CLASSIC AI INFO

INTRODUCTION

This AI mod was originally designed for the Heroes of Axeoth, a large mod that brings
several gameplay elements from the old heroes games to Tribes of the East.
This is a standalone edition of the AI from that mod, it is designed for general purpose, 
it should work on all types of maps and should contain an appropriate difficulty level 
for all players who are able to beat the computer on easy or normal and are looking for a 
better challenge.

INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS

Installing the mod is extremely simple, just place the ClassicAI.h5u file
in the \Heroes of might and magic V - Tribes of the east\UserMODs directory.
This mod changes the AI only!, using this mod together with the Heroes of Axeoth Modpack
makes no sense because this AI is part of that mod. You can of course not use this mod
together with other AI mods, like the performance xl AI.

DESCRIPTION

The purpose of this mod is to improve the AI and bring back the classic
difficulty levels. That's why it is called 'classic Ai'. In Heroes 3 and 4 you had five 
difficulty levels instead of 3, providing a better gradual increase in difficulty for 
advanced players. 
In Heroes 5 there is a very large gap between normal and hard. On normal the computer has 
very restricted intelligence, starting resources and building time, while the hard setting 
can make a very tough opponent, because of hard-coded cheating.
The purpose of the mod is to bring back the classic difficulty levels and tweak the ai to
maximum intelligence (maybe intelligence is not the right word) on all difficulty levels.
It is however not possible to create more than four levels so I removed the easy level
(Players who download this mod, dont use it anyway). The new difficulty
levels are: normal, hard, expert and champion.

In short the new difficulty levels play like this:

Normal: like normal (old) with smarter AI
Hard: like hard (old) with smarter AI and no cheating
Expert: like hard (old) with smarter AI and stronger neutrals (like in campaigns).
Champion: like heroic (old) with stronger neutrals (like in campaigns).

Now the details:

GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS

These changes apply to all difficulty levels, the specific changes are on the next page:
-it can cast 5th level spells,
-it doesnt center spells on creatures (stone spikes etc.),
-it considers movement paths on the battlefield, that allows him to strike first.
-value of towns increased (like heroic)
-value of grail increased (like heroic)
-protects important towns better (like heroic)
-it tries to build every day (like hard and heroic)
-the computer is less interested in attacking computer players (like heroic)
-the computer creates one main hero and a support hero when it owns one town, it
creates one hero for every new town it conquers, up to a maximum of 8. (This setting is
probably most human-like)
-the computer is more interested in border guards keys, value is the same as major
artifact (9000), it was lower than minor artifact (1500). (This meant to be a bugfix, I cant 
guarantee this works, but I hope one day I can see the AI opening a border guard)


CHANGES BETWEEN LEVELS

NORMAL
Starting resources Human: 30000 gold etc.
Starting resources AI: 20000 gold etc.
Neutrals power: 1
Neutrals growth: 1.09
AI-cheating: no

HARD
Starting resources Human/AI: 20000 gold etc.
Neutrals power: 1.1
Neutrals growth: 1.1
AI-cheating: no

EXPERT
Starting resources Human/AI: 20000 gold etc.
Neutrals power: 1.3 (campaign value)
Neutrals growth: 1.11
AI-cheating: yes

CHAMPION
Starting resources Human: 10000 gold etc.
Starting resources AI: 30000 gold etc.
Neutrals power: 1.5 (campaign value)
Neutrals growth: 1.11
AI-cheating: yes

HEROES OF AXEOTH

http://heroescommunity.com/viewthread.php3?TID=24665
http://www.celestialheavens.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7988