Swarm and AI

from Elemental Forums

My insight into tactical AI:

- swarm mechanic - i would like to make point, which can clearly be seen in fights of one against many (though applies to other battles as well). Let's presume a single dragon fights my army of 6 units. My units surround a dragon and start to hit him, but damage is low and it will take time to kill. Now, the dragon any time he attacks he should move out of the circle (if possible) and THEN attack. The optimal move is to move in such a way that dragon will have contact with one unit only, and preferably the one that moves next. In this case, instead of having 6 units attacking and having swarm bonus, we will have series of attacks, each one without full bonus (first unit - no swarm bonus, second one moves and has now +1 swarm bonus, third follows with +2 swarm etc.). 

This example shows the problem with AI - due to new weapons and skill positioning became more, and more important. However, once AI unit is in the zone of enemy unit it NEVER moves to reposition itself, but ALWAYS attacks.

Instead i propose:

Before attacking unit checks if a better position is available. However, only those positions that end up with attack are considered (this to avoid running around and doing nothing). Priorities should be: avoiding being swarmed, finishing wounded unit, and finally, the maximization of damage.

In general, however, units that are swarmed should always move and attack, and not just attack whatever is close at hand. 

10,919 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Just to add:

frogboy claims that his desire is to create a game where strategic focus of the empire building is way more important than tactical aspect. In other words, that a game is decided and won basically before a battle takes place. However, we still want to have a cool tactical battles, and here problems happen. 

Newly introduced weapon's skills: cleave, impale, and bash are great and cool, but has huge impact on a battlefield. Suddenly, a good tactical player has opportunity to have advantage over AI. It is a part of a reason why game became easier recently: i can now win on ridiculous with basically all defined races, a feat i would not dream of in FE.

 Another crippling AI mechanic is pioneer cost in population, but that's another story altogether ...

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

I just removed the +1 attack from the swarm bonus. It much more balanced that way for the above aformentioned reasons.

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

I do not think removing swarm bonus is an answer. In the past high armored units were like tanks, and a single unit could manage entire armies. Swarm represents reality that numbers do count. Thus, I would prefer AI improvement - whereas strategic side of a game is of a mind blowing complexity, tactical battles on LH scale can be done better.