I know the obvious answer - badly - but a bit of spying in my last game threw up something I can't make sense of.

Russia and China/Mongolia were engaged in a modern-era war of Russia's making (Cathy declared after building up for some turns, so she should definitely have been prepared for it). I sent a couple of aircraft up there to observe and spotted this:

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/6023/civ4screenshot0000yf3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

She's basically got a 116 unit SoD just sat there a way back from the front-line (Old Sarai on the right of the screenshot is the first enemy border city to fall). The war started 4-5 turns before this screenshot was taken and the stack was sleeping for 3-4 turns after I first spotted it. It subsequently disappeared right about the time it started to rain tactical nukes over Mongolia, so presumably those troops did eventually get moved to the front.

I know the theory about the AI having a certain number of mobile forces with a lot of troops that will just sit in cities defending them, but does it have reserve stacks it likes to keep up it's sleeve too?

Any explanation will be gratefully received :)

Why not fire up that game in debug mode: this will show you the status of each unit (whether it is used for garrison duty or something else)?

The computer seems to be highly reactionary. In other words, they have a fixed amount of troops that they'll send and a fixed amount that they reserve for taking back lost cities, or simply shoring up the defenses of ones under attack.

I watched the Mongols invade Persian the other day, which was an interesting fight: The Mongol hordes came and took a city right near my border, only to lose it the next turn to a wave of guys. The Persians sat in their recovered town for a bit, took some more beatings, and then lost the city to the Mongols again... Only to take it back the next turn with another wave of troops.

The Persians were losing the war due to inferior numbers and technology, but I noticed that they had a massive stack in their capital and many more units in a nearby town which they weren't using. Only as the war got worse did they send these guys out to defend towns or take back lost ones. I think all AI use this same tactic, instead of sending out SoDs to systematically take cities like I imagine most players do.

Something else to keep in mind in that game, though, was the fact that their horse archers and cavalry weren't going to do much against infantry and tanks anyway. =P

I looks like a bug to me. Usually the AI builds a SOD and sends it to attack, leaving 3~5 defenders in each city.
The only time they don't attack is when the enemies SOD is considered too tough. Each leader has "attack courage" and some would not agree to attack with ratios too low.

Speaking of bugs, I think I had another one.
I don't know if this is a 3.17 issue or a solver's patch bug (I am using both), but this is what the AI did in my game:
They used a spy to revolt one of my border cities (first time I saw AI using this mission), then they moved a SOD of curassiers 1 square next to my city. They didn't attack!!!
It seems like a bug- they used the spy 1 turn too early, so when they actually attacked the city had its defencive bonus.

It would explain why some AIs send endless streams of units on higher levels. They're not producing those units, they just had them sitting around all along. Very odd, but I suppose it goes well with the AI tactic of annoying the human as much as possible even if it doesn't help the AI win. :)

I think that it is possible that the AI is indecise about 2 or more targets ( after the capture of that border city , that looks to had been the #1 and most obvious choice ) and that it gets stuck in the choice. well, this assumes that those units are really in war mode ( this is why a chitpole check would be nice )....

( this is why a chitpole check would be nice )....
With which the esteemed Mr Rolo means running in debug mode (chipotle being the secret password) :)

I'd like to oblige, but unfortunately the closest autosave I have is from the turn the stack decided to invade Mongolia (2-3 years later) :(

Once it invaded, the units were mostly labeled as city attack, attack and counter.

This might fit with rolo's suggestion that Cathy was waiting to pick her next city target before unleashing the fury...

Then it is most likely a logic loophole somewhere..... I would bet that the Ai is indecise about two possible targets and because of that, it chooses none ....

Then it is most likely a logic loophole somewhere..... I would bet that the Ai is indecise about two possible targets and because of that, it chooses none ....

That sounds a bit strange. I would understand if she moved her units back and forth and never got anywhere, but it seems like her units were stationary. Maybe there is a part in the code for "wait and see what the other one is doing" or something like that.

Thats a big stack....how long did it take to make that thing, and what difficulty r u on?

Thats a big stack....how long did it take to make that thing, and what difficulty r u on?
It belongs to the AI, not me. Most of the units in it are probably upgraded.

This is on immortal, where the AI builds a lot more units than emperor, but the huge map size probably has something to do with the number of troops.

is it possible that one of the units was injured and the entire stack was on 'heal' mode?

Can't decide which city to attack.... women :rolleyes:

How does the AI fight?
Badly. :p



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