Why is the Northern Empire so gobsmackingly STUPID??

[BannerJamminRaps]

Last few games I've been trying to commit myself as a vassal to the Northern Empire and support Lucon.
Not an impossible goal.. or so I would think.

Playing on either version 1.4 (Beta) or 1.3 (Main Release), they CONTINUALLY get stomped by the Khuzait and seem unwilling to engage with inferior armies.
Encurion marching to retake Myzea with over 500 men against a Garrison/Militia of 150 FLED from an approaching force of 240 Khuzait and immediately changed his siege target to Argoron.

PLEASE FIX THESE MORONS.
I don't know what the targetting error, or calculation error is but when you've got a 2:1 man advantage in open field battle in forested terrain which will hamper cavalry charges and you WALK AWAY when your Empire is down 6 sieges to 0... something is seriously broken.

This has been my last six playthroughs.
This last time Northern Empire even had Omor from the Sturgians, so they should've had a little more supply, but their moronic AI would rather raid their lost settlements and keep giving away castles/cities than cripple their enemy's armies and actually retake castles and cities with sub-200 Garrisons.

 

[AfLIcTeD]

It's not just about quantity. It is based on a parties strength. Which is calculated based off of quantity, quality and cavalry bonus. The Khuzaits already get a 20% bonus due to their cavalry and if the Northern Empire are getting stomped then they will be fielding weaker armies. So if the Northern Empire has an army of 500 weak troops, the Khuzaits army of 200 stronger units will most likely win.
It is seriously unbalanced. I can guarantee you that the Khuzaits will dominate every game unless they get ganged up on because of the cavalry bonus. The only faction the may have a chance against them is Vlandia, since they field a lot of cavalry too.

 

[hruza]

The Khuzaits already get a 20% bonus due to their cavalry

They don't. Cavalry have 20% bonus in auto-calculations regardless of the faction, but Khuzait armies are not 100% cavalry and other armies are not 0% cavalry. They tend to have more cavalry, but the bonus they get is not 20%. Not even close.

Moreover that 20% is applied by case to case basis, as auto-calc consist of different rounds in which attacking and defending units are randomly chosen. So it's not flat 20% even in the case of cavalry.

 

[wookdaddy]

In my current game Khuzait is the 3rd strongest faction. Sturgia (the one I'm in) and Aserai are tied at first at around 16,000 STR, Khuzait is about 10,000. They are annoying though, especially in the early game when you can't do a lot individually against them. Northern Empire is not in a great position either geographically, they are right in the middle of the map IIRC. Haven't seen the original map in a while though.

 

[paladinx333]

Once the Khuzait get rolling there is almost no stopping them. Not without player intervention.

The lords do not currently possess any great smarts. Their choice of siege targets leaves much to be desired. Their lack of desire to engage enemy armies is even more problematic. The OP experience both in their game.

 

[BannerJamminRaps]

Once the Khuzait get rolling there is almost no stopping them. Not without player intervention.

The lords do not currently possess any great smarts. Their choice of siege targets leaves much to be desired. Their lack of desire to engage enemy armies is even more problematic. The OP experience both in their game.

Several games.

Including the most recent startover where I've thrown my lot in with the Southern Empire.. North once again losing cities and castles to the Khuzait (Amprela, Espinosa and Sestadiem(?) Castles and Myzea), and only being able to retake cities because the Khuzait declared on the Southern Empire or were declared on.

It's just frustrating that Western and Southern Empires both have good enough stability to be viable to vassal to, and the North is too busy licking their barding to defend their own lands with any success

 

[Koshkasa]

the Sturgians, so they should've had a little more supply, but their moronic AI would rather raid their lost settlements and keep giving away castles/cities than cripple their enemy's armies and actually retake castles and cities with sub-200 Garrisons.

It is the exact same AI everyone else has.
If army cap is small AND quantity of troops is close to cap, they tend to raid villages (small armies which consist of a couple lords)
If army cap is big AND quantity of troops is close to cap, they tend to try besieging something.
If quantity is significantly lower than army cap, run around recruiting dudes, then sit in a fief treating wounded.

If NE is busy raiding, you're either not paying attention to another stronger army, or the stronger army was recently gobsmacked, and there aren't enough capable lords to form a larger army at this time.

It's the exact same AI for all factions, I'm afraid