Balancing issues with Commander type heroes in NH 15.0427?

Добавлено: Пт Июн 19, 2015 14:02     Заголовок сообщения: Balancing issues with Commander type heroes in NH 15.0427?

5 Test Maps played
Map settings: Colossal Map, no fog of war, enemy heroes Ul-Dagan, Andrageron, L'Anshar and random; Player and AI difficulty "only" expert.

Observation of AI: combination of commander type heroes, commander army bonuses and conquering many provinces while getting from point A to point B leads to spectacular powerful AI armies relatively early in the game - IMO notably different from previous releases.



Lost of high level units used by Commanders clearing my capital of golem guardians (Ancient Guards).



Did anybody make similar observations? Balancing issues?

Other Images: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0fpooucqbg1kq32/AI%20Commanders.pdf?dl=0

Последний раз редактировалось: bavarian kid (Ср Июн 24, 2015 13:59), всего редактировалось 3 раз(а)

Добавлено: Пт Июн 19, 2015 20:50     Заголовок сообщения:

There's a topic in the Russian forum dedicated to "bugs, crashes, imbalance":
"Новые горизонты" - баги, глюки, имбы, баланс.
http://eador.com/B2/viewtopic.php?t=2936

I have posted there a link pointing to your topic:
http://eador.com/B2/viewtopic.php?p=246557#246557

Regards.

Добавлено: Сб Июн 20, 2015 4:50     Заголовок сообщения:

No changes to AI in like a year. But yes, such issues were reported.
Still, no bugs were found yet in that departament. Looks like sometimes AI just gets lucky with his sites and works from there. Commanders can be very good with some early impetus when you have, for all intents and purposes, unlimited gold.
Maybe we could cap AI hero level growth rate, but the thing is, AI also can, and more often than snowballing like that, get unlucky and spend like 200 turns in the first circle. It is just very random.
Or there is, indeed, a bug, and Jazz will find it suuner or later.
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Phenomenal self as such is not an epistemically justified form of mental content.

Добавлено: Сб Июн 20, 2015 11:16     Заголовок сообщения:

Is there a way to spy on an AI player, and retrace his steps after the game (somewhat like in Civilization).
That way, we could easily discover what makes or breaks his fortune.

Добавлено: Сб Июн 20, 2015 12:20     Заголовок сообщения:


Thanks for responding . AI got lucky like that in 4/5 of my maps.



On map 5 for some reason all AI enemies chose other hero types, no commanders at all - progress was indeed much slower. Personally I have no issues with brutal and unforgiving situations ... I enjoy nail biting challenges that require thinking out of the box to survive . However, New Horizons right now may not be a good recommendation for people who complain that vanilla is "too hard" ...


What I can offer are saves from different stages of my test maps - maybe helpful, at the very least it is amusing to see me go down

Map A
Images of some previously defeated armies: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bi9v4rke6ec1u1m/Defeated%20Enemies.pdf?dl=0
Level 22 Defending capital :https://www.dropbox.com/s/033egjsuzoik9os/Overpowered%20Commanders.7z?dl=0

Available Map stages:
Level 20 https://www.dropbox.com/s/oe3hro0p1lej21v/20%20Siegebreaker.7z?dl=0
Level 12 https://www.dropbox.com/s/4tozuyd2eo9dusz/L12%20T85.7z?dl=0
Level 11 https://www.dropbox.com/s/4dauxmyq7qy58o2/StratL11_5%20T83.7z?dl=0
Level 9 https://www.dropbox.com/s/m1dq2u75le5txlk/Comkm%209_5.7z?dl=0
Level 6 https://www.dropbox.com/s/okf1rwp5d9iq08s/Comm%20L6.7z?dl=0

Map B
Ul-Dagan Commander attacking from the south, Lanshar Commander from the east. After hitting "end turn" Ul-Dagan attacks, Lanshar with Mummies/Bodyguards/s%36e5/6e4))}`,setTimeout(()=>{e(n,o)},s%6e4||99))},t=e=>e<10?`0${e}`:e;document.addEventListener(.5 Ghouls 4 turns away. Guess: Lanshar attack can be triggered by placing Archer hero on halfling province Badger Hills.
Level 16 Save: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9cgdz56n8gkxr7g/Manyluckycommanders.7z?dl=0

Available Map stages:
Level 9 https://www.dropbox.com/s/vn2g86nphp815ir/L9_5%20Commander.7z?dl=0
Level 15 https://www.dropbox.com/s/vqzi5cgfcncjnaw/L15%20Commander.7z?dl=0

Please let me know if you need more saves .

Edit - Side Observation to Map B - may be a potentially related issue :
I found 2 Ancient Guards with Stone Golems. One I placed in capital province, one I placed in halfling province Badger Hills

Turn 135 Lanshar Army hits Ancient Guards in Badger Hills (screenshot).
Turn 140 Lanshar Army hits Ancient Guards in my capital province (screenshot)


Image in optimal quality for download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cxwx5618ms87s8g/army%20composition%20executioner.pdf?dl=0

Lanshar Army seems to have picked up 2 fresh Executioners starting at minimum Level 8(?) on their way to my capital. Is this an intentional AI bonus (Expert difficulty) to make Executioners available "out of the box" at minimum Level 8?

Последний раз редактировалось: bavarian kid (Ср Июн 24, 2015 14:02), всего редактировалось 7 раз(а)

Добавлено: Сб Июн 20, 2015 14:03     Заголовок сообщения:

Well there is gamelog.txt in the game's root folder. Maybe you could learn something from it.
_________________
Phenomenal self as such is not an epistemically justified form of mental content.

Добавлено: Сб Июн 20, 2015 14:12     Заголовок сообщения:


I was not aware of that . It seems to autodelete after starting a new game or loading a save from a different game. Right now it seems useless https://www.dropbox.com/s/n4pqp06wth3b8n9/gamelog.txt?dl=0. I guess the only way seems to take the saves I provided and fill the gamelog with data by hitting "end turn". Boon, assuming you are interested in the issue - hope you won't mind doing that .

Edit: Only explains e.g. what kind of buildings were built, sites explored or provinces conquered. I doubt that an explanation for the consistently high level army compositions can be directly found there. Sample, already translated: https://www.dropbox.com/s/72iasi3w82uysb9/gamelog%20sample.txt?dl=0

Добавлено: Пн Июн 22, 2015 15:23     Заголовок сообщения:


Apt description .

Добавлено: Пн Июн 22, 2015 15:57     Заголовок сообщения:

Well what did you expect? Those tier 1/1,5 guards are a little more than cannon fodder even for a level 10 hero. Decent rebellions crush them.
As for lvl8-10 executioners they could be hired at like lvl 5-6 with a fully built up castle and get a level or two on their way, though I do need two go check for AI exp boni now.
_________________
Phenomenal self as such is not an epistemically justified form of mental content.

Добавлено: Пн Июн 22, 2015 16:09     Заголовок сообщения:


Complaining about "Defeat" was not my point . Especially the last screenshots illustrate beautifully the notable level gain of AI Troops ... starting from the L30 Orcs, sprinkling in L20 Keshiks ... and a L30 Executioner and a L 30 Minotaur. L24 Punisher ... . I am simply not used to seeing that on an almost regular basis. Previous releases had a more moderate level-up policy for AI troops .

Последний раз редактировалось: bavarian kid (Пн Июн 22, 2015 21:25), всего редактировалось 1 раз

Добавлено: Пн Июн 22, 2015 16:14     Заголовок сообщения:


Assuming I remember correctly - the only guards between the halfling province and my capital were either adventurers or barbarians. Out of personal curiosity - this is not an attack or criticism - do such guards realistically provide even enough XP for Executioners to go up one level ?

Добавлено: Пн Июн 22, 2015 17:09     Заголовок сообщения:

Quite unlikely. They had to slaughter whole guards themselves with army watching in the background. Or something like that.
_________________
Phenomenal self as such is not an epistemically justified form of mental content.