do intend to tweak the AI upon player feedback and there is some room for improvement in the AI's logic, particularly when Rome is under siege.

3) You have discovered a small Achilles Heel in the AI in this way: it's so early in the game that the AI doesn't realize how dangerous Hannibal is yet, and doesn't gather a large enough relief force. Players who besiege Rome later in the game will experience the effect of Hannibal's reputation and the AI's response to it. And then the AI will usually gather a better relief force.

4) The AI at the hard level is probably not reacting quickly enough in electing better leaders. I will have to think about this a little and see what would make a good change. I don't want to do anything major in the next patch, of course, but I can include a few tweaks to the AI in it. I am working on the next patch anyway because of the two bugs that were reported recently.

[vonRocko]

I just won in 2 turns. With standard setup, max difficulty. As smartspick suggested, I moved Hannibal directly to Rome on the first turn. I lost 5 units to attrition, then I besieged Rome with 6 units. They had 8 militia and 2 others. On the Roman turn, a rank4 general, with 3 units attacked hannibal. I defended the siege and won.This left Rome with 1 unit, and hannibal with 2. On my turn,I had a card that took out the last Roman unit, and hannibal just walked in! I think I would have won a battle even without the card. I have a save but can't upload to my post. I also tried again and won basically the same way.
I never saw this before because it never occured to me to go for Rome immediately. Anyone should be able to recreate this, and the strategy seems to work rather easily. This is a bummer, the game was top price!

[Erik Rutins]

As James noted, this is an Achilles heel we simply did not find earlier. I regret we missed it, but it will be addressed and does not reflect the overall performance of the AI - it's basically a way to get around the AI's current system of evaluating Hannibal's threat.

[mercenarius]

Well, I do hate to close an exploit that the players have come up with. But unless the players don't want me to, there are ways to improve the AI as I posted above. I realize that this may seem like cheating in a way. But I don't think that it is.

However, be that as it may, please try a game without the Standard Move and tell us what kind of results you get. I think that the variety that comes with that will keep you from feeling that you aren't getting your money's worth. At least I hope that it will. [&:]

[vonRocko]

Yes, the non-standard setup is a whole new ballgame. If only because Hannibal can't reach Rome. I'm sure this can,and will be corrected. It's a good game.
Thanks[;)]

[smartspick]

Glad to see we are working together to address the issues. I'll start playing on the non-standard move.

[Toby42]

Well, I just tried this. I beseiged Rome on the first turn. Scipio reinforced Rome and sallied out. The Romans eliminated Hannibal after 4 rounds of combat???