Really Bad AI Mod (Help)

[PetrCheatr]

Hey guys,
New to PLAYING this game, but I watched videos on it for a couple years. I was disappointed by one main thing in the game (everything else was great)- the battle AI, particularly in siege battles, even on hardest difficulty, is trash. Way too easy and nonstrategic. So I did some searching and found the "Really Bad AI" mod by "Germanicu5" which is supposed to greatly improve the AI's intelligence all around. I have installed the mod- but does anybody know how to activate it or confirm that it is active? Also my game keeps crashing shortly after starting campaign on Kingdoms: Crusades. And one last question- does the mod also change the vanilla DE Medieval 2.
I would hold any responses with extreme value and gratitude.

[Mekkermann]

I have most of the time a notice in my sytem.log file where it states "always running Germanicu5" which I think tells me that the AI is active. Although I play with Roar of Conquest but I guess it has Germanicu5 AI. The system log file would be also the file where you can find out what´s going wrong please check if it shows you any errors, ypu can post the last 100 lines here in case it´s longer. My guess would be that it missses some units since I got that problem when trying to implement Skynet AI into Roar of conquest a few days ago. For the last question the mod can only change the folder it´s installed to. So when ypu change something in the crusades campaign this shouldn´t affect the main campaign.

[Gigantus]

You will find instructions in this forum: https://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?1745-ReallyBadAI-Battle-System

[Gooseman]

I would recommend just installing Stainless Steel. AI is much improved overall and can be set to your preferences.

[spaceweezle]

Originally posted by Gooseman:

I would recommend just installing Stainless Steel. AI is much improved overall and can be set to your preferences.

I second that. Battle AI in both SS and SSHIP is a giant leap forward from vanilla. Ai can still be nitwits on occasion, but overall it's a solid improvement. Both apparently use ReallyBadAi 5.7.

I would recommend SS over SSHIP as SSHIP is basically SS but severely bloated with mostly nonsensical contrivances that can make your hairline recede faster than a routing enemy. At this point I'm convinced they should rename it SS: Megalomania edition

It might also be worth mentioning that you might not fully appreciate/realize the effects of improved AI until a point you face armies large and complex enough to fully utilize it.

[Gigantus]

Just in case:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=861485547

[PetrCheatr]

Thank you all for the responses, I wasn't expecting such good turnout.
I will install Stainless, it looks like fun.
One of the things I wanted to do, however, was have the battle AI apply to Custom Battles. Those are fun when I have limited time, but I also like the campaign. Does the AI override carry over to custom battles or is it limited to just campaign? I'd think it would, but not sure..

[Mekkermann]

I guess it would carry over to custom battles, don´t think the game can use two different AI files at the same time.

[Inardesco]

Originally posted by Gooseman:

I would recommend just installing Stainless Steel. AI is much improved overall and can be set to your preferences.

Stainless Steel doesn't change the battle AI.

[spaceweezle]

Originally posted by Inardesco:

Originally posted by Gooseman:

I would recommend just installing Stainless Steel. AI is much improved overall and can be set to your preferences.

Stainless Steel doesn't change the battle AI.

ReallyBadAi comes packaged with SS. It also has RBA options built into the launcher. You can see it tagged in battle config and script files.

Both SS and SSHIP improve the battle AI in addition to several options for campaign AI.

[PetrCheatr]

Okay started on Stainless, and dang I'm imprsessed. Very rich well-done mod, loving the campaign, Battle AI improved (but still flawed... whatevs)
Thanks for all the helpful feedback, I am both grateful and surprised that such an old game still has such an active following. I guess they do say that M2TW is the best though, eh?
My final question would be - in reference to the 1st reply, by Mekkerman - would putting really bad ai (Just that, excluding any SS) files into the main directory also rig the vanilla base DE Battle AI? Or would it still need to be in the mods folder?
I'm afraid my knowledge of tech and the suchlike falters at points like these..

[Mekkermann]

First you would have to unpack your gamefile tp try this https://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?550619-Creating-a-World-Unpacking-the-Game . But No it wouldn´t work. There are multiple versions of the Bad AI mod in the Installer like versions for SS6.4, 6.3, TATW, Crusades so there seems to be more to it than just simple copy pasting. I would suggest that you use the Bad AI installer instead but it has no options for the Vanilla Grand Campaign just for the Kingdoms expansions Campaigns.

[Mekkermann]

Originally posted by fleetadmiralpete:

Okay started on Stainless, and dang I'm imprsessed. Very rich well-done mod, loving the campaign, Battle AI improved (but still flawed... whatevs)
Thanks for all the helpful feedback, I am both grateful and surprised that such an old game still has such an active following. I guess they do say that M2TW is the best though, eh?
My final question would be - in reference to the 1st reply, by Mekkerman - would putting really bad ai (Just that, excluding any SS) files into the main directory also rig the vanilla base DE Battle AI? Or would it still need to be in the mods folder?
I'm afraid my knowledge of tech and the suchlike falters at points like these..

In case you are still interested I managed to implement Skynet AI into Roar of conquest since Germanicu5 BAI used to crash sometimes. Whilst doing this I found that it has 2 versions inside one for Campaign and one for custom Battle. So if you search for an Battle AI for custom vanilla battles that you can install very easy this is worth a try. https://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?705596-Skynet-AI As far as I understand you would need the custom Battle script folder try this first if this isn´t enough take the battle config file, the config ai battle and the formations and pathfinding files as well to copy and paste. The rest of the files should be only necessary for campaign. Custom editing of files should also only be necessary for campaign. Edit the export descr_advice file in the download is bugged the \ have to be turned in / in the On_display scripts/show_me/background_script.txt sentence.