Going from Normal AI to Impossible AI...

[Humakty]

I never tried NI maps, but how does the AI uses its excess gold if it can't recruit indeps ?
I think putting some additional limits on what I do recruit is an easy way to make the game harder, without fighting the endless hordes you encounter on impossible difficulty (I'm always crushed on the big maps I love if I don't have luck on site searching(ie : finding the gems for your mage's main paths) + a good startpos).

The NI mod/maps seems good, but is it compatible with CBM ? I barely can play a game without it, too much reference switching.

[Edi]

The AI will buy staggering amounts of good quality stuff if the low quality chaff is unavailable. Try the Better Independents mod, which disables the crap infantry types by skyrocketing their gold costs. It leaves archers available and in addition to those, you'll start seeing a lot more nationals among the AI armies.

Nothing like seeing a scouting report that reads that there is an army of 750 units in the neighboring province, consisting mostly of Principes, Hastati, Equites of the Sacred Shroud and Archers and when the 400 Principes 70 Hastati and everything else actually begin to roll over you...

EA Ulm is similarly brutal with that mod, it will bury you if it gets to expand early on. The AI will also build a lot of castles, labs, temples and other stuff with the extra gold.

BI is not compatible with the full CBM, but you cna use parts of CBM such as the gods with that, since BI only modifies units that appear in independent poptypes.

[Zeldor]

Better Independents mod works really nice.

So difficulty would be that:
vanilla Impossible
BI mod Difficult
BI mod Mighty
BI mod Impossible
Multiplayer

[chrispedersen]

How do you use the map commands to make a god gandalf,.. brief overview?

[Gandalf Parker]

Nation number 11 is early Pangaea...
#god 11 812 -- Lord of the Wild
#comname "Green Mind"
#allies 11 26 -- likes to ally with Oceania if they are both AI
#allies 11 48 -- likes to ally with Oceania if they are both AI
#allies 11 40 -- likes to ally with mid_Pangaea if they are both AI
#allies 11 61 -- likes to ally with late_Pangaea if they are both AI
#allies 11 48 -- likes to ally with Oceania if they are both AI
#clearmagic
#mag_death 4 -- needed for Pangea spells and a bless
#mag_nature 4 -- needed for Pangea spells and a bless
#mag_blood 4 -- good combo with the above and a bless
#additem "Treelord's Staff" -- 2 more nature
#additem "Skullface" -- helmet with 1 more death and support
#additem "Armor of Souls" -- armor and 1 more blood
#additem "Boots of the Behemoth" -- goes well with his size 6
#additem "Brazen Vessel" -- misc slot and 1 more blood
#additem "Ring of Sorcery" -- 1 death and 1 nature and 1 blood
#dominionstr 11 6
#scale_chaos 11 2
#scale_lazy 11 2
#scale_cold 11 -1
#scale_death 11 0 -- this line might need removed
#scale_unluck 11 -3
#scale_unmagic 11 -1

You can also give him experience (stars). With these commands you can make anyone a god. A slinger, a turkey, a mummy, a horror. Giving Ermor a god of "Eater of the Dead" is fun.

The game will add up the points and if you go over then it will announce to everyone in the game that you have cheated and downgrade you. Unless you turn off ceat detection of course. It isnt a strict with AI gods. Giving AIs an unmoving god can help keep it from doing stupid things and killing itself off too early in the game.


Gandalf Parker

[Epaminondas]

Originally Posted by Edi

The AI will buy staggering amounts of good quality stuff if the low quality chaff is unavailable. Try the Better Independents mod, which disables the crap infantry types by skyrocketing their gold costs. It leaves archers available and in addition to those, you'll start seeing a lot more nationals among the AI armies.

Nothing like seeing a scouting report that reads that there is an army of 750 units in the neighboring province, consisting mostly of Principes, Hastati, Equites of the Sacred Shroud and Archers and when the 400 Principes 70 Hastati and everything else actually begin to roll over you...

EA Ulm is similarly brutal with that mod, it will bury you if it gets to expand early on. The AI will also build a lot of castles, labs, temples and other stuff with the extra gold.

BI is not compatible with the full CBM, but you cna use parts of CBM such as the gods with that, since BI only modifies units that appear in independent poptypes.

Edi, I like your mod over the default game--by a lot. Still, the AI seems to prefer to build the cheapest units, rather than massing formidable sacreds (even when the AI has given itself a nice blessing scheme!).

[Edi]

Originally Posted by Epaminondas

Edi, I like your mod over the default game--by a lot. Still, the AI seems to prefer to build the cheapest units, rather than massing formidable sacreds (even when the AI has given itself a nice blessing scheme!).

Thanks.

The AI has never known how to use a bless effectively, so you can't ever count on it doing that. It will tend to go for a quantity of lesser troops over a quality of high end troops if the cost differences are big, but it gets markedly better still.

Picking the right nations to oppose you with BI will lead to really brutal games. The EA especially is bad. Choose one of the weaker nations, throw in Ulm, Ermor, Vanheim, Helheim, Tir na n'Og, Marverni, Hinnom, Agartha and C'tis as the opponents on a big map like Glory of the Gods and see what happens. Putting supplies at 150% will also give the AI a bit of a boost as it will not starve so easily and research to difficult so you don't get powerful magic too soon. You'll be in for a rough time.

I lose more games with that setup than I win, even when playing co-op with a friend, because the AI will simply roll over you if you don't get to a flying start.

[Epaminondas]

Originally Posted by Edi

Thanks.

The AI has never known how to use a bless effectively, so you can't ever count on it doing that. It will tend to go for a quantity of lesser troops over a quality of high end troops if the cost differences are big, but it gets markedly better still.

Picking the right nations to oppose you with BI will lead to really brutal games. The EA especially is bad. Choose one of the weaker nations, throw in Ulm, Ermor, Vanheim, Helheim, Tir na n'Og, Marverni, Hinnom, Agartha and C'tis as the opponents on a big map like Glory of the Gods and see what happens. Putting supplies at 150% will also give the AI a bit of a boost as it will not starve so easily and research to difficult so you don't get powerful magic too soon. You'll be in for a rough time.

I lose more games with that setup than I win, even when playing co-op with a friend, because the AI will simply roll over you if you don't get to a flying start.

I was a bit surprised that you mentioned that Ulm was a strong EA nation early in the thread. Given that it lacks powerful battle mages and super-units, how is this so? I've found the nation frustrating to play, and the AI rarely does much with it either. I also tend to think Ermor would be weak, because of the old age issues with most of its top-tier casters.

But again, I am a beginner, and I look for any enlightenment on the issue.

Also, what difficulty setting do you recommend? I played 1 with Difficult, and I am gradually winning--though I suspect the fact that I have greatly strengthened PDs for every nation has something to do with it (the AI doesn't seem to use PDs much).

And yes, I hiked up Supplies to 300 percent--and Hinnom still has problems with starvation, LOL!

[Edi]

I mean that with the BI mod, Ulm is a really brutal AI enemy, especially with difficult research and impossible AI. It has good troops and with the BI disabled ones, it concentrates on its better nationals, expands fast and will come at you with massive hordes of good quality stuff.

Ulm is not the most powerful nation magically, but depending on pretender pick and other things, it can be successful in MP.

[Edratman]

I have just posted a mod called "Improved Computer Opponents" in the modding section of the forums.

The mod has five MA nations, T'ien Ch'i, Caelum, Arco, C'tis and Man modified to be better opponents. These are the 5 nations with the least amount of wins in the MP section, which is the sole reason they were chosen.

The mod also includes a version of the "No Independents Mod".

I cannot figure out how to make a link to the mod, so you will have to go there yourself.

With my testing, on Impossible settings, these nations are pretty close to impossible to beat (not that I claim to be an expert).

Try it and see.