Caesar AI needs some production scripting

[James D Burns]

I started a civil war scenario as Pompey and I must say the AI really needs some help in the early game buildup phase. By the end of 4-6 months the force level was 28 for Caesar when compared to me. All I did was use the enslave options for the first few turns to bring in some cash. First in Italy then Sicily, and finally northern Spain (I keep the south and west loyal to recruit units). That was enough to build out one Italian legion on turn one all the Sicily legions on turn two and a few other legions along with all the Spanish ally units (I went east) over the next few months.

As far as I can tell the AI simply made no effort to keep up with me by playing the same enslave options in Gaul or other towns not used for recruiting its units. It would be nice if the AI could be scripted to heavily use the option in the opening months in any town that isn’t needed for unit recruitment. It’s a long scenario, so there is plenty of time to get loyalty back up later. The first year or two is simply too critical to let the AI fall so far behind in the buildup phase.

Jim

[James D Burns]

I went in and did a little experimenting playing as Caesar. By the end of the first year I was able to build out the entire force pool by using first requisitions and then slavery options in just a few non-critical cities in Gaul. A side benefit of this is the slave units that popped up unlocked a few of the nice garrison units that give bonuses to entrenched stacks they are in and I was able to swap them out with regular militia and send the units south to augment my armies abilities.

With very little fighting (only one legion and a couple auxiliary units destroyed that invaded Italy) my power rating to Pompey at the end of the first year was 105. It was nice to see the Pompey AI use requisitions and slavery options quite a bit, but he too could beef up his use of these options in the first year or two in areas he is sure to lose.

Jim