nijis said:
There are a couple of reasons not to make distance the sole criteria. Basically, it would mean that border villages would get hit again and again.
Sorry, I should have said I'm talking about castles (and towns). I have no problem with the liberal targeting of villages, but I think targets for territorial gain should be mainly on the border, and slightly further (roughly the next castle/town beyond the border, allowing the faction to cut off the border castles/towns). While it makes sense that a vulnerable target is chosen, consideration to its defensive capabilities
after it is captured also has to be considered. A close but harder target is a far sounder target than one that is easy, but far away and undefendable. In theory it's good that they select targets based on riches, vulnerability and grudges, but if the AI can't hang on to a castle, why take it in the first place?
I just don't see it being worth the many high risks. Thre's risk in travelling through enemy land to reach the target. Unless it's a large campaigning force, this is a risk. There's risk in besieging, which again is a great risk unless the force it very large. There's risk in not being able to defend their own lands. There's great risk in having to travel back through enemy lands to reach home. There's great risk that the farmer parties, caravans and villages constantly raided, significantly lowering any economic benefits. Finally, there's a great risk that the lord won't be able to defend the castle, and that it will be taken soon afterwards. That's a lot of risk for a settlement that will constantly be raided, besieged, and likely lost very quickly. A player wouldn't make this mistake, so why should the AI?
Besterker Pride said:
While we are talking about borders would it be possible for the ai to guard border castles much more often than the interior ones?
Lord patrols or the garrisons? It doesn't bother me that lords are out and about, but border garrisons probably should be larger relative to others. I think the main problem though is a response to a settlement being besieged. It seems to me that the castle will always be taken, and rarely is the siege lifted. I'd like to see garrisons increased (or defensive bonus to the garrison - better?) to a point where any castle is hard to take by force, often forcing armies to starve them out, leaving themselves vulnerable to a force raised to lift the siege. I also think the first priority of lords should be to defend their own lands rather than invade others. If a campaigning army invades, I think the defending army should aim to drive them off, rather than conduct their own invasion.
