Age of Wonders 4 AI Explained

The AI/NPC opponents in Age of Wonders 4 exhibit a rudimentary nature, possessing highly limited “personality”-priority sets. However, it is important to take a step back and clarify that the AI lacks any strategic thinking whatsoever. In fact, it operates on a very basic level, focusing solely on making the “best decision possible at the moment,” without considering the long-term logical perspective that a human would prioritize. For instance, even if the optimal choice for the AI is to construct a gold mine, despite needing mana for a successful move, it will still proceed with building the mine simply because it lacks the capacity to think ahead. It lacks memory, dreams, and the ability to plan. Being aware of this inherent limitation is crucial when evaluating the AI’s questionable decisions that stem from its rudimentary behavior.

Initially, this may appear repetitive and potentially dull, considering what the AI has to offer. Undoubtedly, it partially is so. However, the inclusion of “personality”-priority sets adds an element of enjoyment. Alongside the AI’s core behavior, you can identify “personality” patterns that are dependent on the configuration of their faction’s culture and origin, as well as an element of luck. For instance, an AI ruler hailing from a barbarian background and embodying a ruthless raider persona is more inclined to adopt the “personality” pattern of a warlord, whereas an AI ruler with a noble origin and a penchant for unification is more likely to embrace the diplomat “personality” pattern.

These patterns influence the AI’s level of aggression and decisions on a superficial level but can still significantly impact your overall experience, offering a plethora of potential variations. Moreover, they strive to achieve victory in a manner that aligns with their personality, as defined by the default victory conditions.

A few AI personalities you might come across often ~

Funny you should ask. Yes, indeed! However, contrary to popular misconception, the benefits the AI receives, depending on the difficulty level it is set to, are entirely in the form of discounts. It cannot conjure units out of thin air, nor does it possess unlimited resources. And to ensure fairness, there are no handicaps for the AI like thise which can be applied to human players. Without these discounts, the AI would find itself constantly economically disadvantaged against a human player who simply employs foresight in their gameplay.

Hmm? Should the AI not perform better, considering AI in chess? That is a common misconception. The rationale is this: even the most advanced AI capable of playing chess relies on the same rudimentary basic behavior. The distinction lies in their ability and access to data, allowing them to calculate countless possibilities many moves ahead. However, they can only do so because chess is significantly less complex compared to a modern computer game. I dread to think how long it would take for the AI to make its move if it had to calculate every potential next move, with multiple players, random probability seeds, and, well, human behaviour, which possesses infinite potential for deviation from the most optimal path.

In short, there is not much to expect from the AI in this regard.
Thankfully, the game offers multiplayer…

If you ever witness something surprising from the AI, such as seemingly conjuring units out of thin air, bear in mind that whatever the AI can do, you can do too. They simply receive a discount, not a God mode. Additionally, the illusion of units appearing out of nowhere can easily be attributed to the magic of concealment effects.

Since the AI is incapable of planning and, thus, trading realistically, it employs pre-defined templates to skill and equip its heroes. While a player might individually equip and skill their heroes based on the rewards they get from Ancient Wonders, quests and clearing infestations, the AI only has access to specific hero builds that come with particular item sets. Consequently, it is not uncommon to encounter multiple AI heroes with identical items, including those you would not anticipate seeing more than once throughout the game. This also leads to multiple heroes, and subsequently armies, equipped with concealment rings.

A video showing camouflage in action – beginners often misinterpret this as the AI cheating units into existence. The truth is that they have to play by the same rules as humans.

Your PC’s setup has also an influence on how the AI behaves.
It is often observed during multiplayer in form of desynchronisations.

Whether the AI is set to Relaxed, Easy, Normal, Hard or Brutal, the AI’s behaviour is indifferent across the board, as it is completely limited to its scripts when making decisions.
The only difference is artificially created by giving the AI economic discounts.
Whether you take an Easy AI or a Brutal AI – if they both have the same resources and the same prices, they are going to do exactly the same thing in the same situation. A higher difficulty will not make the AI any smarter. It just gives the AI more options due to the discounts.

Setting a global difficulty, rather than an individual ruler AI difficulty, as you are limited to for Story Realms, will affect all AI rulers. For example, if you set the AI to earn less income and the world threat to be less aggressive, this will also affect your AI allies.
Resulting in… undesired AI bnehaviour.

The game comes with modding tools that can be accessed through the Paradox Launcher. All we have to do is analyse the file that determines the role of the AI. It is fairly easy to read too!

But here you get it even easier:

Relaxed

• +10 Souls per Turn
• +20% Pronouncement Cost
• -25% Imperium Cost for founding Cities
• -25% Food Cost for Population Growth

Easy

• +10 Souls per Turn
• +10% Pronouncement Cost
• -25% Imperium Cost for founding Cities
• -25% Food Cost for Population Growth
• -5% Gold Cost for Recruitment
• -5% Draft Cost for Recruitment
• -10% Souls Cost for Recruitment
• -5% Units Upkeep
• -5% Mana Cost for Spells
• -10% Souls Cost for Spells
• -5% Hero Recruitment Cost

Normal

• +10 Souls per Turn
• +20% Gold income
• -25% Imperium Cost for founding Cities
• -25% Food Cost for Population Growth
• -20% Gold Cost for Recruitment
• -20% Draft Cost for Recruitment
• -33% Souls Cost for Recruitment
• -20% Units Upkeep
• -15% Mana Cost for Spells
• -33% Souls Cost for Spells
• -15% Hero Recruitment Cost
• -15% Production Cost for City Structures
• -15% Gold Cost for City Structures
• -30% Production Cost for Town Hall
• -40% Gold Cost for Town Hall
• -10% Research Cost
• +2 Tier II Starting Units

Hard

• +10 Souls per Turn
• +20% Gold income
• +20% Mana Income
• -25% Imperium Cost for founding Cities
• -25% Food Cost for Population Growth
• -33% Gold Cost for Recruitment
• -33% Draft Cost for Recruitment
• -40% Souls Cost for Recruitment
• -33% Units Upkeep
• -33% Mana Cost for Spells
• -40% Souls Cost for Spells
• -33% Hero Recruitment Cost
• -34% Production Cost for City Structures
• -34% Gold Cost for City Structures
• -50% Production Cost for Town Hall
• -50% Gold Cost for Town Hall
• -15% Research Cost
• +1 Tier II Starting Unit
• +1 Tier III Starting Unit
• all Units start with +1 Rank
• -10% Pronouncement Cost
• -20% Pronouncement Upkeep
• +20% Grievances Gain against Humans
• -15% Grievances Gain against AI

Brutal

• +10 Souls per Turn
• +20% Gold income
• +20% Mana Income
• -25% Imperium Cost for founding Cities
• -25% Food Cost for Population Growth
• -50% Gold Cost for Recruitment
• -50% Draft Cost for Recruitment
• -66% Souls Cost for Recruitment
• -50% Units Upkeep
• -50% Mana Cost for Spells
• -66% Souls Cost for Spells
• -60% Hero Recruitment Cost
• -50% Production Cost for City Structures
• -50% Gold Cost for City Structures
• -60% Production Cost for Town Hall
• -60% Gold Cost for Town Hall
• -20% Research Cost
• +2 Tier II Starting Units
• +1 Tier III Starting Unit
• all Units start with +2 Ranks
• -20% Pronouncement Cost
• -40% Pronouncement Upkeep
• +40% Grievances Gain against Humans
• -30% Grievances Gain against AI
• Throne City starts with +1 Population