Defence strategies against the computer opponent

Following I want to present some defence strategies.

As in real life the current motto for playing against the AI in settlers 3 says: „Attack is the best defence“. That's what ex -SP-world champion barny thinks and he has to know!

While this strategy isn't always the best way in MP-modus, it holds almost boundlessly against the AI. If there's a chance of conducting a reasonable attack (not planless), then you should take it. This way is almost always better than a defence startegy.

Just, when the AI has to pass a narrow spot or has to do a long march, the input in a defence construction with several towers, which cover each other, is profitable. Because only then the adversarial soldiers will arrive either sporadically or in a long queue, so they will be almost completely killed before reaching the towers. Otherwise you should invest the materials in other buildings then being able to conduct earlier attacks.

Especially in the beginning you firstly should rather concentrate on weapon-, gold- and mana production than on attacks. In this phase you should avoid a direct confrontation. Even you can fend off a first AI's attack, you mostly have such high loss, that you won't hold out against a second or even third attack. Mostly you shouldn't fight as long as you're powerful enough for your own push.

Because only in your offensive move you have a chance to destroy the adversarial soldiers in their moving modus without any resistance. If you are attacked by the AI, the adversarial soldiers are basically in combat modus and will attack your own soldiers within the range of vision.

How can you manage to avoid an AI's attack?

This is the standard strategy par excellence. If you don't have any common border with your enemy, you knock down all towers except one and gather all your soldiers around this tower. Once barny wrote analogously: „The AI attacks if it feels strong enough.“ This decision primarily depends on the common factors as combat power and number of soldiers proportional to the player's. But even other factors influence the AI's decision to start an attack. An unguarded tower will be sooner attacked than a guarded. If you see an AI's attack approaching, the adding of some more soldiers around this tower may be enough to make your enemies go home again. Maybe this tower doesn't seem profitable for the AI anymore (provided that you have enough soldiers).

This one-tower-strategy tries to use this behaviour of the AI by collecting all the soldiers' defence power around this one tower. That's how you can delay the AI's attack for some time. On many maps attacks are missing at all using this strategy and you can switch to offensive modus, if you're ready for it. This strategy has just one risk: If the AI attacks though (because it feels strong enough), it is mostly so powerful, that you might lose the fight and so the only tower.

If the one-tower-strategy doesn't work anymore, you may find rescue with this strategy. You need two or more towers far away from each other. Sooner or later the AI will start an attack on one of these towers. It's important, that you detect such an attack early enough. When the AI almost arrives at the tower, the building will be simply demolished. (Attention, don't calculate too scantily!) The AI doesn't find its target anymore, turns around and goes back home.

So you win precious time to rearm your troups.

The tower's reconstruction is ordered right afterwards.

This procedure will be continued untill you get the chance to switch into offensive modus yourself. I personally dislike this strategy at all.

It's almost like cheating for me, because every human adversarial will simply look for the next tower. Even the AI sometimes does like that, to do so it must be extremely powerful. Usually it turns around indeed and goes back home empty-handed. Unfortunately on some maps it is the only way to survive long enough.

If you have several strong opponents on a map, you'll have one problem after a while: You have enough soldiers to start an attack, but not enough to defend your own tower at the same time (one-tower-strategy) or to leave enough soldiers there, so the other AIs don't want to start an attack. In this case you can simply take along this tower on the tramp.

Since you will attack yourself, you might quickly conquer the AIs' towers quite soon.

As the only tower you don't keep the original tower but the recently conquered.

So your army is always around your own last tower.

Even your attacks may stop for a while, your tower is safe because of your soldiers' mere presence. Besides it takes some time untill a recently conquered tower is chosen as a new target by the AI. Meanwhile you might have conquered the next tower and can so demolish the previous. That's how you can concentrate on one opponent, while the other adversarials may keep calm. So you combine the advantages of the first two strategies.

All three strategies assume that you don't need any towers to protect your borders.

Especially on small maps you have to do so. In those cases you have to build up your defence in the usual way-with soldiers and other towers.

Author: Knight Jim translated by: arielle62