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[v1.4] AI broken and game still too difficult

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[v1.4] AI broken and game still too difficult

from Elemental Forums

Hello!

With this post I would like to share my painful experience with Elemental: War of Magic, and talk about some big issues of this game, which as of v1.4 haven't be solved.

I had been really excited about this game since the first announcements, and I really want to like this game, but some big problems prevent me from enjoying it.

Big issue #1: the enemy AI. The enemy AI in this game is broken; the game is to difficult, to the point of being unplayable.

It's mind boggling to me to read some people still say that the AI in this game is to easy, even on ridiculous setting. What game were they playing?? What I experienced so far suggests the complete opposite.

I tried several sandbox games against one enemy AI, with different settings:

  • Usually, I play a “good” sovereign and the AI plays an “evil” sovereign.

  • I Tried different combinations of difficulty ranging from normal to novice, for the world and for the enemy sovereign..

  • I Tried all world sizes, from tiny to large.

  • I Tried all pacing settings.

The result is always the same:

  • The AI faction power grows at a rate much higher (at least 5x) than mine . (By the way, what is faction power and how is it calculated? I found no clear explanation in the manual, nor in the forums)

  • The AI spams cities and “boxes” me; and it does it so efficiently, it looks like it's able to see through the fog of war.

  • The AI is able to develop strong units since early in the game.

Let me repeat myself for the sake of clarity: all this happens on all difficulty settings from novice to normal, and I have v1.4 installed. I didn't even dare try harder difficulty settings.

I applied several tips I found on the forums, like developing tech trees efficiently, exploring to find new resources, construct towns and buildings intelligently, but it was all useless; the enemy AI is too overwhelming. At least at the novice and easy setting, I would expect the AI to be a pushover, regardless of how badly you play; that's commons sense in AI programming.

Here's what I would like to know: I am the only one experiencing those great AI issues?

 

Big issue #2: Magic. The magic mechanics seem quite undeveloped, as a result it's pretty much worthless:

  • It's too slow to develop

  • There are too few attack spells

  • Most spells require mana to maintain, but mana is a pretty scarce resource.

  • You can use battle spells only if your sovereign takes part physically in the fight

It seems to me that the only effective strategy in this game is to find some iron mines and develop the War tech tree until you are able to build heavy armoured, battle axe wielding troops. That's it. The Magic tech tree can be happily ignored. This gets boring soon. This is not what I expected from a game that has “War of Magic” in its name.


25,498 views 31 replies
Reply #26 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Trojasmic, reply 6




quoting post
It's mind boggling to me to read some people still say that the AI in this game is to easy, even on ridiculous setting.


 

I think there's a clue in this statement.  Are we sure this chap is playing on the right setting?
End of Trojasmic's quote

He's probably 8-10 years old and can't even beat his dad at COOTIE. ;)

Reply #27 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting seanw3, reply 12
Go to the Workshop from main screen and download my map, Prirod
End of seanw3's quote

 

Thanks for the suggestion.  I agree that random maps are usually just that for balancer purposes.  I would much rather play pre-planned maps that are actually balanced or at least have some plan behind the strategy you shoudl take to win on them.

 

As for the original post I am finding this game ridiculously easy with absolutely horrible AI that should never have made it out of beta.  I litterly am stomping the AI and am playing on the setting right below ridiculous.  I did take a forum suggestion and install after the war mod, expanded factions, and artifacts.  Frankly the dungeons have provided the most challenge and fun for me.

 

I litterly have had a city that is completely undefended with a stack of enemy units 3 squares away and they didn't attack it to take it over for a few turns.

 

The AI builds units that are completely weak with horrible defense and weapons which I don't understand because the game has been going on forever and I already have heavy plate tech with a couple weapon upgrade techs.  It seems like the AI doesn't use the most powerful equipment it can when building units which results in peasant stacks thrown against knights (my army).

 

This is my first game so maybe the AI just has crap resources but I doubt it.  It's a real shame because the game has huge potential  but stardock really dropped the ball on the last 10% of it.  Not sure how a company that made galactic civ could end up doing this.  It's still been really fun but it is quite upsetting that it's been out this long and none of this has been fixed.

 

oh and to the OP if you want to download the mods im talking about go here- https://forums.elementalgame.com/412833

SoundPackager - Customize the Windows sound scheme
Reply #28 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Trojasmic, reply 6
I think there's a clue in this statement. Are we sure this chap is playing on the right setting?
End of Trojasmic's quote

Concur. The higher difficulties are no cake walk but with sound tactics and a cohesive strategy, the game is not difficult to beat.

 

PS And I'll admit--I'm, at best, an average player.

Reply #29 from Elemental Forums Top

Hmm i agree with most what you wrote, about magic and AI.

 

Altough with AI the funny thing is altough it gets very powerful units fast and tons of cities, its really very dumb and doesnt use them (on challenging level) so you can take your time and hit it city by city.I had a power of 9 compared to 50 of my enemy and i got his 4 cities...No retaliation whatsover or any organised attack on my cities...

Reply #30 from Elemental Forums Top

I am in the same boat as the OP, and read "the AI's so easy, LOL" as "look at the size of my e-penis."  It's really lame, so knock it off.  If you really think it's easy, then why don't you share your strategies that make you oh-so-awesome?

 

When I put the AI on novice, I get many turns in to find that the enemy has 2x the cities, 5x the resources, and 3x the armies that I do.  This is just odd.

Reply #31 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting azzaron, reply 15

Quoting Heavenfall, reply 10The AI has two main bonuses that tip the balance in their favour. First, they always see the entire map including resources. Therefore, they will often expand much stronger than you in the start. Second, their pioneers cannot be attacked by monsters like yours can.

 

So that explains why the AI's pioneers beeling for special stuff and stroll right past a huge stack of monsters unescorted as the monsters rush past them to attack my army guarding my pioneer.

 

In the code I thought the line "<AIFOWCheat>0</AIFOWCheat> " set it so they could not always see the entire map including resources and it was not until the higher levels of difficulty when it changes to "<AIFOWCheat>1</AIFOWCheat> " that they could.  Perhaps I am understanding it wrong and what the AIFOWCheat does.  Does it refer to units only and not terrain / resources?
End of azzaron's quote

 

Where is this setting, a config file?