The AI seems to focus on me, how do I turn that off?

[Nevermore]

Playing on Medium. Still I get the feeling the AI is targeting me every damn time.

When I played with Carthage every neighbour I had declared war on me (Numidia, Iberia, Gauls, Romans)
Now I play as Germania and after just a few rounds the Britans came for me, then the Gauls and suddenly a Dacian army besieged a settlement.

I don't even make enough money to build armies to defend myself against all this crap.

What the ♥♥♥♥ is going on?

[Wurzelprrz]

Anti player bias Total War.
Be faster :D

[Hypnosis]

Vanilla is made to be very arcade-like. It's more like a challenge mode.

If you want a more realistic simulation type of game then play mods.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2785337814

I recommend this mod. It's like a Rome Simulation.

[Nevermore]

Yeah I know that mod. I didn't like all the new small factions and towns. But I use the version that only contains the changes to AI.

[Hypnosis]

Originally posted by Nevermore:

Yeah I know that mod. I didn't like all the new small factions and towns. But I use the version that only contains the changes to AI.

You're missing out. The full mod is just like an expansion on the base game. There's way more stuff to do.

I don't work for the mod team, and I am not affiliated at all. Just a player.

This mod is better than Rome III.

[Nevermore]

The AI is completely ridiculous....
The Dacians just sent me a diplomat to form a trade agreement. In the same turn they attacked one of my cities.

If the AI is this inconsistent in it's decisionmaking it makes any form of diplomacy completely pointless.

[Krosis Priest]

Generally from experience - in Total War a version of Murphy's Law applies, "if you wonder if the AI will betray/attack you, assume it will". That's also generally why some factions are marked as harder than others, e.g. Egypt starts comfortably in a corner so you won't get surrounded, but if you have neighbours on every side expect a rough ride. The only guaranteed non-aggression pact is having a strong defensive army at the border.

I'm not a huge fan of this either, but I just assume that the games generally take place in very turbulent periods, so everyone is a bit more distrustful and belligerent. I think newer TW games also have more complex diplomacy (I tried Rome 2 and it looked really cool but I got a bit overwhelmed, so sticking to 1 Remastered for now).

Also: I do not think it's anti-player bias, the AI just likes to attack everything it thinks it can. My first full playthrough was as Egypt on Medium and I definitely didn't feel the AI factions all tried to get me, they also fought between each other quite a bit which made things easier.

[Nevermore]

In my game they are not fighting each other. It even feels like the AI is avoiding factions that fight me. I am playing as Germania and the Britons and Gauls have teamed up to fight me. With the Dacians coming in from the East.

The Dacians have no other enemies as the Brutii keep walking towards Greece. And the Julii have completely avoided Gaul and invaded into Iberia.

I remember the AI being aggressive and it was fine when they sent a few armies now and then. But now they send never ending waves of armies and I gotta fight them over and over.

It's boring and I have no money left over to build the armies or cities I want to have, because I constantly need to bolster my defenses.

[Nevermore]

The ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Gauls became allies with ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Rome! Why?! Tell me how that makes any sense besides they team up on me.

[shoobers]

1. Abuse the rebel stage - expand even if you have nearly nothing at all left behind.
2. The only way to ensure friends is to assume they're an enemy waiting to attack. Don't be weak if they border you at any city.
3. If you have to march through their lands at all to get to other cities, go another way. If you don't have another way, assume those cities not connected, even if they are technically congruous in other ways, This is bad for obvious reasons.
4. Do not march unnecessarily through neighbor lands.
5. If you have an alliance, make another treaty for military access through their lands. If you do not get this, do not march through their lands, even if it is to protect one of their cities!
6. Preempt enemy alliances by interrupting and befriending people. Choose a side, favor them, gift them, even if you are still in the rebel stage!
7. Watchtowers are your friends and are possibly more important than forts or even a single unit.
8. Know who your enemies are and who they're likely to attack early. for example, the Brutii will always go to Greece, but the Scipii often will choose a random direction to go in, or atleast it will seem such.
9. Don't be weak. Always assume betrayal.
10. Seriously, even a single unit marching through neutral or even allied lands can cause gross overreaction. DON'T DO IT!!
11. Have a navy if you have ports.
12. Be careful of offensive wars, your rivals pay attention to this and evaluate their actions.
13. If you want to bait an enemy, leave your towns with weak garrisons and set up ambushes nearby. THe AI will walk into traps like this, even if you can't "ambush" them before attacking your city.
14. have diplomats in tehir territory and offer compensation if you ever make the mistake of walking through their lands. Seriously. Don't walk through their lands. Ever.

[Serious Stan]

Welcome to total war, the sharp stick is the only diplomacy needed.

[Perturabo did nothing wrong]

A very old total war "feature" is that AI will attack you if you border it. DO NOT border them as much as you can - sell cities to other factions, outright abandon them if you can and that will be the only way to avoid war.

Both neutral and ally AIs will attack you in a few turns as soon as you border them, there is no helping to it and you better be prepared

[shoobers]

Originally posted by Perturabo did nothing wrong:

A very old total war "feature" is that AI will attack you if you border it. DO NOT border them as much as you can - sell cities to other factions, outright abandon them if you can and that will be the only way to avoid war.

Both neutral and ally AIs will attack you in a few turns as soon as you border them, there is no helping to it and you better be prepared

While the perception of the above holds true, and it can TLDR almost like my post above... This is not actually true.

They attack what is a weak target. Or more precisely, they plan to attack what they perceive(d) as a weak target, regardless of who actually holds on to the city when their forces get there. This could be a "mission" set as long as 8 turns back by the time they get there. This is where players get their ( again, this isn't a knock against the player here ) perceptions skewed. The AI budgets things to be done but does not have a way to UNDO the budgeting.
I HAVE gotten the Seleucid to back off as Scythia by repeatedly offering Compensation when they marched a full stack on top of of one of my weaker cities that I had recently taken from Pontus. I noticed them coming that way early, realized I had accidentally wandered into their land, offered compensation and some gifts to my trade partner over 6 different end turns, saw the army come up to my city... and never actually lay siege. They sat there for 3 turns. They buggered off shortly thereafter. I did reinforce the city just in case over those turns and continued to gift denar and/or compensation each turn.

No war was declared, no attack made, and our lands went back to peaceful ( but garrisoned ) coexistence.

[Nevermore]

So, the solution is supposedly to always have big garrisons and throw money in their face?
Okay, fine.

But regarding the player bias, tell me how it is possible that as Germania, I am at war with the Britons, Gauls and Dacians, while nobody else is at war with them and that even the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Julii, who I have never seen NOT attacking Gaul, are marching to Iberia instead?

[shoobers]

No, the solution is have a decent garrison and to scout and pay attention to what the AI is doing with scouts and other tools while ALSO not mistakenly entering their territory. This is surprisingly easy to do! And to remember that the AI wont always have the same courtesy.

You pissed them off in some manner or another, and the AI will always want to find some pathway to advance in their status ( in this case, Briton ) and usually the Gauls will have some pressure from Spain, the Julii and Britons. As for Dacia, they saw you open your eastern border and they saw it as easy pickings compared to the rebels they probably should have been going for. In my case, Seleucid had other issues to deal with than to deal with an upstart barbarian and I made one minor mistep, they chose other nations to deal with. They were also planning on taking that city from Pontus awhile back and realized eventually it wasn't worth attacking a nation that they had "good" relations with. They wont attack good neighbors unless they are weak, they mistep ( in which they're no longer good neighbors ) or they have nowhere else to go.

What I suspect is the Julii made peace with the Gauls early on after taking northern Italy, then went after Spain, which is an avenue they can take.

[Nevermore]

The Julii did not make peace with the Gauls. They never were at war with them to begin with. All the cities in nothern italy still belonged to the Gauls when I went down there. The gauls had no pressure from anyone.

I started a new game and so far the start was very similar. The Britons came after me very quickly, about 6 turns into the game. I had an alliance with the Gauls which they soon dissolved and sent an army into my territory. I asked them for reparations for which they actually offered me Laudanum. Curiously I took that offer and the city. At the end of turn the Gauls besieged Laudanum and were at war.

I am trying to have strong Garrisons which doesn't deter the AI, but atleast any siege they do fails. And I already took Samarobriva. It's going better than last time. But I am already bored of those annoying basic infantry battles all the time. The Gauls and Britons spam Warbands and I have them charge into my phalanxes until I reach another "Heroic" Victory.