Rush09
Regular
So, AI in the campaign tends to be a weak spot for Bannerlord, the AI parties or armies many times make decisions that leave us going "what the fu..?" at the screen. From what I understand, the AI looks at several variables when making a decision but because these variables change relatively fast, the decisions made sometimes are not the best or even logical to the player.
For example, this scenario:
When Vladia declared war on the Aserai, their armies looked at the most optimal settlement to take and given that Lycaron had just being taken from the West Empire and it was weak, the AI sent Vladia armies to Lycaron. Now, we all know that Vladia won't be able to maintain that settlement for long because as soon as those armies are defeated, the distance from Vladia "mainland" to Lycaron is just too big to and no defense army will ever reach it in time (in fact, in 1.1.0 most likely the town will fall for the Aserai with Vladia armies still around due to AI ignoring most of defense duties). Decisions like these tend to be common in Bannerlord but they only contribute the a state of (like Ananda mentioned in a recent post in General Discussion) Whack-a-mole, where Valdia took the town, now Aserai are going to get it back but then the West Empire will take it... etc etc and the game doesn't evolve from here. Side note: This pic was 20 years ago in game and the factions are still fighting over that town and the ones near...
An idea to help the AI could be around a grid system (invisible to the player) where each AI faction sees their grids as "green", enemies "red" and neutral "grey". When making a decision, the AI will only look at red or neutral grids adjacent to their own green grids. In the situation above, does Vladia share a green grid with a grey grid from the Aserai? yes it does, so we have a viable declaration of war (I say viable because the power balance, etc etc are still relevant). If the situation is favorable and after declaring war, where do the green grids from Vladia border red grids from the Aserai? in the south. The one place where it would make sense to attack. The AI would look only at Qasira or Askar towns (and castles near) for target. Why waste resources on opening another front to the Aserai and adding another target to the West Empire for a town battered by constant conquests and reconquests in the middle of the map? In the south, the move is logical to continue to grab land from the Aserai while having the towns and castles near to help support it and not adding more fire to the West Empire for an attack while Vladia fights the Aserai.
Another aspect that the grid system could help is with trade routes. Making trade parties avoid red grids at all costs, even if a neutral grid with a town is behind the red grid. If a viable path through green or grey grids doesn't exist then that town is ignored. Losing caravans because they entered right through the middle of enemy territory is nonsensical and this system could create a dynamic where war between two factions would have in adverse effect on other factions through trade where their cities would see less caravans due to the near war, reducing income for everyone involved.
For example, this scenario:
When Vladia declared war on the Aserai, their armies looked at the most optimal settlement to take and given that Lycaron had just being taken from the West Empire and it was weak, the AI sent Vladia armies to Lycaron. Now, we all know that Vladia won't be able to maintain that settlement for long because as soon as those armies are defeated, the distance from Vladia "mainland" to Lycaron is just too big to and no defense army will ever reach it in time (in fact, in 1.1.0 most likely the town will fall for the Aserai with Vladia armies still around due to AI ignoring most of defense duties). Decisions like these tend to be common in Bannerlord but they only contribute the a state of (like Ananda mentioned in a recent post in General Discussion) Whack-a-mole, where Valdia took the town, now Aserai are going to get it back but then the West Empire will take it... etc etc and the game doesn't evolve from here. Side note: This pic was 20 years ago in game and the factions are still fighting over that town and the ones near...
An idea to help the AI could be around a grid system (invisible to the player) where each AI faction sees their grids as "green", enemies "red" and neutral "grey". When making a decision, the AI will only look at red or neutral grids adjacent to their own green grids. In the situation above, does Vladia share a green grid with a grey grid from the Aserai? yes it does, so we have a viable declaration of war (I say viable because the power balance, etc etc are still relevant). If the situation is favorable and after declaring war, where do the green grids from Vladia border red grids from the Aserai? in the south. The one place where it would make sense to attack. The AI would look only at Qasira or Askar towns (and castles near) for target. Why waste resources on opening another front to the Aserai and adding another target to the West Empire for a town battered by constant conquests and reconquests in the middle of the map? In the south, the move is logical to continue to grab land from the Aserai while having the towns and castles near to help support it and not adding more fire to the West Empire for an attack while Vladia fights the Aserai.
Another aspect that the grid system could help is with trade routes. Making trade parties avoid red grids at all costs, even if a neutral grid with a town is behind the red grid. If a viable path through green or grey grids doesn't exist then that town is ignored. Losing caravans because they entered right through the middle of enemy territory is nonsensical and this system could create a dynamic where war between two factions would have in adverse effect on other factions through trade where their cities would see less caravans due to the near war, reducing income for everyone involved.
