AI Betrayals

[Chubbazwyn Griffith]

No matter my standing with allies such as the Greek Cities they always run a stuck up to a city declaring war and will never accept peace.

Playing on VH/VH.

Does this happen to anyone else? It makes Macedon unplayable.

[Skatan]

If you play on VH campaign rules, expect ALL factions you have a border with to declare war on you and some overseas too. Sure, in the extreme cases you might keep a peace for a while, but ultimately EVERY FACTION will declare war.

If you don't want that, you shouldn't play Very Hard as that is the main thing making the campaign harder; ie you will have less trade deals and more enemies.

[DarkFenix]

The old Total War AI is completely and utterly psychotic when it comes to diplomacy. They'll ally with you one turn, invade you the next. Expect nothing from them.

[Chubbazwyn Griffith]

Thanks guys, glad to hear I'm not the only one being screwed over lol.

[Talic (FIN)]

And once they are at war, they will not accept peace unless it bankrupts you and lets them invade the very next turn!

[工口兔]

VH campaign has huge diplomacy penalty so all AI will declare on you at some point once you share a border regardless allied or not.

[Madmartigan]

I play on Hard/Hard; so far with the Remaster the AI has been somewhat less motivated by madness, or at least it seems to do more to protect itself. I've had AI factions offer me peace, and even paid me to take it. Or sure they'd attack again within a few turns, but it's something of a change from what I'm used to. I can't say it's better, but it does seem to be more, you know, dynamic than in the past.

[Chubbazwyn Griffith]

I stopped trying to be allies on VH. I just set up trade with everyone far away and conquered my neighbours. It's finally going well haha.

[Smugass Braixen-Chan]

"Allies" are just enemies that smile when they see you.

Regardless of your actual relationship, the other factions are pre-programmed to be hostile towards you and everybody else. If they see an easily taken territory, they will take it. Or sometimes they're literally programmed to suicide their armies into a settlement because of some historical event that they are trying to play out...

[tangent]
... Or, more often than not, completely randomly, but the same thing will happen in every single campaign. Such as in Medieval 2, where Scotland will ALWAYS put their entire family onto a single boat, and take a trip down to London for no apparent reason. If you're playing as England, you can intercept the ship and wipe out their entire faction (Or at least most of it) in one auto resolved sea battle. (Just a little tip for when they inevitably release Medieval 2 Remastered)
[/tangent]

The only reason Rome doesn't immediately tear itself apart is because the Roman factions are physically banned from declaring war on one another until a certain event occurs which forces a civil war.

[Chubbazwyn Griffith]

Originally posted by Smugass Braixen-Chan:

"Allies" are just enemies that smile when they see you.

Regardless of your actual relationship, the other factions are pre-programmed to be hostile towards you and everybody else. If they see an easily taken territory, they will take it. Or sometimes they're literally programmed to suicide their armies into a settlement because of some historical event that they are trying to play out...

[tangent]
... Or, more often than not, completely randomly, but the same thing will happen in every single campaign. Such as in Medieval 2, where Scotland will ALWAYS put their entire family onto a single boat, and take a trip down to London for no apparent reason. If you're playing as England, you can intercept the ship and wipe out their entire faction (Or at least most of it) in one auto resolved sea battle. (Just a little tip for when they inevitably release Medieval 2 Remastered)[/tangent]

The only reason Rome doesn't immediately tear itself apart is because the Roman factions are physically banned from declaring war on one another until a certain event occurs which forces a civil war.

Thanks for the information, it really explains alot.

[Faithbane]

Originally posted by Chubbaz Griffith:

Originally posted by Smugass Braixen-Chan:

"Allies" are just enemies that smile when they see you.

Regardless of your actual relationship, the other factions are pre-programmed to be hostile towards you and everybody else. If they see an easily taken territory, they will take it. Or sometimes they're literally programmed to suicide their armies into a settlement because of some historical event that they are trying to play out...

[tangent]
... Or, more often than not, completely randomly, but the same thing will happen in every single campaign. Such as in Medieval 2, where Scotland will ALWAYS put their entire family onto a single boat, and take a trip down to London for no apparent reason. If you're playing as England, you can intercept the ship and wipe out their entire faction (Or at least most of it) in one auto resolved sea battle. (Just a little tip for when they inevitably release Medieval 2 Remastered)[/tangent]

The only reason Rome doesn't immediately tear itself apart is because the Roman factions are physically banned from declaring war on one another until a certain event occurs which forces a civil war.

Thanks for the information, it really explains a lot.

In Rome, every AI faction has like 1-2 predetermined enemy that they will always fight with and everything else revolve around you. The stronger you get and the harder the campaign difficulty, more and more factions and from longer distances will declare war on you. I was playing julii on original earlier in on VH/VH and Greece put a full stack army on a boat and landed in northern Italy just to fight me at the same time, Spain landed troops in caralis, skipping palma and africa completely just to get to me..
There are some factions that border each other that might never go to war even if there are some very easy targets.

Making alliances is a lost cause in Rome BUT and this is a very big BUT, early game you can take huge advantage of the "Ceasefire" options. For some reason, the "greek" factions are hard coded to prefer ceasefire especially after they lose a fight so every few turns you can ask greece, macedon, selucids etc. for the following and there is a very high chance they will accept. That amount makes a big difference in the first few turns where you need all the money you can get:

Offer
Ceasefire
trade rights
map information

demand
5000


Main conflicts are the following:

Brutii - Greece
Scipii - Greece/Carthage
Julii-Gaul

Gaul - Julii
Briton - Germany or Gaul
Armenia - Selucids
Pontus - Selucids
Thrace - Dacia and vice versa
Macedon - Greece
Egypt - Selucids
Parthia - Selucids
Spain - Carthage or Julii
Numidia - Carthage or Scipii
Selucids - RIP

[WhatMan]

Originally posted by Chubbaz Griffith:

No matter my standing with allies such as the Greek Cities they always run a stuck up to a city declaring war and will never accept peace.

Playing on VH/VH.

Does this happen to anyone else? It makes Macedon unplayable.

Well the game is called Rome TOTAL WAR you know, just saying xD

trolling [off] IA scripted for that you can make thing easier hold bridge, and get 20 units garnison in your most exposed city (don't do peasant ofc)

[Smugass Braixen-Chan]

Originally posted by WhatMan:

Originally posted by Chubbaz Griffith:

No matter my standing with allies such as the Greek Cities they always run a stuck up to a city declaring war and will never accept peace.

Playing on VH/VH.

Does this happen to anyone else? It makes Macedon unplayable.

Well the game is called Rome TOTAL WAR you know, just saying xD

trolling [off] IA scripted for that you can make thing easier hold bridge, and get 20 units garnison in your most exposed city (don't do peasant ofc)

Peasants are surprisingly good in Auto-Resolve battles. Especially when defending in a siege. Still wouldn't relly on them if you have the gold for better troops. But it's funny when a couple of peasants fend off an entire army just through the Defender Siege bonus during auto-resolve.

[bstangeby]

Think AI still remain at peace with you if maintain enough troops on the border to defeat. Had a game with Brutii. Conquered that rebel city but instead of going against Greeks i headed north against Dacia. I must had like 18 units in the city and Greece did not attack once.

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron Raptor]

Originally posted by Skatan:

If you play on VH campaign rules, expect ALL factions you have a border with to declare war on you and some overseas too. Sure, in the extreme cases you might keep a peace for a while, but ultimately EVERY FACTION will declare war.

If you don't want that, you shouldn't play Very Hard as that is the main thing making the campaign harder; ie you will have less trade deals and more enemies.

Not really. I am at end of my VH/VH Brutii campaign and I started every war. The only faction that dared declaring war on me were the Gauls. Otherwise I get constantly flooded with alliance offers and factions randomly asking to become protectorates. You just need to expand your military, the AI basically adjusts its behaviour to how strong it perceives you to be. But having the largest army is very easy, I had that since like turn 5.

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron Raptor]

Originally posted by Faithbane:

Main conflicts are the following:

Brutii - Greece
Scipii - Greece/Carthage
Julii-Gaul

Gaul - Julii
Briton - Germany or Gaul
Armenia - Selucids
Pontus - Selucids
Thrace - Dacia and vice versa
Macedon - Greece
Egypt - Selucids
Parthia - Selucids
Spain - Carthage or Julii
Numidia - Carthage or Scipii
Selucids - RIP

But all those factions are neighbours, so not really a sign of hardcoding.