AI doesn't defend properly!

[kdaag]

I have recently returned to FFH and am really happy that it´s now "finished". I am however a bit puzzled over one thing.

On the level I currently play at (prince) the AI doesn´t stack more than 3-4 fortified units per city. Sometimes more in one city but not usually. This makes them extremely easy to conquer thereby ruining some of the fun of the game. In BTS the AI seemed to recognize a warlike builtup on my part and take defensive precautions spamming units but I am yet to spot this behaviour in Fall from heaven.

I am playing multiplayer games with 2 friends and 6-7 AI players, hence the reason for keeping the level at prince. (we have huge problems with the barbarians and sometimes with early warrior rushes)

What I want is a balanced game and not a walk in the park if I survive the initial onslaught and inevitable AI cheating that comes with higher difficulty levels.

Will Monarch solve this my problem?

 

[Lone Wolf]

FfH AI is stupider then BtS one.

 

[Earthling]

Monarch won't solve your problem; it's no one's fault but the AI will never be as good at military tactics as the player, or spellcasting, or other features. Combined with the fact that the player is free to do whatever he/she wants, tech/diplomacy/religion wise, and the AI can't keep up without a lot of bonuses. I also agree FfH2 is fundamentally easier than BtS anyway so, say, a Monarch player should be able to about handle FfH2 Immortal.

Single Player, If you want options to make the game challenging without more AI bonuses you could play with some of the challenges like high to low, or otherwise a couple of things like doubling the AC and increased barbarians, but these can hurt the AI as well.

Alternatively, if this setup with your friends is continuing I'd consider making a teamer - put each human on a team with one or two AI so you can guide their research, war, etc... and still be playing against real opponents (or work against the AI at higher difficulty). But there's no short answer, just try some variants and good luck

 

[loffenx]

My experience is that the AI usually stacks more units, untill its at war when it initially lets its defence of the homeland drop to ~4 units a city, unless you take on of their cities at which point it might focus its defence even more (which ofcourse makes sneak-atacks easier). I'd recommend raising the difficult-level over options such as raging barbarians, since thoose usually end up harming the AI more than the player.

 

[kdaag]

It's to bad that flexible difficulty isn't allowed on MP-games, that seems like a good solution.

I´ll try raising the difficulty to monarch immediately and hopefully I'll not have to resort to raging barbs as this is not my favourite mode of play.

Btw I tend to play only with tech brokering (ie only trading techs that you researched for yourself), does this hurt the AI?

I´m also quite interrested in team-up with the AI option how does this work in practice? I guess that you're in a permanent alliance and can direct research but can the AI go to war at their own discretion? Do you start together with your teammates? Is it adviceable to choose your teammates so that they are compatible with your alignment, religion preferences and mode of play? I wouldn't for example want to play a peaceful builder with the crazy clowns as a teammate...

 

[Emptiness]

Resorting to raging barbarians won't help anything; as loffenx said, it will hurt the AI more than it hurts you. If Monarch isn't enough to provide a challenge then turn it up to a higher difficulty. That will make the game more of a challenge, but won't necessarily make the AI any better at defense.

As for playing with teams, you might consider making the 6 AIs into 3 teams of 2 and leaving the humans without teammates (as an alternative to raising the difficulty level). Teaming up the humans with AIs will give the humans access to the AI production and economy boosts from the difficulty level, which will accelerate the game. Also, if there are no AI-only teams then the only war available will be with one of your buddies; usually the point of having AIs around in MP is so that a player can choose warlike play without cutting the game short for one of the humans.

 

[JonathanStrange]

I play mostly at the Deity level; the AI does guard its cities adequately - when it can. There are times when an aggressive civ has sent the majority of its troops against enemies ("the best defense", as players chant,"is a good offense") leaving its cities less protected than they could have been - but I still think overall that's better than seven or eight troops per city doing nothing.

Sometimes a too successful civ apparently finds maintenance a major problem and they end up not being able to afford a serious defense.

I have the feeling that the AI in BTS does a better job of seeing the human's massing of troops and reacting but not that much better: the Clan or whoever starts building up its troops when I mass against them, all the civs react to a buildup. There may be other factors preventing them from doing as much as they would like though.

 

[gogis]

They defend cities with the amount of troups they have at disposal. I was very often in situations when AI settled more than 50 units in important city i was just to conquer. So it's not strictly Ai problem, it's just dificulty level you play on.
Also FFH level of dificulty is like 2-3 steps lower than BTS, so ofcourse increase it. Prince is really easy level for FFH

 

[Seon]

I even had 70 troops in a capital when I was practicing the game with settler level (so I don't freak out and yell I QUIT!!!! or something like that) in Orbis!