Tomb Kings – AI Behavior Bugfix for Tomb Kings – Doomsayers Edition
CA is not quick at fixing their bugs.
I started to realise very quickly back in March 2018 that someone had had a seriously bad day in the CA office when programming the Tomb King unit AI when I was watching Khalida, on foot, attempting to cycle charge opponents like she was on a mount while I was using the AI General mod. Upon opening up the game files I realised that a programmer, who clearly hadn’t had his coffee that morning, had transposed Khalida’s mounted Necroserpent AI behavior with her on foot behavior.
Looking further I started to discover why Tomb King Lords on foot were so stupid. They’d been set to melee, instead of like every other Lord in the game who is set to melee_highvalue. Yes, the reason base Tomb King Lords where so stupid was that they’d been told just to wade into the first combat they came across.
I also noticed Arkhan’s base on-foot behavior was set the same. Yes, much like the normal Tomb King Lord, theres a reason why Arkhan the Black, unlike every other Lord in the game, doesn’t seek out high value targets, it’s because his AI settings are off. He just likes to wade into the first tarpit unit he walks into.
One of the funniest mistakes in the AI was actually Khatep. On foot he’s a sensible mage_highvalue caster AI. Even on a Chariot, he’s a sensible mage_highvalue caster AI. God help you if you stick him on a horse in vanilla and click on Spectator mode though as he suddenly decides he’s a melee monster and will start charging for melee combat. Hi-ho Silver!
This mod addresses all four of these bugs and fixes them.
But this mod then goes further. As, quite simply, the AI settings on the Tomb Kings are craptastic. Someone at CA had a really, *really* bad day at the office when setting some of these up.
Take the Tomb Scorpion and the Warsphinx. Both units with amazing charge bonuses, and bizarrely both units which the vanilla AI has no intention whatsoever to use them to their full potential. This mod changes this and makes them use their skills more effectively. It also tells Necropolis Knights to actually start using their charge bonus a bit more when flanking.
In short, this mod attempts to make the game just a little harder for everyone by fixing both some outright errors on CA’s part, and then dealing with some somewhat sub-optimal choices.
In doing so this is possibly the first mod I’ve ever created that actually makes the game *harder* 🙂
And who knows, it’s only been over a year, maybe eventually CA might actually bugfix this?
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This is a mod for anyone really who simply wants a better game in which when they come across Tomb Kings they’re a better opponent.
Alternatively if you actually use Spectator Mode or AI General and play Tomb Kings, this makes the AI a little more sensible for you.
This mod is already included in the Exiles of Nehek Faction Overhaul mod. Please don’t attempt to use both or you will simply crash your client.
Required DLC:
These DLC should be installed in order to use this item.
Total War: WARHAMMER II - Rise of the Tomb Kings
