does the AI cheat on hard difficulties?

[poke_ravi]

I'm playing the African Kingdom Berber campaign on hard but the AI is kicking my ass. It seems like it's able to pump out units almost instantaneously and forever. Does the AI cheat at this difficulty?

[barnzie8]

In some of the Forgotten campaigns the enemy has lots of resources but not villagers. Not sure, of the level your on but you and the computer can build big bases with lots of military buildings. Maybe state what level for some pointers.

[mmmcheesywaffles]

I don't think it cheats. That is just the mechanism the game uses to make it harder.

Make kill zones and force the AI to send those masses of troops in lines. That way you can kill a load then use the breathing space to advance a bit.

Make small 'shock units' of your own to take out strategic AI buildings. Make walls ot send the AI on longer a journey, while you use gates to get in fast.

Send out groups of villagers to mine all resources - the AI will often leave small groups of villagers alone so long as their building is not too close.

[poke_ravi]

Originally posted by barnzie8:

In some of the Forgotten campaigns the enemy has lots of resources but not villagers. Not sure, of the level your on but you and the computer can build big bases with lots of military buildings. Maybe state what level for some pointers.

I just started out with the first scenario and I kept dying.

[barnzie8]

Ok i see you have not done any other levels. The celts may be to easy for you, try Joan of arc or El Cid, both fairly easy start with easy, with a nice difficulty ramp. Also the ai may be dumber than humans.

[poke_ravi]

I played the campaigns for the vanilla game and AoC back when they came out. I'm just wondering if the AI cheats on hard cause if it does I'll just stick to normal.

[mmmcheesywaffles]

Hmm looks like you assumed the time passed would automatically make you a better player? It often does, but we all need 'target practice' when we have been away from teh game.

Before my last assault on the Achievement list I played through the campaigns to hone my skills again. As I played I remebered some of my more subtle tactics and importantly watched how the AI reacted to my moves.

[poke_ravi]

Hmm okay. Is there any sort of reward for completing the campaigns on hard? Because if not I'll just play on moderate difficulty.

[barnzie8]

Nope, no special achievement's or extra scenes. If your finding it hard, go to standard.

[Masasa]

the new AI doesnt cheat at all , the old one use to cheat i belive in hardest..
you can record the game and learn what he does and see if hes cheating..

[Pete]

Originally posted by TheWhisperer:

the new AI doesnt cheat at all , the old one use to cheat i belive in hardest..
you can record the game and learn what he does and see if hes cheating..

He's talking about campaign AI which is different to RM AI, the campaign AI definitely receives resources on some levels

[Ulucius]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqiOQ1dAhL4 This will help you.

[Baywatch]

The first level of the Berber's campaign the AI definitely cheats and given that they (if I recall correctly) have no economy to speak of I'd imagine it cheats at every difficulty level. I haven't played a great deal of the African Kingdoms campaigns but, I recall a few levels of the Malian campaign where it was much the same. You're faced with an endless stream of units until you remove their production buildings.

I'm not a huge fan of it either to be honest but, they are much more challenging than the vanilla AoK and the AoC campaigns as a result.

You just need to play it like you're in it for the long haul, especially in the early levels where you're still stuck in the castle age. Set up trade where you can and make a lot of forwards with castles preferably.

[carlos dota]

Maybe its like in other games (they get double resources)

[Alex the Great]

Actually the AI does ABSOLUTELY cheat. On most of the newer campaigns, the AI spawns endless streams of units incredibly fast without gathering any resources. It's such bad game design that it's actually embarrassing. I don't recommend playing on Hard unless you have a lot of time to waste or if you're a masochist.

[Sharpshot]

Originally posted by Alex the Great:

Actually the AI does ABSOLUTELY cheat. On most of the newer campaigns, the AI spawns endless streams of units incredibly fast without gathering any resources. It's such bad game design that it's actually embarrassing. I don't recommend playing on Hard unless you have a lot of time to waste or if you're a masochist.

Nice necro.