The AI problem, and in general neglect

[NomadicSabre]

I am really trying to do my best to like pharaoh dynasties. It is by itself an amazing game.
However the AI problems have been ignored since its release in july 2024. Still no patches, still no word.

I have restarted campaigns multiple times in hopes of fixing the issue. Sometimes the issue doesn't show up immediately, sometimes it does. At the end it always does. When it does not, usually at the first 50 turns or so, the game is a blast.

THE ISSUE:
The AI stops recruiting armies. It stops being a threat. It just sits idly and does NOTHING. And it breaks completely. There's no return, its like some virus once a faction is doomed by this issue its doomed forever. Its neighbors will pick its towns one by one or you will. It will not defend itself. At best it will have 1 general that runs around burning outposts, at best. Sometimes the issue strikes a faction right away early in the campaign, sometimes it conquers 20+ towns, gets their main armies beat and then just stops.

Sometimes, when it miraculously manages to recruit, by 100+ turns in, however recruits Tier 1 units, for some reason. I don't know whats wrong, I don't know why I do not see more people talk about this. It frustrates me so much that the AI is amazing in warhammer 3 but in pharaoh dynasties its completely different. I feel so cheated as a "historical TW" fan that has been supporting TW since mid 2000s by the lack of support we are getting.

What I have tried to "fix the issue" besides restarting campaigns multiple times is to maxing its aggressiveness on the settings before you start a campaign. I play on VH, I have tried mods but nothing helps. The settings worked when the AI worked. Same with mods, mods worked when the AI worked. But when the AI dies no mods can save it.


I have tried asking in the main discord, but the best I got there was a shrug from a fellow player or completely ignored by the usual discord people that just chat there with the same regular people they talk to everyday, talking about future TW games.

It's the complete apathy that gets to me man. I see crazy expensive DLCs being pumped to warhammer 3 and here I am begging for the AI to just recruit soldiers. If they sold it to me as a DLC "AI recruits soldiers" id pathetically buy it. Moving as a refugee between older TW games back and forth, with either the older ones feeling super dated or Pharaoh TW having the AI problem, I am stuck in this first circle of hell.

I really am not here to flame, maybe you could see it as a rant but i'd hope you see it as a plea to just atleast make me believe i'm playing "chess" against the AI and not myself.

This is not a bug report, as i have reported this many times already as itself. It's just obvious that CA does not care about the historical fans, and I get it, warhammer3 got big and its their cash cow. It does not mean however, that they should ignore their recently released games completely. I'm not even asking for a DLC, just bugfixes and patches.


Here is someone else having similar issues:

https://community.creative-assembly.com/total-war/total-war-pharaoh/forums/29-report-a-bug/threads/1265-ai-becomes-to-passive-after-turn-130-150

[Graxx]

The AI not recruiting any units happens to me at the start of the game. For the following factions: Buto, Per amun, Hurru and most of the time sutu. Now there could be more but i haven't played the minor factions yet to see the factions around them.

Plus the starting non-playable horde factions also just roam around and not recruiting any units. Just such a waste i must say....

And yes, after many losses the ai indeed stops with the recruiment of units.

[Moccasin Bill]

I've been wondering about this, i've restarted a campaign twice, the first 40 hours or so are amazing, and by the time i'm holding 5-6 provinces and theres 50 factions left, all activity completely die.

[Kendji]

Haven't heard of this issue before or come across it. That said I'm using my own AI budgeting rules in my mod. While;
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3298135277
Heclaes has arguably the best AI mod for Dynasties.
I'd recommend giving it a try and if it fixes the issue go give the guy an virtual hug :)

[Vlad]

Hi

Did you really try a AI overhaul mod for at least 100 turns?

I'm just curious because I tried many factions for about 20-30 turns just to get the feel for the game.

I'm now around turn 75 with Ninurta and I find the AI is active and makes good decisions 80% of the time.

If you tried a MOD like Hecleas and still getting crappy AI it's disappointing.

[NomadicSabre]

Originally posted by Kendji:

Haven't heard of this issue before or come across it. That said I'm using my own AI budgeting rules in my mod. While;
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3298135277
Heclaes has arguably the best AI mod for Dynasties.
I'd recommend giving it a try and if it fixes the issue go give the guy an virtual hug :)

Yes i have been using Heclaes mod. Very nice mod when the AI is working. I appreciate his mod a lot.

Originally posted by Vlad:

Hi

Did you really try a AI overhaul mod for at least 100 turns?

I'm just curious because I tried many factions for about 20-30 turns just to get the feel for the game.

I'm now around turn 75 with Ninurta and I find the AI is active and makes good decisions 80% of the time.

If you tried a MOD like Hecleas and still getting crappy AI it's disappointing.

Sadly, no luck for me. It happens to select factions and I do not understand how or why it happens but it ruins everything for me. I play as Suppilulima II.

You know, just getting to fight a faction that holds the entirety of western half of anatolia and just fighting their garrisons kills the entire vibe. I have been patiently waiting for a new patch but CA is all busy doing things for warhammer3. I ocassionally play WH3 but its not the same as the historical TWs. I will probably start playing it again just to fight competent AI. I am not wanting some god-tier AI that will outsmart the human player, that never happens, we all beat it eventually, as I said just wishing the AI recruited soldiers to fight back. Seeing a faction with tons of settlements not even field a single stack, its no bueno.

Like I said above, I use Hecleas mod. It is a nice mod when the AI doesnt break. When it does break, Hecleas mod stops working too.

Originally posted by Moccasin Bill:

I've been wondering about this, i've restarted a campaign twice, the first 40 hours or so are amazing, and by the time i'm holding 5-6 provinces and theres 50 factions left, all activity completely die.

Yes, exactly ! about 60 factions left on my game and every activity just stops.

Originally posted by Graxx:

The AI not recruiting any units happens to me at the start of the game. For the following factions: Buto, Per amun, Hurru and most of the time sutu. Now there could be more but i haven't played the minor factions yet to see the factions around them.

Plus the starting non-playable horde factions also just roam around and not recruiting any units. Just such a waste i must say....

And yes, after many losses the ai indeed stops with the recruiment of units.

Yeah, the horde factions die off first in my games. They dont recruit, they sack a few villages then get destroyed. If they do recruit, they dont last when other factions get T2 units. I have never fought a single sea-faring faction. It's a game about the collapse of civillisations and the sea-farers collapse before anyone it is so sad.

I remember the first time i fought the mongols on M2TW, what an experience that was. Imagine if only 1-2 stacks showed up and died to some existing AI faction, that would have killed off the vibe and not created a nice memory :p.

---

Appreciate the comments, I wish you all a good weekend. To those that don't have the issue after certain turns, I really do envy you and wonder whats wrong with my game. I will try to reinstall it and verify the files but I dont think its gonna do anything. Heres for trying.

[Fang]

Just one of the reasons why I think Troy is, generally, better.

Dynasties definitely has more content and variety but the Troy AI plays the game much better. Even going out of their way to cross the sea to attack enemies.

Troy has its own share of issues like a massive anti-player bias, but hey. Dynasties just seems a bit underbaked in many ways. The AI is buggy, campaign-map performance gets worse the longer you play, and Chariots are just plain bad.

[Graxx]

Originally posted by NomadicSabre:

Originally posted by Kendji:

Haven't heard of this issue before or come across it. That said I'm using my own AI budgeting rules in my mod. While;
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3298135277
Heclaes has arguably the best AI mod for Dynasties.
I'd recommend giving it a try and if it fixes the issue go give the guy an virtual hug :)

Yes i have been using Heclaes mod. Very nice mod when the AI is working. I appreciate his mod a lot.

Originally posted by Vlad:

Hi

Did you really try a AI overhaul mod for at least 100 turns?

I'm just curious because I tried many factions for about 20-30 turns just to get the feel for the game.

I'm now around turn 75 with Ninurta and I find the AI is active and makes good decisions 80% of the time.

If you tried a MOD like Hecleas and still getting crappy AI it's disappointing.

Sadly, no luck for me. It happens to select factions and I do not understand how or why it happens but it ruins everything for me. I play as Suppilulima II.

You know, just getting to fight a faction that holds the entirety of western half of anatolia and just fighting their garrisons kills the entire vibe. I have been patiently waiting for a new patch but CA is all busy doing things for warhammer3. I ocassionally play WH3 but its not the same as the historical TWs. I will probably start playing it again just to fight competent AI. I am not wanting some god-tier AI that will outsmart the human player, that never happens, we all beat it eventually, as I said just wishing the AI recruited soldiers to fight back. Seeing a faction with tons of settlements not even field a single stack, its no bueno.

Like I said above, I use Hecleas mod. It is a nice mod when the AI doesnt break. When it does break, Hecleas mod stops working too.

Originally posted by Moccasin Bill:

I've been wondering about this, i've restarted a campaign twice, the first 40 hours or so are amazing, and by the time i'm holding 5-6 provinces and theres 50 factions left, all activity completely die.

Yes, exactly ! about 60 factions left on my game and every activity just stops.

Originally posted by Graxx:

The AI not recruiting any units happens to me at the start of the game. For the following factions: Buto, Per amun, Hurru and most of the time sutu. Now there could be more but i haven't played the minor factions yet to see the factions around them.

Plus the starting non-playable horde factions also just roam around and not recruiting any units. Just such a waste i must say....

And yes, after many losses the ai indeed stops with the recruiment of units.

Yeah, the horde factions die off first in my games. They dont recruit, they sack a few villages then get destroyed. If they do recruit, they dont last when other factions get T2 units. I have never fought a single sea-faring faction. It's a game about the collapse of civillisations and the sea-farers collapse before anyone it is so sad.

I remember the first time i fought the mongols on M2TW, what an experience that was. Imagine if only 1-2 stacks showed up and died to some existing AI faction, that would have killed off the vibe and not created a nice memory :p.

---

Appreciate the comments, I wish you all a good weekend. To those that don't have the issue after certain turns, I really do envy you and wonder whats wrong with my game. I will try to reinstall it and verify the files but I dont think its gonna do anything. Heres for trying.

I don't really know how the quoting works so to text is what long


I meant with the horde factions the ones that start at turn one. Like the Libu, garmantia and Haburi something.

But indeed, the sea peoples need more troops when they make appearance because like you said, they start to die off very quickly.

I also find it suspicies when i start to make Alliances with strong or weak factions they start to decline very quickly in strength and die off. Not all, but most.

Aah yes, the Mongols. They were 100% better then the huns in Attila.

Imo reinstalling the game has no effect at all. What they need to do is update the AI and fix some or (all) the bugs and then they can quit on the game for all i care.

Good weekend.

[Arnoldo Boczelli]

This game still needs a patch.

[Vlad]

This will sound crazy but I noticed sometime lowering the difficulty level helps the AI make better decisions.

It's weird like that.

Maybe having less bonuses has a lesser impact on the original script or something...

I wonder if player behaviour has an impact?
Will a laid back player, who plays a diplomatic game with the occasional war, have the same experience as a very aggressive player who steam rolls the game?

I'm not saying the game shouldn't be patched. Just throwing this out there.

And yes fighting the mongols was a blast. The devs should really go back and look at what made MTW2 an amazing game, still is now.

I don't like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Dynasties because this is the best TW I played in quite a while, but I wonder why CA can't stick with what works. Like merchants, why no merchants in Dynasties? It's a no-brainer.

Or why did they introduce those limited construction slots in cities with RTW2? At least if you have limited slots have a more important variety of buildings.

Anyway hope you find a way to have more challenging games.

I'm pretty sure CA will get a patch out within the year. The game is getting traction and they can't just forget about it...No?

[Kendji]

Originally posted by Vlad:

This will sound crazy but I noticed sometime lowering the difficulty level helps the AI make better decisions.

It's weird like that.

Maybe having less bonuses has a lesser impact on the original script or something...

I wonder if player behaviour has an impact?
Will a laid back player, who plays a diplomatic game with the occasional war, have the same experience as a very aggressive player who steam rolls the game?

I'm not saying the game shouldn't be patched. Just throwing this out there.

And yes fighting the mongols was a blast. The devs should really go back and look at what made MTW2 an amazing game, still is now.

I don't like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Dynasties because this is the best TW I played in quite a while, but I wonder why CA can't stick with what works. Like merchants, why no merchants in Dynasties? It's a no-brainer.

Or why did they introduce those limited construction slots in cities with RTW2? At least if you have limited slots have a more important variety of buildings.

Anyway hope you find a way to have more challenging games.

I'm pretty sure CA will get a patch out within the year. The game is getting traction and they can't just forget about it...No?

Could be, I run with all battle difficulty modifiers neutalized via mods too. The AI calculates should it attack x or y, it thinks it cannot succeed ot may not. Thus increasing or decreasing difficulty modifiers may in theory affect this. There's such mods on the workshop.

[NomadicSabre]

Originally posted by Vlad:

This will sound crazy but I noticed sometime lowering the difficulty level helps the AI make better decisions.

It's weird like that.

Maybe having less bonuses has a lesser impact on the original script or something...

I wonder if player behaviour has an impact?
Will a laid back player, who plays a diplomatic game with the occasional war, have the same experience as a very aggressive player who steam rolls the game?

I'm not saying the game shouldn't be patched. Just throwing this out there.

And yes fighting the mongols was a blast. The devs should really go back and look at what made MTW2 an amazing game, still is now.

I don't like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Dynasties because this is the best TW I played in quite a while, but I wonder why CA can't stick with what works. Like merchants, why no merchants in Dynasties? It's a no-brainer.

Or why did they introduce those limited construction slots in cities with RTW2? At least if you have limited slots have a more important variety of buildings.

Anyway hope you find a way to have more challenging games.

I'm pretty sure CA will get a patch out within the year. The game is getting traction and they can't just forget about it...No?

This makes sense. I read somewhere that the game tells you at the end if you were more of an economic ruler or a warmonger. I have sadly never managed to reach the very end because i kept remaking campaigns whenever a big faction lost its AI. So perhaps the AI is made in a way that lets peaceful players be peaceful or the opposite, peaceful to aggressive players? I also am 100% sure it has something to do with the AI thinking its in a time of peace and focuses economy and doesnt understand its at war.

[nullpo]

I feel like the AI play normally when I play as peleset and iolaos, heck some canaanite factions if I spare them will go out of their way chasing me all the way to upper egypt after I migrate there with brand new stack. They're still too stupid to avoid attrition tho.