Europa Universalis 4, current version 1.30.X

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2021624153

DISCLAIMER

This mod is work in progress, meaning everything should work fine, but some things are bound to break from time to time! I try my best to maintain this project and keep all functionality of the mod up-to-date, though you can help with valuable feedback and contributions on github (via issues/pull-requests). You are free to use any content from it aslong as you reference this project.

What is this mod?

This mod is an enhancement of existing AI tweaking mods. Thanks to all already existing AI mods for inspiration. Special thanks to my dude stackpoint/LoStack and Melle for contributing with the devclicker, which actually works way better than what I had before. Perhaps he has some nice contributions on other projects too. https://github.com/stackpoint Also thanks to Question, for allowing me to use and tweak the "disband mercs" mod!

PLAY THIS GAME ON HARD OR VERY HARD TO EXPERIENCE THE BEST AI POSSIBLE

So... what's the actual content?

Difficulty

I tweaked the bonuses for the difficulty. Currently only Hard is modded. "Hard" provides -1 unrest for AI and 10%/25%/50% forcelimit for AI for age of reformation/absolutism/revolution This mod is supposed to enhance the behavior of the AI to actually invest in Missionaries, to build more buildings and to wage more wars with the goal of blobbing like a player would.

Buildings

Still, a nation is nothing without proper building structure. Therefore the building importance got tweaked a bit to prefer manufactories, workshops, etc. and to give less importance to docks and similar.

Debt spiral fix!

Ahh the famous debt spiral we got used to from the 1.30.X patch. This mod will mostly fix it! For real. Due to nations' focus on debt payback and overall creating a vastly more robust nation you will see the AI bouncing back from various situations or just being able to support insane amounts of troops. Example: Average ottomans supporting 300k+ troops with 250+ income in 1600. Without Quantity ideas picked. Yes. Additional fancy bonus is the AI declaring bankruptcy if necessary right after a hefty war in a safely manner to prevent paying back debt endlessly. Not my implementation, but it is more pronounced due to this mod!

Fort upgrades

With this mod, the AI is capable of upgrading their forts more consistently when higher military techs are reached. No more level 2 forts in 1700 russia. Of course the AI pays for it aswell, just like the player does.

AI fills empty areas with forts (ZoC addition)

The AI, especially russia and lithuania, doesn't bother adding new forts to its country besides the conquered ones. With this mod, the AI not only upgrades existing forts, but also fill areas where no Zones of Control is present. Lithuania, Russia, Sweden and other large countries therefore cover their country with strategic fort placements while paying attention to optimize placement to keep the number of forts as low as possible.

AI mana spending!

This current revision also contains improvements to AI mana spending, meaning it will not waste mana when reaching cap but instead try to invest into provinces. This functionality should be in the basegame!. (improved by LoStack)

Devpushing Institutions

The AI now is also capable of devpushing institutions in the best provinces it can find, meaning either capital, gold provinces or just provinces with good trade goods. Of course the AI can't do it for free, meaning it spends ~2k mana like the player does. (improved by LoStack!)

Estates behavior

The AI will resort to selling land to estates more often as it is just such a nice income source. Also they will not be super cautious and instead actually USE their estates for points etc. and amass up to 4 privileges at the same time per estate. Fancy and helpful. AI still gathers more crown land when absolutism+ hits. (Though let's be honest, the AI has no idea on how to increase absolutism. Not before, not now.)

Disbanding mercs!

The AI struggles a lot with debt. One of the reasons is that they pay for mercs beyond necessity. Even the Beta patch 1.30.4 does not completely fix this behavior and takes too long to disband units. With this mod, the AI disband their unnecessary mercs quickly while keeping an eye on a high enough army percentage so it does not become easy prey after disbanding. Reasonable. (contribution by Question!) **This mod will not do miracles. It will just try to use the tools we have on our disposale.**

Just now, I'm working on...

- tweaking AI behavior to a bit more aware of debt in early game

CURRENTLY ON TODO-LIST (recommendations welcome)

War logic
- properly assigning edicts at war
- AI is not ruthless enough is hunting down enemy armies and does not lock down a region as desired
- AI should avoid attrition (ever seen a 1.3m forcelimit ottomans navigating? With this mod you will)
- make england/GB and naval invasions overall useful again
Infrastructure logic

Overall
- AI alliance evaluation is not satisfying enough
- push natives to complete their religion minigame before they get slaughtered
- push AI to end disasters when there is an easy fix (looking at you denmark. You could have just stabbed up twice and everything would have been fine.)

ISSUES

- AI is now capable of supporting so many troops that they sometimes don't know how to correctly position a strategic frontline and instead just wander off with massive 20 x 30units blobs. Still entertaining though. - AI building a bit too few barracks for my taste. -

SOME OF THESE THINGS WON'T HAVE A FIX AT ALL, BUT I TRY! :)

Mxt-dot/BetterAI