Paradox Developer Johan claims CA's ETW has no AI

[Killroy]

http://www.wargamer.com/forums/tm.aspx?&m=359097&mpage=1

This just in:

Its so funny how people take everything so seriously. Why can't a developer say what he thinks about a game he paid for?

I've seen plenty of developers dissing aspects of my games at various places, (including some here even), but I don't really care, nor do I argue with them. If they bought the game they got every right to say what they think.

/Johan

What you guys think about this? Hey Steve you better put your 2 cents in.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Well, I must say I rather enjoyed it, and Johan is too damn right. I just don't buy the argument that one developer owes it to another not to say anything. Johans €50,- buys him a right to moan, certainly on his own forum. Don't begrudge Kieran the right to defend himself on Pardox's forum either, though it's perhaps not the smartest move. Certainly not the tongue in cheek death threat, which is just a bad idea at any time no matter how witty. And he got THAT wrong as well. The challenger doesn't pick weapons, the challenged person does.

I found it pretty telling that the ETW forums were more vigours in agreeing with Johan then the Paradox crowd.

Empire Total War in it's release state, and even in their current state, is FUBAR.

The tacAI can't handle forming a battle line, strat AI doesn't know the fist thing about building a proper army or using said armies for offensive and defensive actions. Diplomacy is a cruel joke, with random AI factions thrown at you just to slow you down, no matter what your relationship is or how good or poor their chances a war. Only the naval AI seems to know what it's doing. It's no a suspension of disbelief breaker. I'll beat it like the proverbial red headed stepchild but I'll not get too annoyed by it.

[dieseltaylor]

Anything that improves the product for the purchasers should be applauded. Justified criticism from a professional I think is very welcome.

Thoughs professions - doctors and lawyers - where they cover each others backs is a great example of what is bad.

[Flanker15]

Hows the AI in ETW going? I haven't played it in a lonnnnnng while, I remember it was pretty bad. Can the enemy still deploy on the oposite side of where they attack you on the over world and are siege battles still crap?

[Field Marshal Blücher]

Siege battles have always been crap in the TW series, even when the rest of the game was decent. I don't expect any improvements on that front.

[Wilhammer]

Siege battles have always been crap in the TW series, even when the rest of the game was decent. I don't expect any improvements on that front.

Indeed. As soon as I figured out the best way to take out a large city was with Cavalry in a siege in Rome Total War, it was over for me.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

That deployment bug is gone, AFAIK. But the AI is generally as dire as it was prior to 1.2. It'll form up at max musket range and trade shots, often position it's units so badly they overlap. Still the penchant for forming square when only facing infantry as well. No effort to melee at all any more. Actually, now I think about it, haven't seen the cavalry probe my flanks since 1.3.

On the plus side, the AI does now invade by sea fairly regularly.

You haven't seen siege warfare crap until you sieged in Empire. Attacking infantry can all scale the walls in the first turn with ropes, lose one gate and all open to the attacker, defending cannons are uselessly short ranged, inaccurate, no grapeshot and no interlocking fields of fires as you would expect in forts of this era. There's still the central square=win lunacy too. Especially exploitable because you can jusat park your infantry outside the victory location and blast to pieces all that choose to occupy it, as they aren't interested in your troops unless they get in between them and the VL. I'm not prone to using exploits usually, but the uselessness of manning the walls means I'm inclined to exploit for all I'm worth.

One would be better off not building forts in the first place, really. Not only a waste of money but seriously detrimental to your ability to defend.

Actually, either on attack or defence, I found RTW/M2TW sieges fairly good, if you didn't just smash everything but charged the wall with ladders/towers a thrilling battle was often the result. Okay, maybe not all that fun after the umpteenth time, but not actually all that bad.