is it predetermined which ai factions get strong when starting IE campaign?

[LaundryMaster]

for example ghorst always wrecks nurgle and ogres and is in top 10 strength rank, sylvania destroys elector states and reikland. these happen in every single campaign i play so i wonder if there is some sort of script taking place.

[chickabumpbump]

I wish! it would be interesting then. No its sadly just unbalanced.

[stun]

yes
Besides changes to AI economy bonuses and campaign AI (aggressiveness etc.), there are changes to the autoresolve between AI factions.
Vlad and grimgor are always going to be monsters if you can't see them

[LaundryMaster]

Originally posted by chickabumpbump:

I wish! it would be interesting then. No its sadly just unbalanced.

yea im getting especially tired of ghorst becoming a major pain in the ass every single time i play as darklands factions. i wish i could fight ogres sometimes but no its always ghorst and his +5 zombie/skeleton crapstacks with half the mountains of mourn under his control.

[LaundryMaster]

Originally posted by stun:

yes
Besides changes to AI economy bonuses and campaign AI (aggressiveness etc.), there are changes to the autoresolve between AI factions.
Vlad and grimgor are always going to be monsters if you can't see them

so basically if i sent an agent to meet a faction then that faction gets a debuff?

[ope84]

Originally posted by LaundryMaster:

for example ghorst always wrecks nurgle and ogres and is in top 10 strength rank, sylvania destroys elector states and reikland. these happen in every single campaign i play so i wonder if there is some sort of script taking place.

In my campaigns ghorst is always tucked in one corner, empire is more often than not in the top ten. The only costant powerhouse i notice is Wurzagg

[LaundryMaster]

Originally posted by ope84:

Originally posted by LaundryMaster:

for example ghorst always wrecks nurgle and ogres and is in top 10 strength rank, sylvania destroys elector states and reikland. these happen in every single campaign i play so i wonder if there is some sort of script taking place.

In my campaigns ghorst is always tucked in one corner, empire is more often than not in the top ten. The only costant powerhouse i notice is Wurzagg

wurzagg does well in my games too but empire usually gets shredded by festus, sylvania and norscans.

[Dr. Sinclair]

I believe there is a mod that randomizes AI faction strength (only in AI vs AI conflicts, not against you) to get a different experience each time. i can look for it if you're interested.

[stun]

Originally posted by LaundryMaster:

so basically if i sent an agent to meet a faction then that faction gets a debuff?

Specifically, if you can't see certain lord's army that they're leading, they had up to 2x autoresolve power. That's how it was in end of life WH2, which is why if you knew morathi she always got hemmed into quintex then absorbed by nagaroth, and if you couldn't see morathi she'd be top2 and invade the donut

[Tommytools]

It can go either way, I've seen games where Goldtooth obliterates both Kugath and Ghorst. The last game I played was one of those. In that same game Sylvania was barely holding on to its home provinces while Reikland was in control of most of the empire.

But I've also seen games where Ghorst (or Kugath, though that's rare) is in control of the Ogre kingdoms area, or Sylvania controlling the empire.

Games where Skarbrand is torching the southlands, and games where he gets his deamon arse handed to him by dwarfs, savage orcs or even skaven (though they usually ally with him). I could go on and on, but I can say with reasonable certainty that there isn't a pre-determined "winner" of any war.

There are a few factions that tend to do well, but with most it can go either way.

There is no intelligence in the game's "AI", everything they do is based on if-then-else statements. They may be reasonably complex, but everything the "AI" does is determined by the situation they are in, so you will often see them do the same things across multiple games (especially if you play a lot).

[Hex]

It's random, I don't care what anyone "feels". There have been test ran with a mod that makes the entire map visible and the player doing nothing. It can vary wildly which factions get strong and which don't.

Go test it yourself. It's not hard.

[Forlorn]

Most of the vanilla map functions very poorly, and due to imbalanced starting armies, enemies, and province quality, certain factions tend to dominate while others you never see.

You'll never see Kholek, Kairos, Malus, Drycha, or Tomb Kings do well in your camapigns. There's a reason for that. I attempted to address these problems in a mod called Living World. So if you get tired of boring broken vanilla campaigns, there is a mod to fix it.

[Forlorn]

Originally posted by Hex:

It's random, I don't care what anyone "feels". There have been test ran with a mod that makes the entire map visible and the player doing nothing. It can vary wildly which factions get strong and which don't.

Go test it yourself. It's not hard.

I've ran these tests and it's hardly random at all. The tendency towards Ordertide is also very obvious.

[Shellbie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt-1xW5iESM

[Tommytools]

Originally posted by Forlorn:

You'll never see Kholek, Kairos, Malus, Drycha, or Tomb Kings do well in your camapigns.

Never say never. I can't speak about Kairos in his new start spot (in his previous start he did quite well), or Malus. But I've seen Drycha in control of most of the eastern empire (with bits of the mountains near sylvania), I've seen Settra, Khalida and Arkhan (in different games obv.) controlling most of the southlands. Kholek was doing really well in my last Chaos Dwarf game, he was in control of most of the northern chaos wastes (him and his minions), especially after he killed Archaon's faction.

[Beje]

Originally posted by Tommytools:

It can go either way, I've seen games where Goldtooth obliterates both Kugath and Ghorst. The last game I played was one of those. In that same game Sylvania was barely holding on to its home provinces while Reikland was in control of most of the empire.

But I've also seen games where Ghorst (or Kugath, though that's rare) is in control of the Ogre kingdoms area, or Sylvania controlling the empire.

Games where Skarbrand is torching the southlands, and games where he gets his deamon arse handed to him by dwarfs, savage orcs or even skaven (though they usually ally with him). I could go on and on, but I can say with reasonable certainty that there isn't a pre-determined "winner" of any war.

There are a few factions that tend to do well, but with most it can go either way.

There is no intelligence in the game's "AI", everything they do is based on if-then-else statements. They may be reasonably complex, but everything the "AI" does is determined by the situation they are in, so you will often see them do the same things across multiple games (especially if you play a lot).

I agree with everything written here. I had similar experiences in my campaigns. Sometimes Skarbrand owns the thunderdome, otherwise I see him tucked away in 1 settlement at turn 80 surrounded by tomb kings and greenskins. During my first chorf campaign, Ghorst was an absolute nightmare but in my latest one he was annihilated by Greasus, I barely knew he was on the map. There are a couple of lords tho that tend to perform better than the average, due to them having more favorable conditions compared to others. This can range from starting army, starting territory, nearby enemies and so on.