Is barbarian AI ******** or plays favorites!?!

[Higher Game]

I made the Pact of the Nilhorn and reduced an enemy's city to no defenders when a barbarian unit was on the other side (this wasn't a barbarian civilization). The barbarian unit simply kept going into his empire, ignoring the open city that I was going to seize after he took it.

Nilhorn seriously needs a human cost reduction if one of its main points is so unreliable. I've never seen a barbarian unit ignore one of my cities like that.

 

[Emptiness]

That unit already had a destination picked. The AI can be very focused like that. If you maintain the undefended state of that city (by killing any new defenders that are built or which arrive) then eventually someone will come after it.

 

[Sephi]

if your strategy is based on wild and chaotic barbarians acting reliable you might want to change your strategy

 

[Higher Game]

I could have made 25 warriors instead. The Nilhorn is about flexibility and sneakiness, not raw power.

 

[Emptiness]

The problem with your plan to use the Giants to wage a covert war with your neighbors isn't the Pact of the Nilhorn itself, it is that your plan relies on the barbarians to do what you want them to do. That doesn't call for a rebalance of the pact, it calls for a reconsideration of your strategy. If you had made 25 Warriors instead of the pact, then you would have to declare war to take the city. If you're willing to declare war then you could complete the pact, use the Giants to clear a city, declare war and then take the city with whatever units you plan to use to defend it.

 

[Tholal]

Let me see if I understand this correctly. In your mind, the "main point" of Pact of the Nilhorn is so that you can get the Hidden Nationality Giants, and then go into your neighbor's territory, kill their troops, and hope that a barbarian comes along and captures the empty city so that you can then take it without declaring war?

That's a very convoluted strategy. And it seems petty to me to complain about a barbarian unit that doesn't march in lock-step with your plans.

If that's the only use that you can find for the Stooges, then I think you have bigger problems than the uncooperative barbarian AI.

 

[Azhral]

Fairly early Str7 beasts with Bombard! W00t! Just keep em away from enemy hunters and you'll be fine.

Personally, the almost most useful thing I've done with them is use them in chokepoints. Since they are HN, nobody can get to my lands, muahaha!

 

[Higher Game]

Let me see if I understand this correctly. In your mind, the "main point" of Pact of the Nilhorn is so that you can get the Hidden Nationality Giants, and then go into your neighbor's territory, kill their troops, and hope that a barbarian comes along and captures the empty city so that you can then take it without declaring war?

That's a very convoluted strategy. And it seems petty to me to complain about a barbarian unit that doesn't march in lock-step with your plans.

I said "one of its main points", and it's a viable way to level them if the ai still has bronzeless warriors. It's not petty to complain that barbarians behave inconsistently, and it's not hard to pull off if they didn't.

 

[Deon]

So what's the point? Do you want barbarian AI to be coded to recompute each step and to lag the game more?

 

[Angel-Julia]

So what's the point? Do you want barbarian AI to be coded to recompute each step and to lag the game more?

Turn up the lag-fest!

hmm, i guess if i need to go for a coffee break every turn of my huge-map game, then i'd be bouncing off the walls O.0

 

[Deon]

Also I am pretty sure it would lead to funny situations like unit stacks moving back and forward because they get different priorities each turn, and then it would be even worse. Thus the current method is good because at least it's somehow working.

 

[Tasunke]

It seems like stacks already move back and forth ... or at least they used to. I can remember an AI moving all 100 of his units out of his capital, leaving my unit of 40 elite soldiers to raze it and then summarily destroy him.

It was .... not the best and the brightest AI, and it was some time ago, before recent patches.

 

[a_civilian]

It seems like stacks already move back and forth ... or at least they used to. I can remember an AI moving all 100 of his units out of his capital, leaving my unit of 40 elite soldiers to raze it and then summarily destroy him.

It was .... not the best and the brightest AI, and it was some time ago, before recent patches.

I had Basium do that in patch m. Admittedly, my attackers had commando and summons and would not have been in range of the city without that. And it wasn't his whole stack, but he had ~130 angels wandering back and forth through the 3-4 tiles of his territory while ~10 defended the city. (He also never once bothered sending anything beyond his borders, but that's another story.)

 

[Dumanios]

Basium is an idiot.

 

[Tholal]

Both of the summoned civs seem to have issues with doing anything productive after being summoned. They should both be much more aggressive.

 

[Tasunke]

aye ... they should allow specific agendas to rule their logic, as opposed to seing nations as full contiguous empires. At least, thats what I think of it all, especially when considering their unique nature.

Of course, to maximize benefit, its much easier for a human to accomplish this (given enough time), although on Hard difficulty levels the Mercurians can just happenstance stumble into positions of Incredible Power.