Stupid, stupid AI

[archaicwarrior]

Just watched a large Sturgian army (650+) march to relieve a city under siege. They almost made it there when the city feel. The attacking Khuzait army had about 200 troops left after battle and the city held about 50 khuzait defenders. The Large Sturgian army turned around and marched home, 300 miles away ..???????

Obviously the Sturgian army should have trounced the 200 Khuzait army then taken back the city ... why didn't this happen ???

.

 

[Moton]

Yeah one would think. But then again, just because you know their exact number maybe doesent mean that they do. It's the same when one of your castles is under siege, you dont actually know how many they are and if the castle have fallen that army will be alot harder to deal with.

But then again, an army of 650 is quite the beast and should atleast investigate it.

 

[Mad Vader]

At least this kind of stupidity is historically accurate. A timid commander would get false reports of a vast enemy force, decide his mission can't be accomplished and turn around. Sometimes poor coding simulates reality.
Sometimes it's just poor coding and should be reported as a bug to get it fixed.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

Why didn't just beat them up yourself it was only 200

 

[mexxico]

If you have a save file I can examine. There can be several reasons.

 

[archaicwarrior]

At least this kind of stupidity is historically accurate. A timid commander would get false reports of a vast enemy force, decide his mission can't be accomplished and turn around. Sometimes poor coding simulates reality.
Sometimes it's just poor coding and should be reported as a bug to get it fixed.

You make a good point, accurate troop numbers in armies was total BS! This should NOT happen in Bannerlord. Instead of showing accurate army size, it should show text like - "Appears Very Large Army" - "Appears Large Army" - "Appears moderate Army" - "Appears Small Army" etc etc this text could be manipulated by generals who have the ability to "Make army look smaller / larger" (hide troops / parade troops continuously / create more / less camp fires, etc etc )

.

 

[Ling*]

You make a good point, accurate troop numbers in armies was total BS! This should NOT happen in Bannerlord. Instead of showing accurate army size, it should show text like - "Appears Very Large Army" - "Appears Large Army" - "Appears moderate Army" - "Appears Small Army" etc etc this text could be manipulated by generals who have the ability to "Make army look smaller / larger" (hide troops / parade troops continuously / create more / less camp fires, etc etc )

.

I actually really like this suggestion, I don't like how the Ai generals all seem to have 100% accurate and detailed information about an enemy army at all times at any point in the map, it feels... unrealistic and it never allows for generals to make "mistakes" like attacking a castle without having 2x+ the numbers that the defending army has. I think the Ai general should be capable of making these mistakes otherwise we will never have a fair siege battle due to the Ai's calculation parameters will not allow themselves to attack a superior force.

 

[danEN]

Just watched a large Sturgian army (650+) march to relieve a city under siege. They almost made it there when the city feel. The attacking Khuzait army had about 200 troops left after battle and the city held about 50 khuzait defenders. The Large Sturgian army turned around and marched home, 300 miles away ..???????

Obviously the Sturgian army should have trounced the 200 Khuzait army then taken back the city ... why didn't this happen ???

.

Was the city near other Sturgian territory? You say they marched a long way home, so it could just be the ai decisions choosing not to take/retake a city deep in enemy territory maybe.

 

[Gandamula]

Ai was stupid because chosed a far city to attack, I don't understand the criterion, I hope they change it.

 

[archaicwarrior]

Ok it wasn't that far, I exaggerated a tad but large armies move so slowly, it seemed far away. The city was ...cannot remember it's name, next to Aragorn, on the lake.

I've noticed this dumb AI many times, not just now, this occasion the stupidity was extreme. - Try to relieve, not in time, go home. It should be - Try to Relieve, not in time, check results of siege, attack or go home depending on results.

Removing accurate numbers of troops for rough estimations would make the game FAR MORE enjoyable.

 

[Apocal]

Ok it wasn't that far, I exaggerated a tad but large armies move so slowly, it seemed far away. The city was ...cannot remember it's name, next to Aragorn, on the lake.

Diathma.

 

[hieronymos2]

I don't like how the Ai generals all seem to have 100% accurate and detailed information about an enemy army at all times at any point in the map, it feels... unrealistic and it never allows for generals to make "mistakes"

The AI has enough trouble as it is implementing strategic decisions. To change omniscient AI to one that could be tricked into misjudging threat level posed by an opposing enemy forces would mainly play into the hands of the Khuzaits, who can already effortlessly avoid engaging superior forces, yet run down inferior ones.

Unless that was your intention all along?!? A Khuzait sympathizer seeking to guarantee your faction's world dominance?!

But seriously, the idea is a good one as a future high-level Tactics perk. Would probably need some ingenious coding to actually implement.

Better than making such an effect due to being due to tactical skill of an army commander, would be to make it dependent upon ratio of how much light cavalry each army possessed, as my understanding from the pre-modern period is that the force with light CAV superiority could more accurately determine enemy force levels...while denying same to their enemy.

 

[echoco]

At least this kind of stupidity is historically accurate. A timid commander would get false reports of a vast enemy force, decide his mission can't be accomplished and turn around. Sometimes poor coding simulates reality.
Sometimes it's just poor coding and should be reported as a bug to get it fixed.

The problem here is this kind of behavior is the norm. Rather than recovering the lost castle, armies always turn around and went back to what they were doing before.

I've seen armies that could have won battles or come close get destroyed because they put their infantry and archer into circle formation and sit there to be destroyed.

 

[archaicwarrior]

You make a good point, accurate troop numbers in armies was total BS! This should NOT happen in Bannerlord. Instead of showing accurate army size, it should show text like - "Appears Very Large Army" - "Appears Large Army" - "Appears moderate Army" - "Appears Small Army" etc etc this text could be manipulated by generals who have the ability to "Make army look smaller / larger" (hide troops / parade troops continuously / create more / less camp fires, etc etc )

.

Extending this idea, here's some more details -

Numbers .............................................. Text
------------- .......................................... ------------
2 .................................................. " a couple"
3 .................................................. " a few"
4 - 8 ............................................. " a small group"
9 - 17 ........................................... " a moderate group"
18 - 32 ........................................... " a large group"
33 - 79 ........................................... " a small army"
80 - 120 ......................................... " a moderate army"
121 - 399 .......................................... " a large army"
400 - 800 .......................................... " a very large army"
800 + ................................................ " a massive army"

(numbers are just guesstimations, can vary)

Of course text replace numbers would only happen for "realistic" difficulty option.

.

 

[Apocal]

You make a good point, accurate troop numbers in armies was total BS! This should NOT happen in Bannerlord. Instead of showing accurate army size, it should show text like - "Appears Very Large Army" - "Appears Large Army" - "Appears moderate Army" - "Appears Small Army" etc etc this text could be manipulated by generals who have the ability to "Make army look smaller / larger" (hide troops / parade troops continuously / create more / less camp fires, etc etc )

Extending this idea, here's some more details -

Numbers .............................................. Text
------------- .......................................... ------------
2 .................................................. " a couple"
3 .................................................. " a few"
4 - 8 ............................................. " a small group"
9 - 17 ........................................... " a moderate group"
18 - 32 ........................................... " a large group"
33 - 79 ........................................... " a small army"
80 - 120 ......................................... " a moderate army"
121 - 399 .......................................... " a large army"
400 - 800 .......................................... " a very large army"
800 + ................................................ " a massive army"

(numbers are just guesstimations, can vary)

Of course text replace numbers would only happen for "realistic" difficulty option.

The AI is already a bad enough judge of combat power that you can trivially trick it into engaging in battles it will lose 100% of the time.

 

[archaicwarrior]

The AI is already a bad enough judge of combat power that you can trivially trick it into engaging in battles it will lose 100% of the time.

I'm not talking about AI, I'm referring to players.
.

 

[Sigaretovic]

I like the idea of hiding amounts of troops from the player. The fact that information about the army size is available in detail is bad enough. Whats even worse is garrison (including troops types).

 

[Medivhtratos]

I like the idea of hiding amounts of troops from the player. The fact that information about the army size is available in detail is bad enough. Whats even worse is garrison (including troops types).

In the End, you cant really hide the amount. Some players will look straight at the code and new what amount they are facing. Hiding troop types and the Tiers of the Troops would make it more interesting.

 

[Ling*]

In the End, you cant really hide the amount. Some players will look straight at the code and new what amount they are facing. Hiding troop types and the Tiers of the Troops would make it more interesting.

I don't think that preventing players from exploiting or "cheesing" the game is what this suggestion is aimed at fixing, nor should it really be a consideration in development tbh, players will find ways to cheese even the most complex systems so trying to stop it is futile. If players look at the code, oh well no worries, the system isn't for them, its for the rest of us who don't want to look at the code.

 

[Sigaretovic]

Exactly