Some questions about the AI...

[Cainehill]

LintMan:
Along the same lines, what does the AI consider "provocation" for an all-out attack? (ie: is putting temples/preachers along the border offensive? [...]

Norfleet:
Invading them, or getting into a fight with them will start a war for certain.

I hate to open my newbie yap here, but I don't think it's "for certain". A game I started today, T'ien C'hi declared war before I could even see them on the map. On the other paw, I took either two or three provinces from Ulm without them going all hostile on me.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Cainehill:
I hate to open my newbie yap here, but I don't think it's "for certain". A game I started today, T'ien C'hi declared war before I could even see them on the map. On the other paw, I took either two or three provinces from Ulm without them going all hostile on me.

Just because they failed to counterattack (thus far) does not mean that the Ulm AI does not consider there to be a state of war between you. Ulm may well have been fully preoccupied fighting someone else to pay any attention to you. Furthermore, if you made an opportunistic land grab, and Ulm was distracted by other affairs, they might revert to being at peace with you by the time they could amass a strong enough force to have counterattacked, if you left them alone after that initial attack. Timing matters.

EDIT: if you attack an AI, you will not see an official message saying you are at war. It is presumed you are at war since *you* initiated the hostilities. The fact that AIs do go back to being at peace is one reason some of us have been clamoring for some sort of indication on the list of in-game nations as to which nations we are at war with. Presently, there is no way to know.

[ March 19, 2004, 01:10: Message edited by: Arryn ]

[mlepinski]

If you want to play a game with a significant period of "peaceful expansion", I would recommend that you edit the map file and place a scattering of fortresses on the map for the computer to conquer. The AI will not build forts, but if you put them on the map it will gladly conquer them and use them to build troops. I've found that on higher difficulty levels, the AI's performance is much improved (and actually quite respectable) if you give it some forts to conquer and allow it a period of "peaceful expansion".

- Matt Lepinski :->

[Taqwus]

Eh, just infer it and figure that the AIs aren't obligated to tell you how they REALLY feel, just like how a human player might attempt a surprise Alpha Strike.

If they're massing troops onto the border or lobbing Imprint Souls at you, you can pretty much safely infer that they don't like you very much and it may be time to send reinforcements to the weaker provinces, whereas more minor harrassment like Call of the Winds doesn't mean that much other than perhaps probing prior to an attack.

Well, if it were a human it'd be a probe -- to gather province name, check for presence of domes, check local defenses, perhaps roughly estimate what magics your pretender started with in case your guys cast Bless or determine your theme or how much you bother equipping or so forth. It's not a very subtle probe, and you know the caster's nation, but it'd perhaps be informative.

It _might_ be possible for a nasty global to provoke a war; I seem to recall suddenly once being involved in a three-front war in Dom I after casting The Looming Hell, and that seemed to be the obvious trigger. Might have been a coincidence however.

[LintMan]

Thanks everyone for all the info/tips (especially Norfleet for covering all my Q's)
Once I get more experienced, I might try that tip about adding forts to the map.

-LintMan

PS: Norfleet - TA is definitely my favorite RTS as well. Nothing since has really come close. What did you think of TA:Kingdoms?

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by LintMan:
PS: Norfleet - TA is definitely my favorite RTS as well. Nothing since has really come close. What did you think of TA:Kingdoms?

I found it to be thoroughly insuperior to the original Total Annihilations and related materials. Most specifically, I was greatly distressed by the lack of a D-Gun on the Commander. Also, blocky graphics look really good on robots, not so good on people, and the units in the original were totally superior. Give me PeeWees or give me death!

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by LintMan:
Thanks everyone for all the info/tips (especially Norfleet for covering all my Q's)
Once I get more experienced, I might try that tip about adding forts to the map.

If you want a longer game with scattered forts and other surprises then try the "Poke in the Eye" file which uses the EYE map that came with the game.
http://www.techno-mage.com/~dominion...2/Poke_Eye.map

Its re-randomized every day.