Posts from AI in Might & Magic: Heroes VI

BigZee, I'm not talking about that.

I'm saying, play it for about 3 years, and you'll be surprised yourself, and you'll wonder what you found so strong about it? Once you've learned the game and fully understand the AI's actions. Of course, when you pick up the disc for the first time, it seems like it's very strong... But then, with experience, you realize how novice you were when you thought that. Like, for example, with the third game, where the AI is very dumb, but at first, it seemed incredibly strong.

Well, in my opinion, this isn't a game you can play for years. The third one, yes, and the same goes for Diablo. But in general, games aren't what they used to be. We just have to wait for a good Diablo. And regarding the AI in the third game, it's not as bad as it is here. Consider the advantages the AI has. In the third game, I didn't notice any superhuman manipulations. It builds normally, and the balance is that the pawn gets all the money, and the king gets all the money. Balance. But here, we don't see any of that. You just set the difficulty. By the way, I noticed that medium and hard difficulties start playing almost identically. I suspect that the computer is the same everywhere. It's some kind of nonsense

And here I am still trying to win even on the smallest map with a bridge in the middle (just to start with...) on the "normal" difficulty. I've tried about 7 times – the result is always the same: defeat. Has anyone managed to beat the AI on "normal" difficulty? Or are you all playing in co-op?

For example, in the map (which has always been my favorite, even back in Heroes 5), Rise to Power, with the highest settings, my computer runs it at full capacity... The AI is dumb and weak, but it knows more than you do, and that's it. Here's just one example of how the AI's vast knowledge affects its behavior: The computer knows exactly where you'll be able to reach on your next turn, and it knows exactly how many troops your hero has. If your hero with a large army is far from the castle, it won't defend the castle because the hero can't reach it. If your hero is practically (or completely) without an army and close to the castle, it won't be afraid of it. However, it doesn't understand that a distant hero with an army (who can't reach the castle) will transfer troops to a nearby hero without an army (whom it wasn't afraid of). This is just one of the AI's "stupidities," and there are many more.

The AI also doesn't detect the threat of a potential teleportation into a "target" Fortress or Castle.

I agree. That's exactly how I managed to trap him (because catching up is impossible). The main hero leaves the castle without troops to meet the enemy (but not too close). The castle is also empty. And when the enemy approaches, the hero with an army (not the main one) teleports to that castle, gives everything to the main hero (who is slightly ahead), and he defeats the enemy.

In general, speaking in chess terms, the AI looks one step ahead, and any combinations of 2 or more actions are "invisible" to it. Literally, a two-move combination puts it in a dead end.

I'm still trying to beat even the smallest map with a bridge in the middle (to start with...) on "normal" difficulty. I've tried about 7 times - the result is always the same: defeat. Has anyone managed to beat the AI on "normal"? Or are you all playing in co-op?

I don't know, I easily beat that small map with the bridge on normal difficulty, I was even surprised after failing on the large map :rolleyes:

Thank you. I understand. I'll keep trying.
The most important thing for me was to find out that people play on maps at a "normal" level. I was already starting to think that it was impossible... :smile27:

And I'll also try to look further ahead than just one turn ;-)
:smile19:

I was very surprised to see people writing about a very strong AI here. I don't consider myself a strong player, but I can quite easily handle the normal difficulty level with any faction.
There is one trump card that has been and remains the main advantage in the single-player game (except perhaps for Heroes 4) - building a tavern and recruiting an additional hero in one turn.
Why? Because the army of a 2nd-tier hero is always larger than the army in a newly built 1st-level structure; that's one thing. By combining them into the main hero, you can defeat almost any starting guard army. Secondly, the additional hero, who starts empty, immediately goes to collect free resources, which is very helpful at the beginning of the game.
And also: on large maps, you can collect the Tears of Asha. You should focus on this in the first place. The benefits of this structure in any faction are simply enormous. The "1.5 times more units" bonus applies to all structures, not just the city in which it is built.

Perhaps there are people who haven't played the other installments, and that's why the AI seems difficult to them. But as far as I've noticed, those who have been playing this series for a long time don't experience any difficulties. For example, I also play on normal difficulty and defeat opponents who would be deadly to me. This is because you just need to know the opponent's weak spot, and then you can defeat them.

If the computer didn't cheat, it would be quite easy to defeat it. But as it is, with experience, you can beat anyone.

Just for fun, I completed the bridge mission on the hardest difficulty level with the most challenging AI settings. It took exactly two months. I played as Necropolis against Inferno. I didn't notice any particular difficulty in the AI's actions. My main combat units were vampires and ghosts. My hero was a mage, level 8. I took the following skills (in order): Education -> Drain Life -> Haste -> No Retreat! -> Tactics 1 -> Counter Strike 1 -> Defense -> Counter Strike 2.

The AI in Heroes 6 is practically no different in strength from Heroes 3, and it only becomes so strong due to teleportation. Because of this, its army doesn't spread out across 18 heroes. Otherwise, there's nothing complicated about it; on large maps, the game boils down to "luring the AI to a castle," otherwise it's difficult. Moreover, the AI doesn't really take any risks here. For example, if your army is weaker than the AI's, and you might be able to defeat it in a castle, but you'll lose a lot of units and the other AIs will start bothering you. Instead, you lure it to a castle, and the AI calmly runs away to gather resources. As a result, the army hardly suffers any losses, and the bot dies after 7 turns. You can only fight the bot 1-2 times per game, and sometimes you don't fight at all. In my opinion, this is the biggest drawback of Heroes 6; in Heroes 3, the AI would immediately try to retake a castle even if its army was slightly weaker, but not here.

To be honest, I haven't played any scenario maps because I'm playing through the campaigns. But judging by them, the AI is a complete loser because, even playing on the hardest difficulty (in the campaigns), it gets defeated quickly. So, I don't believe those who say that it's difficult to play against it. Although, I can imagine that it might be challenging to play alone against 7 AI opponents in an alliance.

Installed Heroes 6. At first, I was happy, thinking that the AI was decent. I didn't play the campaigns, but immediately started playing a single-player game. I completed a large map on the normal difficulty level on my first try. I played as the Orcs, and for the first two months, I only used upgraded harpies (they can move across the entire battlefield, and enemies can't effectively counter them). In fast battles, the computer loses in half the cases, losing one to three harpies, although if you use resurrection on them, you can avoid losing them altogether. If you set the game to automatic battles, the computer also makes mistakes. I can't understand why it's so difficult to use resurrection. Why doesn't the AI use it?

The AI is as dumb as a doorknob. The problem is to defeat its first army without losses or with acceptable losses. After that, everything is easy. I just gathered all my troops, cleared the area, and defeated the AI.