Does the AI still cheat and know every settlements troop numbers?

[Bazza_ov_da_Norf]

I have a fledgling kingdom around Battania/Sturgia, and yet the far off kingdom on the other side of the map like Aserai and Khuzait are frequently declaring war on me when it makes absolutely zero logical sense to do so. I can only assume that the AI is still cheating and can see from across the continent that I have some poorly defended settlements (due to non-stop war against me from multiple factions at all times), and that is driving them to declare war on me as well despite being nowhere near me on the map. Maybe it's something else, but that's my assumption for now.

So yeah, does the AI still cheat in this way and does it feed into their war declaration decisions?

 

[Emperor1997]

I have a fledgling kingdom around Battania/Sturgia, and yet the far off kingdom on the other side of the map like Aserai and Khuzait are frequently declaring war on me when it makes absolutely zero logical sense to do so. I can only assume that the AI is still cheating and can see from across the continent that I have some poorly defended settlements (due to non-stop war against me from multiple factions at all times), and that is driving them to declare war on me as well despite being nowhere near me on the map. Maybe it's something else, but that's my assumption for now.

So yeah, does the AI still cheat in this way and does it feed into their war declaration decisions?

They even declare wars when they can not conquer anything, because of high militia and garrisons.
The AI makes no logical decisions.

I don't know how many times the AI has declared war against my faction and how many times they have done nothing, No Raids and No Sieges by them.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

Yeah they still cheat. They also know what fiefs have how much food and recruits available. They hire mercs, make marriages and receive defecting clans without anyone having to spend a second of campaign time on the map too. I don't know how.

 

[Lucius Confucius]

I don't know how.

I thought this was obvious, the Aserai use magic carpets, the Khuzait use eagles, the Battanians use flying unicorns, the Sturgians use ravens, the Vlandians use teleporting butter to write messages, and the Empire use pigeons.

I too want to see some sort of message system for information or to hire mercs as a player. We should be able to send scouts to areas to see what the enemy has. And I want to nerf the AIs clearvoyance a bit.

 

[AJAJP_Juan]

You can aswell, just open the encyclopedia page of the settlements.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

You can aswell, just open the encyclopedia page of the settlements.

Spoiler

We shouldn't know it either like that but it's not the same for the player because we have to THINK and waste time doing everything while the AI is just a "small number me attack" zombie that ignores all game mechanics. It would be great if players scouting skill provided more information as it raises and maybe a roguery ability too to sneak and get the exact information. Of course not that it matter if you can become vassal in 50 days and order1 k power into an army and just bulldoze whatever, which you can do, I did it last week. But that too should be worked on.

 

[Sweynforkbeard]

Spoiler

Of course not that it matter if you can become vassal in 50 days and order1 k power into an army and just bulldoze whatever, which you can do, I did it last week. But that too should be worked on.

Perhaps, but prefereably through giving you incentives not to do that rather than (what would be fare more likely to happen) forcing you to grind longer to get there.

 

[IJIN]

thought this was obvious, the Aserai use magic carpets, the Khuzait use eagles, the Battanians use flying unicorns, the Sturgians use ravens, the Vlandians use teleporting butter to write messages, and the Empire use pigeons.

? Thank you for this. Lol

 

[CallmeWayne]

I think root of all simple AIs and mechanics is reason that they dont want to add anything complex as it would require more patching. They prolly want to keep game simple for now as they fix engine related problems and pathfinding.

So if war is still somewhat engaging and fun, its not a biggie, therefore I doubt there will be anytime soonish proper AI decision making. BUT if I remember correctly they had AI in Future plans blog. Who knows, right?

 

[froggyluv]

I think root of all simple AIs and mechanics is reason that they dont want to add anything complex as it would require more patching. They prolly want to keep game simple for now as they fix engine related problems and pathfinding.

So if war is still somewhat engaging and fun, its not a biggie, therefore I doubt there will be anytime soonish proper AI decision making. BUT if I remember correctly they had AI in Future plans blog. Who knows, right?

This is dangerous thinking that leads to developers justifying their lack of ambition. Do you know how many game titles in which the public worried about the AI go thru this process:

"Its only Alpha, dont worry the devs prolly just want to keep the AI simple for Alpha and theyll fix it later"
"Its only Beta...lets not worry about fully fleshed out AI till the full release"
"Game just came out. Devs are busy trying to get it to play on all systems and consoles -hopefully they give us an AI patch one day"
"Year after release...well it wont be any AI improvements this late in development cycle...hopefully they'll get it right in the Bannerlord 2... Hey we should start a Suggestion thread!!"

.....this is the vicious cycle that happens again and again. Unless the Devs say forthright without question "WE HAVE BIG PLANS FOR THE AI!" -there simply wont be anything besides small tweaks here and there. You can even tell by the way Devs who like even simple ideas for the AI off of the community routinely come back in here and say "good idea. Sorry got the thumbs down from the Committee of Nay"

 

[CallmeWayne]

This is dangerous thinking that leads to developers justifying their lack of ambition. Do you know how many game titles in which the public worried about the AI go thru this process:

"Its only Alpha, dont worry the devs prolly just want to keep the AI simple for Alpha and theyll fix it later"
"Its only Beta...lets not worry about fully fleshed out AI till the full release"
"Game just came out. Devs are busy trying to get it to play on all systems and consoles -hopefully they give us an AI patch one day"
"Year after release...well it wont be any AI improvements this late in development cycle...hopefully they'll get it right in the Bannerlord 2... Hey we should start a Suggestion thread!!"

.....this is the vicious cycle that happens again and again. Unless the Devs say forthright without question "WE HAVE BIG PLANS FOR THE AI!" -there simply wont be anything besides small tweaks here and there. You can even tell by the way Devs who like even simple ideas for the AI off of the community routinely come back in here and say "good idea. Sorry got the thumbs down from the Committee of Nay"

I know , and that makes me sad, cos quite "simple" thing could fix that...


something like...


proper communication with community and/or monthly Streams/blogs/talks

 

[Danny5]

Pfffttt how else are the AI supposed to win, come on guys, its only fair.

 

[Death Knell]

Yes this has to be the worst party of the beginning game.

 

[CallmeWayne]

Yes this has to be the worst party of the beginning game.

 

[Lesbosisles]

What annoys me the most in this situation is that AI not only knows the exact garrison size for any settlement, but it also gathers an army no less than 3-4 times bigger than the garrison size (the so-called doomstacks). So, it has almost no sense trying to defend a settlement (as a defender, inside the city walls) - you'll be rolled and smoked. So, the only option is to wait until the city is taken-> take it back -> hope that you'll be granted an ownership again.

 

[CallmeWayne]

What annoys me the most in this situation is that AI not only knows the exact garrison size for any settlement, but it also gathers an army no less than 3-4 times bigger than the garrison size (the so-called doomstacks). So, it has almost no sense trying to defend a settlement (as a defender, inside the city walls) - you'll be rolled and smoked. So, the only option is to wait until the city is taken-> take it back -> hope that you'll be granted an ownership again.

I must oppose u, AI does not take 2-3 times more men, I have witness that in past days of playing many times, they had more men but they rarely had 2-3times more, and even with 2-3x more, Its a siege,so you as defender have big advantage.And big one in calculated battle. (even bigger on foot tbh)

They gather armies based on their influence (at least I think so) , if they got more men as garrsion+millitia they will try to siege it.

But I have witnessed another thing:
I was at the gates of Ortysia and army of 1250 was going to siege it, so I went inside the city and in total there was 1000 of us inside. They started to siege, but this time they haven't attacked straight away after battering ram and siege-towers, they tried to build many onagers and such, they been doing this for 10 days until I have sailed out, and gave them beating. Cos I had to, my beloved castle was undersiege.

 

[FizCap]

There's a few mods that stop the AI from cheating

 

[Lesbosisles]

I must oppose u, AI does not take 2-3 times more men, I have witness that in past days of playing many times, they had more men but they rarely had 2-3times more, and even with 2-3x more, Its a siege,so you as defender have big advantage.And big one in calculated battle. (even bigger on foot tbh)

They gather armies based on their influence (at least I think so) , if they got more men as garrsion+millitia they will try to siege it.

But I have witnessed another thing:
I was at the gates of Ortysia and army of 1250 was going to siege it, so I went inside the city and in total there was 1000 of us inside. They started to siege, but this time they haven't attacked straight away after battering ram and siege-towers, they tried to build many onagers and such, they been doing this for 10 days until I have sailed out, and gave them beating. Cos I had to, my beloved castle was undersiege.

In previous versions they had a reduced calculation values for how big should the army be to besiege a settlement. But that was before... well, 1.6.X maybe?

Right now I have Lageta with more than 700 garrison - it never ever gets besieged. In the meantime, I have Marunath or Pen Cannoc with only 200-300 garrison size and they often get besieged by a 2,5k men doomstack - I don't know what big advantage can be with ~ 10:1 situation. And since defenders are always trying to take/re-take the walls and cannot retreat into towns, the whole defence turns into a simple slaughter with no chance to do anything.

 

[CallmeWayne]

In previous versions they had a reduced calculation values for how big should the army be to besiege a settlement. But that was before... well, 1.6.X maybe?

Right now I have Lageta with more than 700 garrison - it never ever gets besieged. In the meantime, I have Marunath or Pen Cannoc with only 200-300 garrison size and they often get besieged by a 2,5k men doomstack - I don't know what big advantage can be with ~ 10:1 situation. And since defenders are always trying to take/re-take the walls and cannot retreat into towns, the whole defence turns into a simple slaughter with no chance to do anything.

Not sure, I have not experienced that as my territory is bit narrow to approach. Because I am in Aserai territory, I can only be aproach from Ortysia and Danustica , so whenever they come from Ortysia they take settlements that are closest to them.

In my game Lageta has prosperity of 800 cos its changes ownership like day and night.

Doomstacks are only thing that is fun late game. It at least brings somewhat of challange. And lot of immersive sieges.

I have seen city survived siege against 1200 man when inside were just 400. And I was just looking from aside as it was not my war.
City had lvl 3 walls.300 Millitia and 100 Garrison. Disclaimer: It was possible that Attacker have ran out of food tho. But there was fight.
So you may want to invest into defenses of your towns. Sooner the better.

[EDIT]: If I am not mistaken, player can check settlements stats in encyclopedia.

 

[saucefar]

There's no point in even fighting the AI currently as they can muster a fresh new 1200 man army in a matter of in-game days, it makes it pointless tbh, luckily there are mods that make the AI recruit the same way you do, which makes the game more interesting.

Cheating AI is not difficulty, it's corner cutting.

I hope next time Talewords don't do early access, so far it has been a disaster, the modding community is drying out quickly because of the continous updates, it may be picked up again after release or it may not, it's better to just make a kickstarter or funding project where your game is released every 8-10 years, instead of gimping your game with early access.

Without total conversion mods this game will not last long.