Advanced AI

[Weathereye]

I think doing a complete AI overhaul would pose a great risk of breaking what is currently working - and working fairly well.  But some simple but effective tweaks could improve the gaming experience without too much of risk.

Combat AI
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[*]Archer target priority:  Make the archer AI choose targets without shields (especially other archers) first.  I mean who do you shoot at first as an archer - a crossbowman aiming straight at you and your buddies or a spearman completely hidden behind his board shield?  Maybe just increase the chance they will prioritize.  They seem to focus on the target they see first now, until attacked - then they return fire.  The first part of a battle would be ranged vs. ranged and you could order yours to draw shields instead if the enemy has much more ranged units.
[*]Charge, but try to stay together:  When enemy reinforcements arrive a few riders (often just one) engages the new group of enemies and gets separated from the main group who are still fighting the remaining troops from the initial wave.  They should wait for some of the others who should join them even if they are still fighting the remaining troops from the initial wave if the ration is good.  I mean there is no need for six knights to chase after a single fleeing enemy soldier while one is engaging the reinforcement all alone.
[/list]

Feel free to extend and discuss. Or slide.

PS: My apologizes to developers who are already fed up with similar posts "ordering" them to fix this and change that.  It's not that your game is not perfect.  It's just that we are a greedy bunch.

Edit: Add some ideas.

 

[Mulek]

I think doing a complete AI overhaul would pose a great risk of breaking what is currently working

As much as I love the game, AI is the weakest spot of it.
I would prefer a complete overhaul of it.

 

[Bb]

too bad the AI cant have more of a scattered battle instead they are being bunch up all together in a group
AI archer should learn to arch their arrow and shoot above friendly in a line

 

[Weathereye]

As much as I love the game, AI is the weakest spot of it.
I would prefer a complete overhaul of it.

I feel you.  If you have any specific ideas feel free to contribute.

Even an overhaul would be possible without breaking the current stuff.  The new code could be "isolated" somehow under a new option Advanced (Experimental) next to Poor, Average, Good.

 

[Mulek]

As much as I love the game, AI is the weakest spot of it.
I would prefer a complete overhaul of it.

I feel you.  If you have any specific ideas feel free to contribute.

Even an overhaul would be possible without breaking the current stuff.  The new code could be "isolated" somehow under a new option Advanced (Experimental) next to Poor, Average, Good.

I just don't get your "without breaking the current stuff".
The current AI:
1) Charges
2) Goes to a point on the battlefield close to you and then charges
3) Stay in one place until you charge, and then charges

I am sorry to say that, but there is nothing good about current AI.

 

[ramonb]

Forget about "Advanced AI", we need "Working AI"

Seriously AI in many scenarios is completely messed up, so we need a complete AI redo.

Programmers slogan "Better to rewrite than to fix/screw other code"

 

[NaimaR]

And we need some working horsearchery AI again!

 

[silencekyo]

Yes!! Advance AI!! We needz thiz so fuxing bad!

 

[Qwertyman]

One biggie for infantry cluster****s would be for infantrymen to space out when they engage in fights,  its a shame to see the mass of men with not an inch between them whilst fighting,  would be better if they took their fights into a more open space where they have room to swing about.

 

[Askorti]

AI? Which AI? Do we have got ANY AI in M&B?

I'm wondering why TW didn't made working AI. No time? No money? Both of them?

Anyway, AI should know when unit should use certain weapon. For example 2h when there are no ranged units near or to use spear against cavalry, not infantry or use lance to charge, no to "poke" enemies.

 

[silencekyo]

AI? Which AI? Do we have got ANY AI in M&B?

I'm wondering why TW didn't made working AI. No time? No money? Both of them?

Anyway, AI should know when unit should use certain weapon. For example 2h when there are no ranged units near or to use spear against cavalry, not infantry or use lance to charge, no to "poke" enemies.

AI in M&B? we do have AIs in M&B. The Artificial Idiots.

 

[markik]

Why not the ability to jump over obstacles that are in the way?

 

[Tomahawk_n_Longrifle]

I agree with everyone the AI definitely needs a make over I am sure there will be a lot of improvements in the coming expansions... I hope.

 

[Askorti]

AI in M&B? we do have AIs in M&B. The Artificial Idiots.

Oh yes! I must agree, We sure have that kind of AI

 

[Reapy]

I think one thing that would help is to add a new feature or overlay to the terrain, or even meta data contained within ai mesh grids.

So for example when you auto generate terrain, the game knows enough to put the cliff texture down on steep cliffs and where rivers are and things like that, so I think that the game could figure out where the high's and lows are. So for example, on top of each hill you could assign a weight or descriptive variable of some sort saying that this is a hilltop. You can label valleys and slopes.

With more information now, the ai could then take into account in its maneuvering to consider these 'markers'. Think of strategies that people use in an m&b battle typically and figure out ways to have the AI counter it or make use of them itself.

For example you could find a river, then mark an area at bowshot range. So an archer heavy AI might favor either moving towards a hilltop, or standing at 'bowshot' range of the river to hit troops as they cross.

I'm not sure how much the AI can detect line of sight, but getting the ai to advance when under heavy bow fire either quickly, or along valleys that are marked as low terrain might work, though in some cases can be weird. But you could have the AI look and see that ok there are 30 bowman standing still up there. It would located the closest 'valley' marker, then it would find a path between all 'valley' markers that it could to that closest one, and then advance from there towards the archers.

Obviously this is very simplistic and would take some more tweaking, but really getting the ai to be more aware of the terrain is one huge thing that could be done to make it feel more believable to the player.