AI doesn't fight eachother? (and other questions)

[SDFarsight]

What's the difference between 'aggressive AI' and 'Always War'? I ask because I've now got diplomatic contact with all the nations and none of them are attacking eachother. The Lawful and Chaos factions are mostly annoyed at eachother, but not at war.

The only war I have seen is when the Bretonions declared war against me (I'm playing as Orks). Maybe I shoud wait to much later in the game before making a thread like this, but it does make me wonder if I'm wasting my time in a game where the AI only attacks the player faction. There are about 7 surviving nations in this game and they're all at peace with eachother, though annoyed in some cases.

Edit: I think it's also worth mentioning that at about turn 460 and I've recently successulfy got my allies to declare war on others through diplomacy. Though I still have yet to see them declare war on their own.

Perhaps I should start a new game with 'aggressive AI' selected, but I still want to be peaceful with some factions.

Also, what does that Negash 'old father time' person do? All he does is sit in his Mordorian tower, perhaps summoning zombies. Is he just there for fluff purposes? The civ-pedia doesn't say anything about him other than his stats.

Other than that, this is a very fun and well-made mod . I only wish that I could play as the Skaven, as they’re my favorite race. I brought their codex about a year ago and I would collect them for tabletop, but I don't because only a couple of beardy veterans play WH Fantasy at my club, so I’m keeping with collecting my 40K Tau and Orks. Are the Skaven Ai-only so that their ‘massive warrens/small outposts’ theme works?

And thanks to you mod-developers for making this fine mod, it really gives a good new feel to the game. It's also a good opportunity for a 40K player like me to learn more about the Fantasy version of the game.

 

[Sid_Unbreakable]

I don't know about in the mod, BUT it is very common in CIv to see the AI opponents decide to remain 'friendly' towards one another and antagonistic against the player. In many cases the AI can usually be persuaded to instigate or at least cooperate in a war on someone else for the right incentive. I would say that I have played almost as many games where the AI went crazy on wiping echother out as I have games where the AI remains peaceful until way late in the game. One game in particular that I remember is when I made it to like turn 400 or so with NO wars declared against other AI (only me) and Gandhi declares war on me and wipes me out in 4 turns. Quite embarassing to say the least... However I digress, I would say that the mod AI being what it is that sometimes (most times) its going to need a push in teh right direction to get World Warhammer 1 going.

I believe that Always war is just that, everyone starts off at war with one another, OR it is when you declare war that it becomes permanent but I think it is when you are always at war from the first turn with no ability to make peace. Aggressive AI though is just the AI preferring war to peace. i.e. someone like Gandhi is going to be far more aggressive than normal but is not going to necessarily be a warmonger. An AI persona/leader that was like Napoleon is going to be far more aggressive than he is normally, so beware. I don't believe the Skaven are very playable atm but I could be mistaken... :/

*Note* It could be that you are playing with/against a bunch of AI personas that prefer other paths than warfare to victory*

 

[Ahriman]

Aggressive AI makes the AI more likely that the AI will attack, either the human player or each other. Always war means that all factions are locked in a perpetual war with each other; there is no diplomacy, no peace. This tends to make the mod easier, because AIs don't build up much infrastructure and spend all their times fighting each other.

In my experience (playing at Emperor) the AIs are plenty aggressive with each other. Maybe its just that the AI factions have stronger militaries than you do, so they're more likely to DoW you than the others?

Difficulty level and relative military strengths make a big difference too.

But overall, nothing is changed here relative to normal civ, so its not really an issue with the mod.

 

[SDFarsight]

I'm a bit disapointed that my Skaven allies don't seem to be doing much for the "war". Althuogh the Tomg Kings have made progress attacking that russian bear cavelry, so at least they've attacked eachother now.

@Sid_Unbreakable: Interesting games you had there . Though it odd how it has been more than 400 turns and Crom the "Conqueror" hasn't conquerored so much as a liquor store so far. ¬¬

@Ahriman: Well I'm glad that it's more just me getting back into Civ4 rather than it being a deep mod problem.

I'll carry on for now, though next time I'll probably select 'aggressive AI' so that there's a bigget emphisis on war, but still with alliences being possible. While I do sometimes like it in peacetime, it still doesn't feel right it being "In the grim darkness of the magical past, there is only...peace? Oh and that reminds me...http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a400/Spiritbw/motivator7164250.jpg

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Sid_Unbreakable]

Aggressive AI makes the AI more likely that the AI will attack, either the human player or each other. Always war means that all factions are locked in a perpetual war with each other; there is no diplomacy, no peace. This tends to make the mod easier, because AIs don't build up much infrastructure and spend all their times fighting each other.

In my experience (playing at Emperor) the AIs are plenty aggressive with each other. Maybe its just that the AI factions have stronger militaries than you do, so they're more likely to DoW you than the others?

Difficulty level and relative military strengths make a big difference too.

But overall, nothing is changed here relative to normal civ, so its not really an issue with the mod.

My apologies if I unintentionally insinuated that there was, I was simply trying to point out that the AI is only as strong as the AI for vanilla CIv and it is all you have to work with atm.

 

[Ahriman]

No offense taken
We're well aware of the limitations of the civ AI, and none of us are really AI coders, so we try as hard as possible to stick with mechanics that the AI can understand.