Yep, this happens with me as well. I'm now having trouble now even eliminating butes and juggs from my attacks. The WD just hops like mad from group to group getting all mixed up then sometimes goes off in la la land to ponder his naval....so frustrating!
@Lynsey [Midoki] Thanks for the info, and while I love the idea of those changes, the above change just isn't working in practice. Please check out the replay below. This player dropped a row of bombers and gunners, and yet the WD still abandoned them to chase two Juggs dropped the far corner of the map. My guess? The radius for what constitutes a pack is too small, or that small pack of Juggs and Gunners must've had more HP than the first pack. I'm wondering, If you can track a group by its pool of health, why not just have them follow the group with the largest number of troops? And if a second WD is deployed, have him follow the second-largest group, and so on? Or, provide some kind of weighting, so that Juggs and Brutes don't auto-attract them so easily. Doing the math, a Jugg has ~1800 Toughness, and a gunner has 111. So, it's almost a certainty that if you drop more than 1-2 Juggs, the WD is going to follow them. And also, regarding the pack radius, please don't forget that we usually need to deploy troops widely, so they can survive
Hey I've used 16 Raiders to beautiful effect. But on higher bases its rare to find someone who isn't well protected. I haven't carried them in months.
And that is the crux of the issue. Nice idea, but in reality does not work. Clearly if this was game tested, it was done briefly and on low level attacks with simple tavern mixes. There is NO way this was properly tested and tweaked. Instead we are the beta testers.
Another thing @Rachael noticed, they do have the ability to change their mind. In one replay, WD abandoned gunners to chase 3 Juggs. One of the Juggs died, so he reversed course and went back to the gunners. As I edited in my last post, Doing the math: Jugg = 1800 Toughness Gunner = 111 So, if you drop more than 1-2 Juggs close to each other, the WD is probably going to follow them. Only workaround I see is spacing the Juggs/Brutes out, or deploying gunner/bomber/etc.. squads with a Jugg or two mixed in.
But have you seen the jugg trap issue? One jugg stuck in the wall draws the WD, and 20 gunners and 3 HGs do not even draw his attention away from the prisoner. I've had it happen to me and seen a replay from a guildmate. I've also dropped the WD behind 20 gunners and he sprints past them to 2 juggs (2 were all I even had recruited) who were across the map. Yes, we can find a work around, but there was no reason for such a massive change that upends so many people's attack strategy. I've ended up just tossing the juggs and brutes and trying to use the smaller guys.
Using a big pile of heavy troops is a beginner approach and never worked well at higher ranks or against strong layout designs. I have for months advised people joining my guild to reduce the number of heavy troops down to a maximum of 4 or 5, and utilize other troops in conjunction with them. This has helped many set new PR records and loot more resources easier. Before you respond that this strategy only works well with high-level troops, keep in mind that I use the same strategy with my PH7/Academy5 island and have so with small adjustments since it was PH6/Academy4. The principles work across all levels. When the update came with changed WD AI, I simply adjusted the timing of my existing troop selection a bit to optimize the attack strategy for the new AI. I had only been using 3 juggs for ages anyways, but I have now reduced that to two in favor of taking 3 more bombers just to be really certain that walls aren't a problem. Using 18 bombers, 2 juggs, 4 skellywags, 2 WD, and 48 gunners consistently in every attack, I reached PR 869 last night, a new record for me and global rank of #13, winning 60 out of 66 attacks, many of them 3-stars on strong layouts, some with PH9-enabled defenses and walls. This would not be possible with the old AI. I have not done any new Academy or Voodoo Hut trainings yet. I am sure that many will start adapting to the new AI soon and you will love it once you do! There were some pretty aggravating problems with the old AI that you had to be more careful to avoid triggering, and while the new one is a change, it gives you more control over the WDs once you learn how it works and adapt to it. No more WD running off to the lone gunner in the corner or turning around and walking backwards towards a late-deployed troop.
Nah, it's a train wreck of a change. No doubt there are other troop combinations, which I am playing with now, that will compensate. But there was no reason for such a drastic change. We might not have a lone gunner issue. But we do have lone jugg issues now. The only benefit is it is making me use troops that previously had no value to me whatsoever. So it is making attacking interesting on a trial and error basis. Maybe that was part of their motivation--to boost usage of otherwise useless troops.
I do not see how you need to use otherwise useless troops. I am using the same troops as I was before, except I traded 1 of the juggs for 3 extra bombers. That's it. I just adjusted timing. I think the best solution would be a toggle in the tavern to allow players to select an AI preference that best suits their attack style. However I believe I have clearly demonstrated that the new AI is definitely workable!
Nah, It seems pretty clear their motivation was to stop the WD from chasing a lone troop, and they overdid it. Their idea could work, but the Juggs just have so much HP that they're going to win the decision process almost every time. I say have each one follow the group with the largest number of troops. Drop a second D? He goes to the second largest group.
I know numerous players who rank over PR 800 using raiders in every attack. Personally, I am waiting for variable wind direction to use them again as most high-level bases are raiderproof.
I guess I was lucky to never have the old lone gunner issue, because I had great luck and ability with the WD of old. I now most certainly have a lone jugg/brute issue. Plus the amount of times I'm able to activate the WD's raise the dead ability has gone from multiple times down to nearly none as he keeps running in after juggs to get killed right off the bat. Also, why does he seem to stand so close to the troops now? If I remember right he would hang back a bit out of the direct line of fire.
As you can see in the image below the WD is helping a Juggernaut who is trying desperately to get out of a trap, while in the center of the base you can see a graveyard of gunners...
Well that is part of the mystery why your comments are the only positive ones I've seen on the subject. Fortunately for you, you were using a troop combo prior to the update that was not upended by the update. You had to make an adjustment but not so severely as completely changing troop combos top to bottom. A great many of us used juggs a lot and relied on the healing powers of the wd. I used 5-8 juggs most attacks and leveled maxed base after maxed base. So now I have to replace juggs with something else, like skellies, and switch mindset from healing to resurrect. So, many of us have to start from scratch to learn a new attack that works. You had the advantage of using the same troops you were before the update. Hence why so many are upset with the change. Just a way overreaction to protect the lone gunner issue, which I rarely had a problem with anyway. I'm glad you are having the success you are, and I'm sure many will start using that same combo. But I think you should see why so many are upset, and justifiably so.
@Lynsey [Midoki] has explained that the WD always prefers living troops to corpses. The problem is that if he preferred the pile of corpses he would usually walk into areas where he would be unprotected and immediately taken out by surviving defenses. Being near the Jugg who can absorb direct fire well, is what's keeping the WD alive in your screenshot. The problem is splash damage hitting the WD, particularly as he and the jugg are walking as a mortar fires at the jugg. But mortars *should* be effective, defense needs to be a challenge! The best strategy for splash-damaging defenses is distraction with something else. Any troop can be used for this that enters the defense range first or is nearest to the defense when it changes targets from one it just killed, or a Brute can be used with the Bring It On ability.
Sure, change takes adaptation, and it was unexpected and a surprise. I have advocated adding a toggle, or perhaps some middle ground solution would be better than a straight HP count. I am just encouraging everyone to try to adapt to it rather than gripe so much about it, since no matter what, we are going to have it for a while at least.
I hope to god they switch his AI back, because it's a complete joke, as it is now one or two Juggs will pull the WD off a whole group of Gunners, it's just the worst AI tweek they've ever done. I completely relied on my WD covering my Gunners & HG'ers, why on earth would you want to protect the stronger troops while leaving the weaker completely open to Mortar fire. It's so bad it's actually funny. Well done Midoki.
Go voice your opinion on the new WD AI survey. An aggregate opinion by numbers could be constructive! http://forum.plunderpirates.com/index.php?threads/witch-doctor-fix-cast-your-vote.6829/
