I couldn't find a thread about the new AI, so I started one...
I like the variety offered by the changed AI, however, I think it makes single player a little too difficult to be enjoyable...
I think the following might be an interesting way to implement the new variety: Rather than starting as "Mighty" or "Speedy" or whatever, allow units the chance to gain those templates and advance within them as the game goes on... For example, say a unit uses 2 actions to move, you might give it 2 chances to gain the speedy template at the end of the computer's turn. The percent chance would be a function of the AI level, etc... Could get a chance to gain the mighty template each time it damages something, the resilient template each time it survives an attack, etc...
And of course, were this to be implemented, it seems like a viable toggleable option for vs games.
interesting idea, but.. how were they to gain the Clockwork Template?
well, certain templates might be able to be applied through other units, i.e. maybe introducing a vampire unit for vampiric and the artificer for clockwork... similarly, you could have some units apply negative templates... or tiles for that matter, if that idea were to get implemented...
By and large, I find player units do a whole lot more of the killing than AI units do. Unless the functions representing the probability to gain the abilities were different for each side, the player would end up benefiting from this change, and the AI probably wouldn't. I think I'd be happier if the gold-bordered enemies were just rarer than if they popped up during play.
Also, I don't like the idea of random effects happening once things are deployed. I like being able to understand what my opponents are capable of and acting on that knowledge is where skill enters the game. If an enemy suddenly develops an extra movement range while it advances on me, and in doing so kills some critical front-liner that was otherwise out of reach, I'd be disappointed that the game made my otherwise viable strategy invalid for a reason that's uncontrollable for me.
The funny thing about the Special AI is that they will have their bonuses dispelled by the druid f.eks A Longshanks Adjurer gets it by the Druid's Reset Targets Stats, the Longshanks Adjurer is then a Normal Adjurer, the only thing that Will be Unaffected are Clockwork Units, since they are inorganic
Well, if you wanted to get rid of the randomness, it could be a guaranteed advance... Perhaps a certain quantity advance each round, based on ai difficulty... as far as this helping players more because generally comps kill less... you could either have this not effect players, or like i mentioned the comps will advance based on what they do... so maybe you don't end up facing many 'mighty' ones... but a ton of longshanks... lol