Why do games like Age of Empires I/Kings II, Starcraft, and other games rarely incoperate group tactics into their equation for the computer? Like for instance, when I fight the computer in Age of Kings the computer takes a lot of time to respond to my attacks, and when the computer does, it''s in a disorganized fashion, or "mob mentality"... -Drugs are bad. Especially if they look like machines. Serial Experiments Lain -Small girls with a single braid in their hair are all-powerful God''''s. Accept it. (Phar)

Computer opponents often don''t have decent strategic routines. The mob you''re talking about - In AOE2, I''ve rarely seen a computer opponent use formations. The AI is often designed to only give you a good fight, not to win utterly, which may be part of it.

Another part is that every few cycles the AI sends units it has just built to do something, and often the AI puts priority on base coverage, not massing of units, spreading them thinly throughout its territory. If it covers the entire base, it has to divert units to a problem spot, which is where the lag time for defenders to arrive comes in.