So I have played hundreds of battles over the years and have come to know and to even have a kind of affection for the Computers foolish/suicidal playing style, but in my recent Seleucids Campaign, after decades of defending Hatra, lynch-pin of my Eastern Defences after abandoning Seleucia early on, against wave after wave of Armenian warriors, I finally met my match.
A young Armenian General leading the greatest force to come down from the mountains in living memory laid siege to the city. (notably also the first time I have ever seen the AI use Armoured Horse Archers) In response I sent a young genral of my own with a sizeable cavaly force to relieve the beleaguered citizens.
When battle started I realised to my horror that I had been foiled by the Computer, and inspite of opting to control the reinforcements myself they had in fact been placed at the mercy of the aforementioned suicidal AI.
Having repelled so many Armenian assaults during the campaign I had grown over confident and instead of defending the central square, I lined my men up on the battlements and clogged the great gate with as many spears as possible.
The battle started predictably, with ladders thrown up against my walls, eastern spearmen flooded my battlements and, content they would be driven off by my experienced militia hoplites, I proceeded to watch in awe as my cavalry reinforcments were flung into the mass of foes before the gates.
At first the wild charge appeared to have paid off with the beginnings of a mass rout starting to show, however the timely arrival of my new nemesis, leading a battalion of HA rapidly turned the tide of battle.
All was not lost however, I still had vast numbers of pikes at my command who now opened the great gates of Hatra and marched out to rescue their foolhardy young prince, alas I had been distracted for too long and the battle for the walls had gone badly wrong, it was at this moment that the gatehouse was captured. My glorious warriors, veterans of countless sieges, were caught beneath the gates as their own defences were turned against them, hemmed in by their own numbers and the enemies outside the walls, in mere minutes Hundreds died agonisingly as boiling oil poured down upon them.
I shed a tear, for I had rarely seen such carnage in all my time playing the game. The retreat back into the city was frantic but the force that rallied in the square was still capable of pushing back the tide that now flowed through the gates. My heart sank as I watched the enemy fill the streets with their HAs, a few proping thrusts were repelled and the wily Armenian lord settled in to watch as his archers turned my remaining force into pin cushions, My foolish prince was one of the last to fall, in one of my worst losses of all time.
It was wild and brilliant that such surprises can still happen after all these years of playing the game, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
TLDR;
Lost control of my reinforcements to the computer, and AI shot me to pieces like an actual human player rather than death charging onto my pikes like usual. Any other tales of the computer being clever like this?
PS sorry if this belongs elsewhere, but it is my first post after years of lurking,
A young Armenian General leading the greatest force to come down from the mountains in living memory laid siege to the city. (notably also the first time I have ever seen the AI use Armoured Horse Archers) In response I sent a young genral of my own with a sizeable cavaly force to relieve the beleaguered citizens.
When battle started I realised to my horror that I had been foiled by the Computer, and inspite of opting to control the reinforcements myself they had in fact been placed at the mercy of the aforementioned suicidal AI.
Having repelled so many Armenian assaults during the campaign I had grown over confident and instead of defending the central square, I lined my men up on the battlements and clogged the great gate with as many spears as possible.
The battle started predictably, with ladders thrown up against my walls, eastern spearmen flooded my battlements and, content they would be driven off by my experienced militia hoplites, I proceeded to watch in awe as my cavalry reinforcments were flung into the mass of foes before the gates.
At first the wild charge appeared to have paid off with the beginnings of a mass rout starting to show, however the timely arrival of my new nemesis, leading a battalion of HA rapidly turned the tide of battle.
All was not lost however, I still had vast numbers of pikes at my command who now opened the great gates of Hatra and marched out to rescue their foolhardy young prince, alas I had been distracted for too long and the battle for the walls had gone badly wrong, it was at this moment that the gatehouse was captured. My glorious warriors, veterans of countless sieges, were caught beneath the gates as their own defences were turned against them, hemmed in by their own numbers and the enemies outside the walls, in mere minutes Hundreds died agonisingly as boiling oil poured down upon them.
I shed a tear, for I had rarely seen such carnage in all my time playing the game. The retreat back into the city was frantic but the force that rallied in the square was still capable of pushing back the tide that now flowed through the gates. My heart sank as I watched the enemy fill the streets with their HAs, a few proping thrusts were repelled and the wily Armenian lord settled in to watch as his archers turned my remaining force into pin cushions, My foolish prince was one of the last to fall, in one of my worst losses of all time.
It was wild and brilliant that such surprises can still happen after all these years of playing the game, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
TLDR;
Lost control of my reinforcements to the computer, and AI shot me to pieces like an actual human player rather than death charging onto my pikes like usual. Any other tales of the computer being clever like this?
PS sorry if this belongs elsewhere, but it is my first post after years of lurking,