How does the AI raise armies?

[mlepinski]

I'm not sure about the exact percentages, but some nations have "Spy" units and I can confirm that "Spy" units definately seem to give more accurate reports than "Scout" units.

- Matt L. :->

[PhilD]

Originally posted by Mad Gus:
First off, I'm a newbiew. I'm currently playing my second game. Do AI nations raise armies the same as human players? Or are they just given armies. I am asking because in my current game the Jotun nation was moving on me with some sizable forces. We fought for several turns and we both lost the majority of our forces. A turn or two later he now has 3 provinces containing with 70-90 troops. I read another post on how the AI seems to go with cheap units but wouldn't he be hampered by resource restrictions just like me? I don't have a problem with the computer "cheating", I was just curious.

According to the devs, the AI only "cheats" in two ways: at levels higher than "normal", it gets more design points at the game's start; and, at all levels, it always has knowledge of Province ownership.

How did you get this estimate of Jotun's forces? Scout, etc., reports, are often inaccurate (they may as much as double the real number of units); and your opponent may have hired mercenaries, and so on..

[ioticus]

Originally posted by mlepinski:
I'm not sure about the exact percentages, but some nations have "Spy" units and I can confirm that "Spy" units definately seem to give more accurate reports than "Scout" units.

- Matt L. :->

The manual says spies are more accurate.