Is Ermor still broken for the AI?

En Forcer · #1 September 8th, 2004, 05:39 PM

Is Ermor still considered broken for the AI as of 2.13? I just ask because it seems to be functioning okay in an sp game I have going now...

Gandalf Parker · #2 September 8th, 2004, 06:05 PM

You need to be more specific. Whos concept of "broken" are you referring to?

Vicious Love · #3 September 8th, 2004, 06:06 PM

Erm, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the problem wasn't that the AI can't make good use of Ermor, but rather that it hasn't the slightest chance of defeating Ermor.

En Forcer · #4 September 8th, 2004, 06:25 PM

Well, I had read some time back (several patches ago) that you don't want the AI playing Ermor or R'ley because it was broken.

This was a long time ago but I think in regards to Ermor one point mande was that the AI didn't summon or levy troops effectively and that anyone could easily defeat Ermor.

I'm playing a game now and Ermor seems to be moving troops around, raising replacements, and making regular offensive moves. Which all seems normal to me.

DeathDaemon · #5 September 8th, 2004, 07:02 PM

I dunno what you are talking about, the AI seems to destroy everyone with Ermor, even on Easy AI. I play with all nations on difficult AI, but still Easy AI for Ermor and it's always Ermor that is the one to beat. But as for playing Ermor as mentioned above, the computer can't compete with an Ermor opponent, as an opponent of Ermor needs to focus a lot on the use of priests - a strategy that is pretty useless against most if not all other nations.

reverend · #6 September 8th, 2004, 09:44 PM

Even the AI playing Ermor seems funny. We played a game against an AI Ermor Last week, and it just sat on it's capitol and three or four other provinces, massing 800+ armies, but not actually DOING anything. The other nations were Marignon and Abysia, which each had 100 units at most.

Yossar · #7 September 9th, 2004, 12:46 AM

Oh ya, I had that happen in a game a few weeks ago. I thought the AI was dead so I sent an army to take the capiitol. Unfortunately it was patrolling with a lot of the units and next turn finally moved out to counterattack.

Kristoffer O · #8 September 9th, 2004, 04:04 AM

Yuo don't want the AI to play Ermor because two of the themes have economies based on autosummoning of weak undead. If the AI uses default Ermor there is no problem, but otherwise ther might be.

Undead Ermor might amass troops if they do not have enough commanders. Logistics is a problem for undead Ermor, especially if beaten in big battles. Mages are often used in research and priests to reanimate. Ordinary commanders are scarce.

The AI is not good at defending vs hordes of weak undead. If at war with Ermor the AI will spend additional money on priests, but it is not clever enough to make specific strategies vs undead. It will never try to quickly research combinations such as solar brilliance and gift of health to be able to bLast undead and keep troops with sight. It is basically stuck with the single strategy of recruiting priests, and that in itself is not enough to stop the undead hordes.

reverend · #9 September 9th, 2004, 08:16 AM

So basically, Ermor should be marked "Human player only"?

magnate · #10 September 9th, 2004, 10:32 AM

My experience with SP is that if I want to play a game against Ermor, I'll put Ermor in as one of the AI nations. If I don't fancy that, I won't.

I have had one game where Ermor still only had 5-6 provinces by the time I found them, but usually AI Ermor expands very quickly and conquers the other AIs, becoming a very hard opponent to beat. Interesting sometimes, but not every game.

CC