Coop against AI?
 

I was wondering what the experts in here recon the chances are of playing Dom3 coop multiplayer against the AI?

Disregarding the fact that Dom3 doesn't support alliances (ie. the players risk accidentally attacking one another even though they're supposed to be allies), the main problem is that the AI is unable to comprehend the full complexity of the game, resulting in a very one-sided game (read: walkover).

Are there any mods/scenarios/settings which would make a multiplayer coop vs. AI a real fun challenge?

Re: Coop against AI?
 

Games with three allied AI's vs 1 to 4 human players:

Small games available (Blitz, CBM and Allied AI's)

Re: Coop against AI?
 

Edratman recently made a mod that makes several nations tougher. Improved Computer Opponents

There are two versions of the mod, one for Early and one for Middle era.

Re: Coop against AI?
 

Honestly it should be fairly simple to make a challenging Co-op map.

I would advise you to give it a go yourself (using an existing map and just adding commands to the map text file) and build from that small starting point. You could end up with a very cool co-op scenario, like lots of people allied against a huge ermor or something.

Re: Coop against AI?
 

The Better Independents mod makes the AI significantly tougher because it eliminates the possibility of hiring chaff troops by raising gold cost to 9000 for them. Use that and set AIs on Impossible and choose a fairly large map with a good number of AIs. Such as Glory of the Gods Multiplayer with around 2 human players and 9 or 10 AIs. Set indies to 7, research to hard, supplies 150 and see how far you can get. Powerful magic isn't too easily available and you don't get SCs all that easily either (unless playing one of the nations with recruitable SCs) and if you stick to using mainly standard armies backed up by combat magic, you'll be in for something quite different than a regular "ho-hum, AI go squishy-squashy" game.

With that setup, I lose more games against the AI than I win, especially if I start in the middle of three or more AIs.

You can find the Better Independents mod from the link in my sig.

Re: Coop against AI?
 

It sounds to me like you will want to ally the AI's also against your co-op human alliance. That is allowed and the AI's will not be wasting their strength against each other.

If you do not know how to do this, just post what nations you and your friends wish to play, which map you want to use (choose one of the ones that come with the game or one of the ones in the map section of the Maps and Mods forum) and I'll set up a game for you within 48 hours. :)

Also let me know how hard you want the game to be. :D Then I will choose the number of AI opponents using a province ratio of 15 to 20 provinces per player (your co-op + AI).

Also decide if you want your co-op adjacent or scattered around the map.

Re: Coop against AI?
 

Exactly. Humans vs AI(s) (be it one large AI or several smaller ones)
Interresting. Is this on Llamaserver?
Ideally hard enough to keep the game interresting without being totally impossible :)

Is it possible to design good Pretenders for the AI to use?

Re: Coop against AI?
 

I intend to set up the AI optimally.


The maps I referred to are listed in a sticky in the "Scenario's, Map and Mods" page of this forum.


I edited my original post to include that you need to decide if your co-op should be adjacent or scattered about the map, but you posted before I was complete. So that is one more decision for you to make.

I will make the game hard, but not impossible. Of course that is by my standards. But I am very, very far from being the best player in the world, :o so it should be reasonable. That will mean there is a chance that it could pull off a rush on a co-op capital, with a little luck on the AI's part. :angel

:party::party::party:

Re: Coop against AI?
 

Another way you could limit the power of magic would be to use one of kristoffer's mods that limits research to either level 4 or level 6 in all paths.

Re: Coop against AI?
 

Ok, but is it possible for me to supply the Pretender files, for players and AI both?

I guess adjacent placement of the players would be preferable, otherwise several players might be crushed individually before anyone can help them.

Will players and AI(s) start with only one province each, or will the entire map be distributed evenly among the players from the beginning?

Also, is this Llamaserver you're talking about, or do you mean you'll supply me with the files to host it myself?

Many questions i know :angel

I'm not crazy about limiting magic with magic being such a huge part of the game.

Re: Coop against AI?
 

Yes you can provide gods, magic, scales for AIs. You can also give it additional starting armies, starting equipment, additional starting provinces and castles. All of that can be done by commands that can be added to a .map file so that it happens every time you play that map.

One of the maps I had for Dom2 (which I need to redo for Dom3 sometime) had Ermor in a corner sandwiched between oceans. Ermor, Rlyeh, and Atlantis were all allied together (they would not attack each other). They all had designed gods, extra castles, extra armies, and starting equipment. The Deadly Atlantis Rlyeh Ermor alliance (D.A.R.E.) was definetly designed to be played against allied human players.

You can also join one of the ready made Player-vs-AI games on my server. (such as Redfrog linked to earlier). It creates small games with 3 allied AIs. http://game.dom3minions.com/bin/vsAI_chk.cgi

Re: Coop against AI?
 

You can supply pretender files. Send them as text files. I reserve the right to alter the AI a little to optimize them. OH, to be fair, no cheating on human pretenders.

I was going to use standard start conditions, one province for each nation.

All I'm going to do is supply you with a map mod and probably an AI nation mod that will meet your requirements. The multiplayer arrangements are your responsibility.

Re: Coop against AI?
 

The BI mod is really nice for this...Just be sure to only use the "resource" version of it if you plan to have anyone research enslave mind or charm.

Before I switched, I several times found myself desperately trying to locate and kill off the handful of barbarians that one of my mages enslaved whose upkeep was destroying my economy.

The resource version of BI does the job just as well, but doesn't have that drawback.

Re: Coop against AI?
 

Perfect, I think I'd like to give it a try myself but I can't find any documentation (ie. commands used in the .map files etc.) :doh:
Could you or someone else please point me to to correct location? :o

Re: Coop against AI?
 

There is a file in the doc directory off of your installed version of Dom3.

But here is a crappy little quick-list of the commands just to whet your appetite.
http://www.dom3minions.com/docs/map_qref.txt

Re: Coop against AI?
 

Thanks :o

Of all the places I've searched, and not once did I think about checking the game directory itself :doh:

Re: Coop against AI?
 

When you try to map edit, I suggest you download one of the maps with scenarios and review the map file. The instructions in the map editing document become much clearer when you see an actual example of their use.

The Llama map index has several maps with scenarios.