So I’ve played several games, and I can confirm the AI is still far too passive. While there is an improvement, they still don’t quite attack enemy bases frequently, and if they do they pinch the outskirts and then retreat.
So a few areas there needs be improvements in:
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Gathering: earlier farms and plantations as they seem to delay these until very late (post Industrial Age and sometimes Imperial Age).
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Smaller natural resource gather range/lesser priority for natural resources after Commerce Age so settlers don’t constantly venture out into enemy territory to gather (or other dangerous areas).
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Improved aggressiveness: AI needs to attack with larger armies and more frequently and stop constantly retreating during or before battle. It’s simply too easy to survive against the current AI.
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Ability to build Trading Posts at trade sites again.
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Sometimes AI gets stuck at Commerce Age (I suspect this is tied to their gathering behaviour).
All the AI really needs is their old attack and gather behaviour from the classic AoE3 plus of course the new micro and numerous other improvements coded in DE along with it. That’d make them more than formidable and bring back that fun factor for me (and probably the vast majority of those who happen to play offline).