AI wasting gems
 

I got a very hard to justify AI decision yesterday. I teleported my Baphomet (fire 9 astral 4) with 4 fire gems and with the following script : lesser fire elts x4

I expected that, being so powerful in fire, he would only consume one gem (the basic cost) for each casting.

No avail... The first cast used 3 gems, with the Baphomet rising to 11 fatigues (10 from the spell, 1 from enc). The second (and Last cast) gave 13 fatigues (12+1).

Now I wonder why there is no basic algorithms which prevent the wasting of 2 additional gems just to get 2 less fatigues... Here is a quick example:

1. pay basic cost.
2. check which fatigue reduction you would get by spending one more gem:
a) if caster fatigue is <90, dont spend if the fatigue reduction is 5 or less.
b) if caster fatigue is <190, dont spend if the fatigue reduction is 3 or less.
c)if caster fatigue is >=190, dont spend if the fatigue reduction is 1 or less.

if increased gem cost in decided, repeat 2. Limit extra gem usage with the caster level, as usual.

Not that difficult...


Second problem:
I scripted blink as my 5th spell, in 3 differents combat. The spell never triggered. I though that spells without gem usage were never overriden, if the conditions were met for the cast (and blink have no conditions like range... that can prevent its casting).
So, a bug, or a normal behavior? Dont tell me that the infamous 'AI override zeal' is back in full force. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: AI wasting gems
 

I think you have a good suggestion for the AI there.

Instead of Blink, what did it cast?

PvK

Re: AI wasting gems
 

a non-gems spell, like firedart or holy pyre IIRC. Blink should never be overriden, as the AI as no means to access properly why the player wanted this spell. Btw blink, as magic duel and others, are spells which are never cast by the AI, if not scripted, so its better that the AI dont try to dabble with the scripting of such spells, or in this case, the de-scripting...

Re: AI wasting gems
 

To my knowledge the AI only uses one extra gem to increase power. Are you sure it used 2 extra?