5 replies to this topic

[Nerevar42]

Before I start, I want to say that I might sound frustrated, because I am.

 

Please just reduce the resource multiplier the AI gets. It is able to build heavy bases way too soon, and late game units way before me, even though I'm trying to harass its eco as much as I can without my own army dying to its units (which is cool that they hit units instead of buildings, but still).

 

I could easily stand against a Difficult AI in vanilla, and now I just have to turtle, even with MM (but maybe I am a bad MM player), against all Peasant AIs that are too aggressive and recover way too easily after a strike on their base.

 

Your work to improve the AI is outstanding, don't get me wrong, but you really should review the amount of difficulty encountered by average players on the lowest difficulty levels. If people want their enemy in PVE to earn 3 times more resources than them, Captain and Death March are here for them, don't rise up artificially the difficulty of the easy levels with each update just like you did with 6.0 and 7.0 ! They're meant to be easy !

 

I just can't attack the AI base anymore until I have T4 and siege and upgraded units. If trying a bit sooner, I get destroyed and the AI just casually rebuilds everything I took down in a single minute. So I just turtle with all factions waiting for late game stuff. This makes me feel like I can't play anymore. Yeah, they don't bring up siege too soon, so I don't get shishkebabed and I still win in the end, but do you understand what I mean ?

 

I'm genuinely surprised how hard it has become to play against AI. I mean, it's for the best if we're talking about high difficulty levels, that can drive pro players to approach things differently and turtle more, but for the easy ones ? Something has to be done about it. I want to attack the enemy while playing the game, maybe getting repelled a few times or failing to harass, but not just getting wrecked each time I send early game units towards the AI.

 

Maybe I'm just a bad player, and I'm whining about something that nobody gives a shift about. But I said what I wanted to say.

 

Best regards and thanks for the update regardless, it's amazing apart from this big problem to me.

[Pestum]

The best advice i can give you is to use the handicap tool until you feel the ia play your game.

 

Sometimes i play against IA to try to win a match but most of the time i play against ia to build a city, maybe use some unit i don´t use often and imagine another adventure on middle earth. 

[Nerevar42]

Thank you for your advice. The problem I have right now is that AOTR AI bases are SO strong that you just can't attack them until you have enough to win, or else you'll just waste dozens of resources feeding the enemy that is already having 3 times more resources than you. They're way better than vanilla bases, again, the improvements are astonishing, but it's too difficult for me, and those are the easy levels of difficulty that we are currently talking about.

 

I have nothing against turtling (in fact, this is my favorite strategy), but trying to do something else, trying to attack, always drives me to fail miserably (even against Peasant) until the very end of the game, that's why it's frustrating.

Edited by Nerevar42, 30 June 2021 - 08:00 AM.

[Pestum]

I never played against soldier or peasant IA. I can imagine is the same than captain/deathmarch minus something. 

 

A valid and winning strategy against IA is mirror the harras tactic. At first you feel it´s useless but when you destroy 3 resources buildings you will notice less enemy troops. Once you had the advantage is impossible for the IA to recover unless you let it.

 

Another way to win is Rush. The old and simple rush will let you win in about 15 minutes. 3 melee 2 ranged to start the attack and keep sending units until you win. Keep an archer (sometimes a pike too) to defend your resources because no matter what the IA still is IA and is programmed to attack your resources even under heavy attack (is a good defense anyway).

 

One think to keep ALWAYS in mind. You need to command your units all the time. This is not starcraft. If you let them alone they will die chasing a buterfly. And thanks Aluvatar the aotr team remove some building patrolls. Still anoying as hell but a little less. I hope they remove patrolls definitely on the final version.

 

Search on youtube AOTR Theguyoftheeast. He have tons of gameplay and his style is fitting to destroy any IA.

[lonkipt]

What I've found incredibly useful to do every time is bring in a couple archer units to hunt down their builders first while attacking their resources, then pull them back and use them to monitor close by where they would make more builders. It slows their rebuilding function way down, giving you opportunity to keep sending in units. This tactic is especially useful if you have long range archers, like the Ithilien Rangers or the Bardings. Use map reveal powers, too. Woodland Realm is incredibly useful for both, due to their Feredrim and map reveal being able to trap them while rushing in the stealthy Feredrim early game.

I totally get your frustration, though. It's a challenge through and through. I would love to see the team be able to make different kinds of AI, like Turtle, Steamroller, Rusher, etc, the way C&C3 did, and to see them continue to improve from their. This would open up the range of possibilities for gameplay styles a lot, rather than more or less forcing the player to have to rush the AI all the time to get the better of its own game.

[lonkipt]

Thinking on this subject a bit more, while I've figured out how to beat the AI consistently, and it is a worthy challenge, for sure on those times when the struggle is all too real it feels often like your best produces no results if only for one reason: The AI is so aggressive at rebuilding and fast at levelling up structures. Unless you know how to follow up extraordinarily quickly on the destruction of some resources and killing builders, everything you just sacrificed often feels for naught as you see them put the same things back.

But with 7.0 it does show they're making improvements and changes. I love how the AI takes opportunities to build structures in different areas, especially towers in surprising places, now! Looking forward to the day they build walls!

But until then, best of luck to them to make an AI more intriguing as time goes on in which your efforts and sacrifices feel like they have a bit more weight and the AI feels like its actually lost something when you destroy its structures and kill its units--things it should take some time to reacquire.

Bottom line for what I think is the real frustration: It's not good for a player to feel like his efforts have no real weight.