Quote:
calmon said:
Example from one of my mp games:
After scripting my pretender (4E/4F) with Summon Earthpower, Phoenix Power, Flame Bolt, Flame Bolt, Flame Bolt (i was fighting niefel giants) and 'cast spells' in battle turn 6 he started to cast the level 0 Spells Fire Flies and Flying shards. Fatigue was below 20. The spreading level 0 spells kills mainly my own troops, the enemy giants didn't notice anything. I don't know why not 1 flame bolt or something equal was cast by ai, it costs the nearly same fatigue and works a way better then the level 0 spells against fire susceptible giants.
Even the stupiest battle ai should be able to choose a spell at random. This is even better then to choose the worst possible spell!
After some Fire Flies/Flying Shard battle rounds later my army rout and my pretender flees with a very low fatigue value. Maybe i'm the 4721st person who say this but: thats just stupid!
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I don't know the inner workings of the AI, apart from the fact that it simulates few "what would happen if I did this" few times and chooses the best option, but this is what I suspect happened:
The AI checked what a Flame Bolt might do:
1) It could cause 22+ (at least 25) AP (+fire vulnerability) damage to one target
2) It could miss
3) It could hit a friendly unit, although it isn't likely
The AI checked what Fire Darts would do:
1) It would fire 7 (at least; your god had Fire 5 and you get at least one more Dart per exta level) darts, each doing 10 AP (+ fire vuln.) damage if it hits.
2) Some or all could miss
3) Some or all could hurt own troops
After checking both spells (and probably all other ones you had researched), it decided that Fire Darts was the best choice? Why? Perhaps Fire Darts dealt more hp damage in total, just divided among the Niefel giants more evenly so that the net effect is weaker (esp. if they have regeneration). Perhaps the friendly fire was considered just as effective as the damage caused on the enemies, and the fact that this had much worse relative effect on your own units than on your enemies wasn't considered.
In short, I think the AI calculates the amount of damage dealt in total, not how much the spell will help in killing the enemy. Most often, the first is equal to the second, and the first is much, much easier than the second.