Ultimate AI
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A mod aimed at improving the campaign AI, diplomacy and alliances in Medieval II: Total War
Contents
History
The current version of this mod, 1.6, was released on September 30, 2007. The first version, 1.0, was released by GrandViZ. Version 1.4/1.5 was released on May 06, 2007. The Ultimate Battle AI, a part of the mod, was first released on June 16, 2007, and version 1.2 of the Battle AI was released together with version 1.6 of the main mod.
Description
The Ultimate AI mod for Medieval II: Total War is a project that modifies almost everything about the AI's behavior and coding, in order to improve the overall game. It is very detailed, containing separate AI profiles for certain groups of countries. It contains special coding for the Papal States, Catholic factions, Orthodox factions, Muslims, Mongols (Timurids), Aztecs, and Neutral factions. It also has a separate section for a new battle AI.
Features
Ultimate AI makes the AI more advanced, so that the Vanilla campaign is greatly improved, and also a bit more challenging. It also contains three submods: the Character Names Project, the King's Banner, and the Real Combat mod.
Campaign AI
The changes to the Campaign AI, the AI on the world map, include several enhancements. The Papal States, Catholic factions, Muslim factions, Orthodox factions, Mongols & Timurids and Neutral factions all have their own way of thinking. The alliances system is enhanced, so that alliances will be more logical. Backstabbing can still occur, though. The AI now also uses bigger armies to attack and defend than in Vanilla.
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is a point where major revisions have been done by the mod team. This includes several features. The AI will no longer randomly declare war like it did in Vanilla. The alliances between historically hostile factions have been made harder to achieve, for a more historical game. Allies will now actually support each other if they can. The Papal States now mainly interact through diplomacy, and have a special bond with the Italian fctions. The changes in relations with other factions have been revised too, so that relations will no longer be able to jump from 'Good' to 'Abysmal' in one turn. Your actions will now actually affect multiple factions, like when you attack a faction, that will force a reaction from the target faction's allies and enemies. The diplomatic negotiations have been fleshed out as well.
Battle AI
The Battle AI is enhanced so that the AI actually poses a threat in field and siege battles. The AI flanking and skirmishing tactics have been improved as well. The unit pathfinding has been revised, along with the terrain modifiers and unit stats. The AI can now also choose from six different formations to place troops in the field, and many more in siege battles. Naval battles will yeald more casualties than in Vanilla.
Campaign Settings
The campaign has been changed in this mod as well, to make the vanilla Grand Campaign more fun to play. The starting conditions for every faction (Money, standings with other factions etc.) have been revised. A completely new city growth and economy system is now in place, and the happiness penalties/bonuses have been made higher for more realism and challenge. The population needed to upgrade a settlement has been made higher. The AI also has gained a few bonuses to income and command.
Building tree & recruitment
The whole building tree and recruitment tree have been revised in Ultimate AI. This results in better balance and AI troop stacks than before. The era-based availability of troops has also been implemented, so that Late Era units can only be recruited in the late game, even if the required buildings have been acquired before.
Character names project
This project changes many characters' names so that they are historically accurate.
King's Banner
This visual mod makes the banners, textures and symbols better, so that the game is more appealing to the eye. 23 new loading screens have also been added.
The Team
- GrandViZ as developer
- Point Blank, creator of Real Combat
- joedreck, creator of King's Banner
- deRougemond, creator of Character Names Project
