Thanks for the insight Vic, how many turns could you play?

I would have also assumed/hoped that the AI is adjusting to its new rule set. As for yourself, it takes longer for the AI to build up their armies and recover from casualties.
It should be most noticeable though when they lost some of their forces and need to retreat for replenishment.

(to handle the war effort score, its also advisable for the AI to recover the score from time to time in their home region, especially if they lost a couple of battles)

The idea behind it -as for similar mods- is to allow both sides to realistically weary down the enemy and not having the beaten side come back with a full stack in one or two rounds.
In legendary difficulty, the AI is still quiet aggressive though, likely recovering a little faster too due to bonuses.

I pretty much have to keep tweaking some of the values to make it work best for both AI and player, both in early and late game.

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I am planning to work on the battle balance but for now did not get into it (other than some tests).
The idea is to further emphasize the rock-scissor-paper system that is already pretty well implemented in vanilla Troy. Ultimately, it will be possible to pair a lower tier unit against a higher tier unit as long as it beats it in the rock-scissor-paper system. This is to force AI and player to diversify the army and add more tactical depth to battles.

You should be able to use any battle modification you like for the moment. The only units table my mod touches currently is the main_units table to adjust the recruitment time for units.

Originally posted by Ganossa:

Thanks for the insight Vic, how many turns could you play?

I would have also assumed/hoped that the AI is adjusting to its new rule set. As for yourself, it takes longer for the AI to build up their armies and recover from casualties.
It should be most noticeable though when they lost some of their forces and need to retreat for replenishment.

The idea behind it -as for similar mods- is to allow both sides to weary down the enemy and not having the beaten side come back with a full stack in one or two rounds.
In legendary difficulty, the AI is still quiet aggressive though, likely recovering a little faster too due to bonuses.

-----

I am planning to work on the battle balance but for now did not get into it (other than some tests).
You should be able to use any battle modification you like for the moment. The only units table my mod touches currently is the main_units table to adjust the recruitment time for units.

I got to about turn 30ish with most play through's, I enjoy the early game myself so often restart, but I did notice and may not be with the mod but crossing the sea towards Troy (Playing as Greeks) my Allies did quite well compared to before but I'm enjoy the repeat big battles with sides withdrawing/replenishing the large force, keeping factions around longer before the great war is begins is very refreshing.

I'm playing with - Better Camera Mod - Immersive Combat - Longer Battles -

Small things I noticed - Some AI factions would build a large army 20 stack, but had one or two single 1 stack heroes lodged in one or so settlements, I didn't mind but I seemed rather odd these random Heroes tucked away, but not sure if intended, but I like the idea or smaller forces defending their territory ontop of garrisons, defenders should have the advantage

Awesome mod! Keep posted if I hit any major points but was mainly curious about AI improvements especially on the world make making it more dynamic

Originally posted by Vic:

... Small things I noticed - Some AI factions would build a large army 20 stack, but had one or two single 1 stack heroes lodged in one or so settlements ...

I see two possibilities for that happening.

1. the AI hit the upkeep cap while focusing on filling the first stack
2. initial heroes/armies recruitment became quiet expensive as you may have noticed (~3500 food) which could slow down recruitment for a while especially together with the above point

What you should see is that if they are successful in their wars, the war effort bonuses should kick in and therefore vitalize their economy and also cheapen recruitment. That is when they should start building up more forces to support the war.
If they loose a lot, the opposite will be the case and they will be required to retreat back.

I could think about increasing the war effort slightly at least for the time when units are recruited cause currently it is rather decreasing the war effort as the number of troops increase in your home region. Its to allow recovering from a too high, disadvantaging war effort score but I could simply move it closer to the advantageous war effort score, similar to what is done for winning battles.

Originally posted by Ganossa:

Originally posted by Vic:

... Small things I noticed - Some AI factions would build a large army 20 stack, but had one or two single 1 stack heroes lodged in one or so settlements ...

I see two possibilities for that happening.

1. the AI hit the upkeep cap while focusing on filling the first stack
2. initial heroes/armies recruitment became quiet expensive as you may have noticed (~3500 food) which could slow down recruitment for a while especially together with the above point

What you should see is that if they are successful in their wars, the war effort bonuses should kick in and therefore vitalize their economy and also cheapen recruitment. That is when they should start building up more forces to support the war.
If they loose a lot, the opposite will be the case and they will be required to retreat back.

I could think about increasing the war effort slightly at least for the time when units are recruited cause currently it is rather decreasing the war effort as the number of troops increase in your home region (its to allow recovering from a too high, disadvantaging war effort score).

Very good point, but if thats the case armies staying behind filling up last makes sense and seems thematic, how do we tell the AI's state of Agony so to speak and their war level? Does AI take into account that when making actions to push or pull back, or I should say, utilise the ability?

Originally posted by Vic:

Very good point, but if thats the case armies staying behind filling up last makes sense and seems thematic, how do we tell the AI's state of Agony so to speak and their war level? Does AI take into account that when making actions to push or pull back, or I should say, utilise the ability?

Currently, you can only look at their settlement happiness impact "OTHER" and derive their war effort score (though other could in rare cases also include something else).

In recovery mode (very low war effort score) you see no "OTHER" impact.

In early, and positively running wars you see "OTHER" of +1 or +2.

In late, and negatively running wars you will see "OTHER" of -2 and worse.

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If the AI is smart enough in the original game they should in this mod as well retreat to replenish their troops or to boost happiness in their own regions. Meaning, as all effects are already known to the AI, it should retreat in case of bad wars and recover their troops and therefore automatically also their war score and then go back into war.
- I still need to increase the replenishment you get for taking on warriors after defeating an enemy army, as this should allow you to continue fighting without retreating too soon, as long as you are doing well.

For defending AI (which is very important as this is Troy), they will be able to more easily bring down their war effort score as all their troops are at home and ultimately gain the replenishment and civil economy bonuses.
They wont be able to strike fast though at other regions after defending heir own, as campaign movement is reduced with a low war effort score, therefore it gives the attacking faction a little time before they need to expect a counter invasion (still need to balance here what are good numbers for movement limitations and other numbers)

Originally posted by Ganossa:

Originally posted by Vic:

Very good point, but if thats the case armies staying behind filling up last makes sense and seems thematic, how do we tell the AI's state of Agony so to speak and their war level? Does AI take into account that when making actions to push or pull back, or I should say, utilise the ability?

Currently, you can only look at their settlement happiness impact "OTHER" and derive their war effort score (though other could in rare cases also include something else).

In recovery mode (very low war effort score) you see no "OTHER" impact.

In early, and positively running wars you see "OTHER" of +1 or +2.

In late, and negatively running wars you will see "OTHER" of -2 and worse.

----

If the AI is smart enough in the original game they should in this mod as well retreat to replenish their troops or to boost happiness in their own regions. Meaning, as all effects are already known to the AI, it should retreat in case of bad wars and recover their troops and therefore automatically also their war score and then go back into war.
- I still need to increase the replenishment you get for taking on warriors after defeating an enemy army, as this should allow you to continue fighting without retreating too soon, as long as you are doing well.

For defending AI (which is very important as this is Troy), they will be able to more easily bring down their war effort score as all their troops are at home and ultimately gain the replenishment and civil economy bonuses.
They wont be able to strike fast though at other regions after defending heir own, as campaign movement is reduced with a low war effort score, therefore it gives the attacking faction a little time before they need to expect a counter invasion (still need to balance here what are good numbers for movement limitations and other numbers)

Really cool! Very keen to see whats next especially in that part