AI Buildings Fail to Auto-Engage Enemy Units

[cmfrydos]

GAME INFORMATION

• GAME BUILD #: 101.103.2359.0 (#133431) 17001014
• GAME PLATFORM: Steam
• OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 11

ISSUE EXPERIENCED

In the match, the P7 AI-controlled Town Center and Tower fail to automatically attack enemy units that come within their range. Initially, my archers were attacking the enemy player directly, yet the Town Center did not retaliate as expected. Only later—either due to a target change (the archers switching focus to another house) or another random factor—did the Town Center begin to fire. This behavior is inconsistent with player-controlled buildings, which automatically fire upon detecting enemies, and it has occurred several times in previous matches without being reported until now.

FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

• SOMETIMES

REPRODUCTION STEPS

Reproduction steps are difficult to detail as the behavior isn’t consistently reproducible. Please refer to the attached replay for a clear example of the issue.

EXPECTED RESULT

The AI-controlled Town Center and Tower should automatically target and fire on enemy units entering their attack range—just as player-controlled buildings do—without requiring an initial provocation. In addition, they should not delay or alter their attack behavior based on the target changes of nearby units.

VIDEOCLIPS / TIMESTAMPS

17:50 at P7’s Town Center:

19:07 at P7’s Tower:

GAME FILES (SAVE / RECORDING)

AI_Problems.aoe2record (4.8 MB)

NOTES

• AI Difficulty: Extreme
• Match Type: 4v4 singleplayer with 7 AI opponents

In this match, there was also a pathing problem which I reported separately here:

Investigations into Pathfinding

Time stamp: Approximately 16:06 in Player 7’s base What happened: During a raid with archers, AI-controlled villagers appear to ignore proper pathfinding and directly collide and get stuck with the Lumbercamp building. This behavior is only observed with AI-controlled villagers, as player-controlled villagers seem unaffected. It seems the evasive AI logic isn’t taking pathfinding fully into account—resulting in villagers retreating in a straight line toward their town center and bumping into …

In a different multiplayer match (3-4 players versus an AI team), I observed an issue where a handful of Scouts attacked an AI Town Center. This triggered the villagers to garrison and remain idle, with the Town Center also failing to retaliate. As a result, the Town Center was eventually destroyed after several minutes. This behavior should not occur, as it renders the AI significantly less effective.