How do AI bonuses work?

[gecman]

I'm fighting one of the chaos factions and they only have three cities yet they are somehow fielding three 20/20 armies with very good units. I'm just getting an understanding of the game mechanics - I assume they get substantial bonuses monetarily and to production in order to field that?

Edit: I'm a noobie but I'm finding the chaos extremely frustrating. They get absurdly powerful generals which appear to infinitely respawn, their armies somehow seem to respawn at 20/20, and they seem to get infinite moves because I can't retreat without them just attacking a second time. Am I missing some mechanic that's supposed to weaken them or are they just completely busted?

Edit 2: Now that I've got the hang of it, it's no longer a problem

[Elitewrecker PT]

If you're on higher difficulties yes

[Falaris]

They don't actually get very big economic bonuses. But they may have vassal factions that give them a lot of cash. It's kind of their main thing. Also, their other major source of income is fighting.

I recommend trying them to find out what makes them tick. :)

[gecman]

Originally posted by Falaris:

They don't actually get very big economic bonuses. But they may have vassal factions that give them a lot of cash. It's kind of their main thing. Also, their other major source of income is fighting.

I recommend trying them to find out what makes them tick. :)

I'll get there eventually - I'm enjoying the game but this is the first time I have ever played total war so there has been a lot to learn.

I just reloaded and did a turn to turn comparison - jesus tap dancing christ the chaos generals move distance... it's absolutely bonkers. They can cover like half the map in a turn

[gecman]

This ♥♥♥♥♥ covers the distance to this city in a single turn! https://imgur.com/a/qVYJNr5

[Et lux perpetua]

yeah, but you can see from the icon in the green bit above her army flag that shes in force march. That gies +50% movement and she cannot attack when in that stance.

[Many-Named]

you dont even say what difficulty you're on, unless I missed it. If you're new to the game, play on easy/easy until you learn the game better.

[gecman]

Originally posted by Many-Named:

you dont even say what difficulty you're on, unless I missed it. If you're new to the game, play on easy/easy until you learn the game better.

Normal hard but I think it's going ok https://imgur.com/a/hxvwO4O

[Lutz2]

from what i have read over the years, heard from other players and from my own experience in total war games so far:
- ai is always getting a specific amount of money, mostly over 2000 per turn, (don't knew the exact number they get) doesn't matter if they have any settlements left or not
- ai is getting reduced upkeep cost for units
- ai can recruit units cheaper than the player
- ai doesn't get supply line issues like the player
- ai doesn't receive attrition so much
all these things explain why the ai can recruit and support 3-4 armies with one full province, meanwhile the human can just barely afford one army.

on higher difficulty levels like legendary, the ai get some more nasty bonuses, like higher experience points for units per turn and better combat stats.

its one of the reasons why i don't like to play on very hard or legendary difficulty, the ai is cheating too much on these level. best experience i had so far was on hard/hard, the ai is getting some bonuses but overall its more or less fair, the ai is the ai after all. they can be extremely predictable in some situations like the force march trap. the ai is programmed to attack an army that is on force march. the human player can use this pretty easily to destroy one of the ai armies meanwhile the ai doomed to always do this, no matter how many times the human player has done this to them.

[Falaris]

Originally posted by Lutz2:

from what i have read over the years, heard from other players and from my own experience in total war games so far:
- ai is always getting a specific amount of money, mostly over 2000 per turn, (don't knew the exact number they get) doesn't matter if they have any settlements left or not

As do the player. Check your income tab.

- ai is getting reduced upkeep cost for units

5% and 10% less at v.hard and legendary. Yes, this is half as much of a bonus as in WH2.

- ai can recruit units cheaper than the player
- ai doesn't get supply line issues like the player

Actually, not in WH3. Which may contribute to why there's complaints that the AI's too weak. But then, there's also complaints that the AI is cheating.

- ai doesn't receive attrition so much

This one is absolutely true however.

all these things explain why the ai can recruit and support 3-4 armies with one full province, meanwhile the human can just barely afford one army.

Well... see above.

[gecman]

Originally posted by Falaris:

Originally posted by Lutz2:

from what i have read over the years, heard from other players and from my own experience in total war games so far:
- ai is always getting a specific amount of money, mostly over 2000 per turn, (don't knew the exact number they get) doesn't matter if they have any settlements left or not

As do the player. Check your income tab.

- ai is getting reduced upkeep cost for units

5% and 10% less at v.hard and legendary. Yes, this is half as much of a bonus as in WH2.

- ai can recruit units cheaper than the player
- ai doesn't get supply line issues like the player

Actually, not in WH3. Which may contribute to why there's complaints that the AI's too weak. But then, there's also complaints that the AI is cheating.

- ai doesn't receive attrition so much

This one is absolutely true however.

all these things explain why the ai can recruit and support 3-4 armies with one full province, meanwhile the human can just barely afford one army.

Well... see above.

Ya, now that I've got the hang of it normal hard doesn't seem too bad. After a few hours you start figuring out how to exploit all the AIs weaknesses

[Lutz2]

Originally posted by Falaris:

As do the player. Check your income tab.

the ai is actually getting more money than the player on this, but i don't knew the exact number they get. someone on total war forums has said this on what bonuses the ai gets compared to the human player.

5% and 10% less at v.hard and legendary. Yes, this is half as much of a bonus as in WH2.
Actually, not in WH3. Which may contribute to why there's complaints that the AI's too weak. But then, there's also complaints that the AI is cheating.

didn't knew they changed this, i though it was the same. but yeah wh3 plays a little bit different than wh2 now that i think about this.