The recent update did not help at all. The issue of that is the fact that the gunners still DID NOT take into account the factor of walls separation in the target finding calculation. The gunners still approached the closest target (outside the walls) when they were inside the walls and there were second-closest targets inside the walls for shooting. That is unacceptable. Anyone finding that as well?
Yup...gunners are worst now...they have become dead zombies! Brainless. I doubt, the update was to fix bugs or to add bugs
Still crushing all the bases, I have no problems with the AI of any of my pirates. Or at least not that i'm aware of.
Even worse instead of just shooting through a wall they walk all the way around. And considering AI is artificial intelligence 'intelligence being the operative word here' why do they stand firing at an outhouse while being shot to death by cannons or towers.
From what we can see, gunners are behaving as expected - unlike the Brutes, the Priestess or Ching Shih, they don't prioritise defences, and will always attack the closest object, regardless of type. They were previously ignoring those rules due to an issue with distance calculation (where they'd incorrectly judge a further away object to be the closest), which has since been fixed. As this was the issue that was causing them to ignore holes in the wall (because they were misjudging the distance), you should see an improvement in that respect.
@Lynsey [Midoki] while we're on the subject of gunners range calculation, how far away should a max level gunner be able to shoot from? The range says 5, which to me makes it seem like gunners should be able to hit something on the other side of a 4-wall thick barricade (4 tiles between the gunner and the target, for a distance of 5 tiles away). But I've seen gunners shoot over the top of walls from the equivalent of 5 tiles in between them, which seems like one too many, given how far away 1-range targets can hit from, as well as bombers (brutes can't smack something from over a wall, for example). This has radically altered several of my base designs, as 2 walls and a bunker (5 tiles total) or 3 walls and a Gun Tower (5 tiles total) should be enough separation that the gunners can't snipe a GP/Mortar on the other side without destroying at least one wall to get closer, but I've had to factor in an extra wall for this seemingly unexpected extra distance. Can you clarify if this is the expected behavior (5 tiles in between gunner and the target 6 tiles away)? Did this get fixed in the distance-calculation update you mentioned? As an example Spoiler: example The gunner here is shooting the GP, from over 5 wall distances, which seems like 1 too far?
I think what has become the problem is that they prioritise the holes in the wall too much to the point that they would go through it even if it means taking a longer route. Here is an example from my latest plunder. As the gunners finished a cannon, they went outside the wall going trough a hole they made to destroy a distillery and a builder's hut. After destroying the buildings, they went inside the wall to destroy a grog storage. Then, they went back through that hole again even though its a much farther route to take to destroy another distillery, getting killed by a mine along the way. Hopefully this will be fixed in the future. Spoiler: Screenshots
That is absurd, it is very frustrating when that happens. I have seen it all too many times. I wish they would stick to the inside of the base instead of going in and out. edit: At least you had the defenses killed so that they didn't kill your gunners.
Yeah that was fortunate enough (aside from that mine lol), but its more on the time the ai pirates waste especially when your plundering time is limited.
The issue I encounter most with gunners has nothing to do with which target they choose, but how they go about getting to that target. If a gunner has a range of 5 tiles, and gunners do shoot over walls, then why do gunners choose to walk 15 tiles backwards and through a hole in the wall, just to walk 15 tiles forward to approach a target that could have been shot over the wall by taking two or three steps forward? Because that object was placed directly next to the wall, the gunner should take two or three steps forward and shoot the object over the wall, not walk 30 tiles around. It's as though they're more than happy to shoot over the wall, so long as they're on the outside, but get gunners inside the walls, and you better have cleared every last side building, otherwise you might see your gunners go for a long walk around while your meat shield dies.
Hmmm...I don't think so, as what happened to my example, there was a point that the gunners were outside the wall and still chose to take the long path to destroy the grog storage inside the wall instead of just shooting it over the wall.
I have encountered all the AI gunners issued mentioned here. A new weird AI action happened earlier during a raid. My gunners completely ignored all the distilleries in sight, took a stroll and a swim to reach the ship platform and shooted the ship first and walked back to destroy the distrilleries.
This is absolutly a huge issue. If midoki doesn't realize it then they are not listening to us... No one wants to see gunners walking all around the walls. Especially when they easy could have attacked items right over the wall. This absolutly is a rediculous issue that spoils the fun of the game! It's been happening for way too long! Wake up midoki!
Just yesterday I was considering spending $20 for a gem fill up. Now I may just delete the game and move on. Frustration > Fun. Only thing keeping me are my awesome guild mates, because this game has moved into the category of "sucks". I've got Bombers not attacking walls and gunners walking around walls. As if to insult me, on my last raid, my gunners again walked around the walls that they could have shot over, stood under GP fire and in their final act, before they died, shot at the walls to try to get back in...Facepalm.
Personally I just want an AI that is predictable, and they keep changing things. While Midoki may insist that nothing has changed, it very much so has. After the PH8 update, 8 of my maxed bombers and kaboom could have taken out 2-3 lvl 11 wall pieces. Then the following update I needed 12 bombers to do the same. Fast forward to the last update and I have to send in several individually to get blown up then a mass of them with kaboom. And all too often it doesn't work now. I used to blow two holes in a long wall with bombers after clearing all obstacles. Now my bombers take one hit of splash damage and run for the hole the other bombers are working on. Which means, I get one hole in the walls. That means two mortars and one hole, which equals death for all. Now I can gripe about the AI about every character, and my bombers are just an example. The fact is however, that the AI is for midoki to determine and me to adapt to. However, I'm tired of spending gems to come up with a new attack strategy, then after each release having to spend more, and lose ranking figuring out a new one. My base is completely maxed, as are all of my troops except the last two +8 damages on Hvy. Gnrs. I get that Midoki tried to make it so Heavy gunners would be usable, and they are in fact now. However they are very expensive, especially above 700 P.R. where the grog is still scarce. I truly hope these errands that they released are not the infusion of resources for higher ranks that they said they were working on, because quite frankly 25k grog in 1.75 hrs doesn't even buy a heavy gunner. Ok, soap box kicked aside, I know they want to make something stable and enjoyable to play, I just really hope in the next update that they finally get the AI worked out.
The AI is constantly being improved with each update, that is to be expected. BTW, 5 bombers, if all 5 thrown bombs from all 5 bombers hit the same segment, will destroy a lv 11 wall with SM3. Bombers do 169 damage with BS * 1.5 against walls = 253.5 damage per bomb x 5 bombs per bomber = 1267.5 damage per bomber, wall11 has 5600 hp with SM3. Without SM3, 4 bombers can destroy it. As bombers like to change targets after they throw their 5th bomb and run across the battlefield, I like to send 1 extra so they can destroy it in 4 bombs instead of 5. Splash damage has ALWAYS recalculated targets for every single troop. Getting hit by a mine or mortar will make anything re-evaluate what the best target is (usually it doesn't change, but its the only thing that can make most troops switch targets mid attack). This hasn't changed. A good player uses this to their advantage both offensively and defensively to plan AI pathing ahead of time. One brute with taunt can easily pull the mortar away from the bombers letting them get their job done. I like to use 3, as it eats up all 3 cannons of gun towers, personally. I do agree that the grog generation is a bit low (PH8 needed another collector or collector level) but this is a large source of revenue for them. High level players are rate limited by grog generation, unless they want to pay the extreme exchange rate to buy grog straight out, which has certainly netted them tens of thousands of dollars in funds. Adjust your strategy, or have low rank guild members rotate out and donate the more expensive troops and train the cheap troops yourself to cut costs.
Ah and yes, but sometimes you want the bombers to break through a section of wall intentionally designed by the defensive player not to. Bombers by nature run for the nearest wall when a path is clear. In the 700+ pr range people have surrounded their ships with walls so unless you blow a hole through a corner ship side, you are forced to run through their ground pounder area. Also, people have placed three wall thick angled walls that the bomber will not attempt to bomb through. They run around instead. Two weeks ago with 10 bombers I could run then shipside corner in a line, hit kaboom and they'd blast the hole I needed on lvl 11 walls to get through ship side. Now it doesn't work. The AI tells the bombers to run around instead. This inconsistency in the AI or what you call improvement is frustrating. "Improvement" is a matter of perspective, and for me reliability is far more important, as I can adapt to short comings, but constantly having to adapt to something that is still not fixed is just annoying.
