AI Improvements

[Raidhaennor]

I wouldn't mind seeing an increased difficulty at the hard level, though I haven't tried the latest beta patch yet (I just downloaded it).

From my little experience, what tends to make the game easier is the fact there is virtually no penalty for leaving provinces such as Spain and Cisalpine Gaul undefended once I have recruited all I could. Even Carthage I tend to leave without units when I can. There is really no downside for doing that because :

1. In the case of Spain and Northern Italy, I would lose nothing if I lost control of these provinces (if anything, losing Cisalpine Gaul might allow me to use "Gallic Aid" a second time).
2. The additionnal units I get in Italy when I do that put added pressure on the romans, and therefore reduce the likelihood of an expedition abroad. It's a win-win for me : and even if the romans were foolish enough to try something, see point 1 (actually, sometimes they are, at least in the case of Cisalpine Gaul. Maybe the AI should be "taught" not to bother retaking a province if doing so causes me no harm whatsoever).

Only once have I seen a roman force in Africa (it was on hard level) : it was a small force, easily countered by the force in west Africa which "unlock" in these circumstances.
Leaving a province undefended ends up reducing the likelihood that it will be attacked, and I think it would help if we could find a way to mitigate that.

Either by having a requirement to keep a certain number of units at all time (with a leader) in Spain and Carthage. Or maybe what could be more fun and a little less artificial is to make the senate decrees play that role : as it is now, I can pretty much ignore the senate recommendation. Some form of sanction if I do that could make things interesting : for example if the senate tells me to reinforce Spain, I have to have a leader and a minimum number of units present (either at all times, or for a number of turns, I don't know) ; and failing that I am sanctionned. I may have less recruits from Carthage, or less command phases, or a combination of both.
That would require more coherence from the senate though (see my post in the "fun game" thread), and should only be applied to some decisions like reinforcing Spain, upgrading defenses in Africa, and maybe to Sicily, but in the form of a temporary decree for that theater (or a requirement to chase the romans off the island).

[NefariousKoel]

Giving up your core territories that have been deprived of recruits is a strategy, I guess. Though they do start regenerating more available recruits slowly afterwards.

At some point, later in a long game, many territories will be exhausted and the ones that get 'refreshed' most can still make a difference once it gets to this point and casualties start to hurt more.

[SteveD64]

Yes, Spain and Northern Italy start regenerating and there's the victory points to consider- New Carthage is very important if you play the long game (like Hannibal, historically, tried to do).

This is a very fun game with ALOT of decisions to be made every turn.

[Raidhaennor]

My games tend to end relatively early (around turn 12-14), when I take Rome. So I usually don't need the few additional units I could recruit ; I tend to already have enough to fight back anything the romans have left and march to Rome. So the long game isn't really a concern, and the same goes with the victory points. And anyway, apart from the occasional retaking of the minor cities in Cisalpine Gaul, the provinces/cities I leave defenseless remain under my control until the end, I am not giving them up, that's the point. By leaving a province defenseless and using the units I get to put pressure on Rome, I actually make it less likely that these defenseless provinces get attacked. My games have always finished with New Carthage under my control.

My point was that it shouldn't be an effective strategy, or that at least it should have consequences. Right now there is no downside to using that strategy. Granted I could use "house rules", and that's certainly what I will try in my next few games. But I don't like doing that, I prefer when the game itself already contains all the rules necessary, which is why I was making these suggestions.

Don't get me wrong, what I'm saying here doesn't take anything away from the game. If anything, the fact that the AI favors defending itself effectively, rather than getting sidetracked into a pointless/hopeless expedition overseas is a point in its favor, a testament to how good it is. And the game is indeed a lot of fun, and very addictive too : I often start a game only planning to play a few turn, and I end up playing it to the end anyway.


edit : I have now tried the beta patch (1.02), and well... you can disregard what I said. The AI went much more aggressively after Carthage and Spain than in any previous game, from the very first turn. That game ended early, but not because I won. [:D]
The difficulty is definitely there, excellent job. [:)]

[mercenarius]

Well, as you can see, we didn't post the next version of the 1.0.2 beta patch today. But we expect to do this tomorrow.

Now, as for routing defenders during city battles: I have this in the game in part to keep the battle boards consistent. But the likelihood of scoring a rout against defenders is greatly reduced in this type of battle.

It's true that you will see city militia get routed fairly often but that is because you usually will have overwhelming force used against minor cities with no additional garrison.

The next patch will have some minor play balance tweaks and a couple of bug fixes. After it's final I will start in earnest on version 1.1. And I am sorry about the delay with the 1.0.2 beta patch but you should have it in time for this weekend.

Thanks for all of the feedback.

[mercenarius]

The 1.0.2 beta 2 patch is out and I wanted to say a couple of things about it. It is a beta, but I do hope to get it finalized very soon. People who are happy with things as they are might as well wait. Any dissatisfied players will probably want to try the beta.

I think that I have said all of that before. [:D]

The small rules changes that this beta patch makes are not set in stone. I hope to get some feedback from interested players in the next week. Reducing the command bonus to 15 percent is very experimental. That is a change that may be changed itself. [:)]

The other play balance tweaks that I have made seemed to work well when I tested them myself. I think that they won't ruin the game for people who liked the current play balance in the game. But they should help the AI adapt if things go especially wrong at the beginning. We'll see how it goes.

And I will keep everyone's comments in mind as I finalize this patch and then start thinking about a version 1.1.

Thanks for your interest.

[Toby42]

ORIGINAL: mercenarius

The 1.0.2 beta 2 patch is out and I wanted to say a couple of things about it. It is a beta, but I do hope to get it finalized very soon. People who are happy with things as they are might as well wait. Any dissatisfied players will probably want to try the beta.

I think that I have said all of that before. [:D]

The small rules changes that this beta patch makes are not set in stone. I hope to get some feedback from interested players in the next week. Reducing the command bonus to 15 percent is very experimental. That is a change that may be changed itself. [:)]

The other play balance tweaks that I have made seemed to work well when I tested them myself. I think that they won't ruin the game for people who liked the current play balance in the game. But they should help the AI adapt if things go especially wrong at the beginning. We'll see how it goes.

And I will keep everyone's comments in mind as I finalize this patch and then start thinking about a version 1.1.

Thanks for your interest.

So, reducing the command bonus makes Hannibal even less potent?

[SteveD64]

From my small sample of games played Hannibal has beaten everyone he's faced without the card play. I've been hoarding the Punic Tricks cards until I face a 7+ Roman leader. At the beginning the card comes out in order to give H. some breathing room but the middle game sees him beating Romans with ease without the card. I mean it hasn't been close, the Romans have been slaughtered. I still haven't won, but that's because the Romans won't fight H. after they've learned about his ability.

Luck plays a big part obiviously, which as a boardgame port it should.

[mercenarius]

I'll take that as a vote for changing it back. [;)]

I wanted to experiment with this patch a little before it goes final. But a couple of the changes may not work out. I wanted to get some feedback and you are providing that. This change (from 20 to 15) and the change in command bonus for camp battles are two changes that could easily be reversed if they don't make sense to the players. Why don't you try a couple of games and tell me how it is for you?

[Toby42]

ORIGINAL: CLEVELAND

From my small sample of games played Hannibal has beaten everyone he's faced without the card play. I've been hoarding the Punic Tricks cards until I face a 7+ Roman leader. At the beginning the card comes out in order to give H. some breathing room but the middle game sees him beating Romans with ease without the card. I mean it hasn't been close, the Romans have been slaughtered. I still haven't won, but that's because the Romans won't fight H. after they've learned about his ability.

Luck plays a big part obiviously, which as a boardgame port it should.

I guess that I'm confused? How does reducing the command bonus improve Hannibal's fighting ability? I would think that it would hurt him in battles....

[SteveD64]

My post should have said that I was playing with 1.0.1, before this new beta patch, so just an observation on battle results.

[mercenarius]

Treale

I can see that you are frustrated. It seems that you are not winning as many battles with Hannibal as you should. I suppose that I ought to write and post something like a battle manual. I can see some similar frustration in at least one post over at Slitherine Games' forum, too.

In the meantime, if you feel like it, would you post a screen shot from the beginning of your next "important" field battle with Hannibal commanding? And save the battle before you deploy your troops? I'd like to go over your deployment and possibly test the battle myself a number of times to provide an "average" result. Would you like to do that?

The easiest thing to do might be to start a thread and post your saved game in a .zip file. A good place to do this would be The War Room. Otherwise, I would need to know who the commanders are, which units each side has, and what battle cards you have.

I do think that we should continue this portion of the conversation in a new thread.

[mercenarius]

The command bonuses have been stabilized in the final 1.0.2 release and are detailed in the Command Bonuses topic in the in-game help system.

The level of bonus will remain 20 percent for all land battles except for city battles (none) and camp battles (10 percent).

I'll post an addendum to the pdf/printed manual sometime next week.