tyrannicide 说:
Are you fucking kidding? Have you actually played those? They aren't any better than the M&B AI.
I'd say they are. I mean, there's nothing in the total war series that compares to the 'go left and clump up around the invisible wall.' The AI could skirmish properly with horse archers, try to envelop with its cavalry, etc. Now, there were plenty of dumb things - suicidal cavalry charges show up in both series. Its poor performance in the tactical part, if I remember right, was often a result of its inability to manage the strategic part and get good troops.
I know nothing about programming AI - it might be that total war's focus on 'units' of lots of soldiers, and more pronounced morale effects, made it easier for the AI to be smarter. It's certainly not perfect, and from Rome onwards they seemed to invest more resources in enhancing 'production values' than improving AI faults, but all told I think the AI was at least decent. The games are different enough that I don't know if the AIs should really be compared - the total war games are more battle simulators, while warband gives you a simplified battle you can split heads during.