I started a 4 player (3 AI + me) game on a small map and used the visibility cheat to see what the AI was doing. They're definitely a lot smarter than they were before, but there were some odd things that could be addressed. I didn't reload at all until the very end and I wanted to verify these things were repeatable. I have cheats on (for the visibility), not sure if people will be able to load the save without them.
Bugs / Potential Issues:
AI Units departing cities seem to have all their move taken away. Example saves are turn11End and turn12auto, (load 11, hit end turn, look for the pioneer of Yithril's at the far West edge of the map or Oracle Ceresa in the North-West corner). Has anyone seen an AI unit move more than one space from a city in the turn it exits the city?
AI Pioneers who reach the site they want to build on with 0 move don't immediately build there, they wait for the next turn. I only saw this once (for an outpost), but I didn't look for it more than that. Load turn11End, and watch Altar's pioneer move to the space 5 tiles west of his city and found an outpost. It's not a big deal, but I figured I'd mention it for completeness.
AI will sometimes appear to not be building anything for several turns in a row. No units or buildings are produced (so they're not rushing), and the label on their town is "No Construction". Starting at this save turn18end, watch the various AI's production for the next several turns. It changes per reload, but in the actual game no one produced anything until turn 22 (from 18)
[Tactical AI] Black widow spider approached my sovereign until adjacent and then webbed me in place rather than attacking.
AI and Monster armies can sometimes occupy the same space without fighting. Here’s Verga and a couple pioneers hanging out with an Umberdroth (yikes)
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[UI Bug] Lowering taxes doesn’t affect the estimated build/train times for buildings as you do it – you need to open and close the build/train window for it to update. This is mostly cosmetic and doesn't matter much.
Full Details
Map:
Small, Temperate
3 opponents (2 empire, 1 kingdom, and I was the 2nd kingdom)
Challenging Difficulty
Moderate Monster Frequency
Fast Tech Pacing
Dense Magic
Dense Resources
Turn 1 (Start)
Ceresa: Terrible start location, on a 3/2, but next to a 4/2. In a corner though with two single-tile (albeit unblocked) paths outwards
Relias: Excellent start location. On a 4/2, next to a 5/2 and a 4/3, with food, clay, and shard resources nearby. He was also in the center of the map and had an entire half to himself.
Verga: Between Ceresa and I along the east edge of the land mass, between us both. On a 4/2, next to a couple 4/3s
Turn 2
They all build on exactly the tile they started on, with 1/3 move left. Relias recruited a hero 2 tiles away. It’s season 2, but I’m not sure they’ve even gotten a turn yet? I’m just not sure how the turn order goes I guess
I had an autosave of this (turn2auto), but on loading it it appears they haven't even built their cities yet. Ending the turn immediately (look at Altar in the center-east) shows their sovereigns not moving. Somehow Relias recruited that hero even though he never moved next to him. Also note-worthy - I had selected research at this point, but it doesn't load with the save-game. I'm pretty sure that's been reported before though.
Turn 3
All 3 are building pioneers
Turn 5
Relias has teamed up with his hero, Svedd. Very cool that they're smart enough to do that sometimes. But ha has cast Obsession on his capitol (another challenging bonus? He doesn’t have the spell)
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Loading turn11End will bring up the city if necessary.
Turn 9-10
Relias finished his pioneer, but started construction on a water shrine adjacent to his city. It’s going to take 20 turns, tying up his capitol for a while. [Later note - he ends up rushing it after 5 or 6 turns, so it was nicely done) On turn 10, the pioneer moved one space out of the city and suddenly had 0 move (see above issue)
Turn 11-12
Relias’ pioneer is now moving healthily towards some fertile ground
Verga’s pioneer did the same thing as it started from its city – it used all of its movement the first turn just leaving the city [see above for save games]
Turn 13
Relias’ pioneer built an outpost to get 1 iron (I didn’t think he had explored that fertile land, but he sees it now). A few things weren’t optimal here. 1) if he had gone in the other, explored direction, he could have gotten 2 shards and a crystal with his outpost. And 2), the pioneer ended turn 12 at the spot where it made the outpost in turn 13 – it could have created it one turn earlier. [see above issue]
Had the outpost been placed just south of the city it would have gained significantly more resources:
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Verga’s pioneer didn’t move, but Verga used all of his move to enter the square with the pioneers , next to his capitol (a 0-move cost for the player)
Turn 15
Verga and Ceresa have rushed a couple pioneers each. Verga is escorting them, while Ceresa teamed up with her hero to kill a group of wildlings (smart).
Relias is undefeated and is level 3, but his hero has taken several injuries. Teaming up appears to have worked for him. He took Strength, Potential, and has Path of the Warrior (also smart to choose them together, though I always pictured him as a caster). He’s appears to have rushed the shrine and another pioneer
Turn 18-19
Verga doesn’t appear to be building anything [turn18end to turn19auto] or rushing anything. Turn 20, 21 still nothing. I think Ceresa and Relias are the same way, and have been since at least turn 19. The no construction issue is noted above, but doesn't appear perfectly repeatable on reload.
Turn 22
They all finally started construction again
I stopped to write this up and start a new game without the cheat!
