Does the AI "cheat"?

StrictlyRockers · #1 March 6th, 2007, 03:27 AM

Hola,

I am very impressed with the AI algorithms for this game.

Ok, here's the question. Does the AI get any benefits or bonuses to production that the human player does not? Are there any other fringe benefits that the computer players get that humans don't?

I have heard from friends and also read (I think) that the Dominions AI does not "cheat". But what does that mean? It could simply mean that the AI is not given any more information than what it should be able to see about enemy troop deployments. What about production and such? I assume that there are no tweaks done to tactical combat for AI opponents. Does the Dominions AI get to see any more of the map than it should? Does it get more information about enemy troops than it should?

I've set up a scenario I like that is very challenging. I play vs 5 AI opponents on a small random map. It's great because everyone starts right on top of each other. You don't have to wait long at all to get into the action. Whether and which independents to attack early is a crucial question. A bigger question is how much of your army you can send east when you've got a neighbor breathing down your neck from the west and the south. It's fun.

I am worried that playing too much against the AI is going to mess up my MP game. Maybe I should get into some more MP games.

Thanks for any help.

SR

Edi · #2 March 6th, 2007, 04:06 AM

The AI gets gold and production bonuses at higher difficulty levels. So it will gather larger armies and come at you with huge hordes, but it doesn't do things the player couldn't do. It does suffer a bit from the common strategy game issue of "AI sees all and knows all", so having low PD in the rear is an invitation to get rained on by Call of the Winds, Arouse Hunger and Call of the Wild, but that's a minor problem anyway.

Don't worry about SP screwing up your MP, MP is a whole different beast anyway, so you're going to have to essentially relearn the game for MP. These forums are a great help for speeding that process up.

Edi

Sombre · #3 March 6th, 2007, 06:10 AM

I'm impressed that anyone could be impressed by the AI.

I mean I don't want to complain about it because they could have chosen to not put it in at all,.. but seriously,.. what exactly impressed you about the AI?

StrictlyRockers · #4 March 6th, 2007, 11:39 AM

I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it is really the game design I am impressed by, and how fun it is to figure out how to win. The tactical combats are really a blast to watch "live" before you know the final outcome.

I guess I was impressed that any wargame was able to beat me. Now that I am aware of the extent of the advantage the AI has, I am not all that impressed any more. I am impressed that the game is so much fun and has such great depth.

Graeme Dice · #5 March 6th, 2007, 12:21 PM

The AI in Dominions is quite impressive for a strategy game AI, especially for a game as complicated as Dominions.

Gandalf Parker · #6 March 6th, 2007, 12:29 PM

As AIs go this one is very impressive. In the AI newsgroups it holds its own very well against many other games. There is alot of "thinking code" in there which would be very hard to improve on without breaking it out into seperate versions for each nation, and each tendency (defensive, aggressive, neutral) and even subcategories within.

As for cheating..
The settings only decides whether the AI will start with less, the same, or more points for creating their pretender and scales. Thats what happens when you decide how hard an AI you will go against.

Its very hard to create an AI that doesnt "cheat". Unless it plays like you (from another program that makes its turns) its going to know things. Being a part of the game itself means that it starts out seeing whole map, it knows what everyone is doing, it knows where hidden items are. Its not that the programmer gives access to that info to the AI. The programmer has to try and write the AI to limit its visions of such things. I think Illwinter has done a great job of avoiding that type of cheating.

Sombre · #7 March 6th, 2007, 01:26 PM

We can only agree to disagree. True, Dom3's AI handles a lot of complicated things very well (at least as far as I can tell). However it also does a lot of incredibly stupid things. It's not really an excuse that the AI of a lot of other games is awful; Dom3 still has major AI flaws that remove a great deal of challenge and fun from SP.

I really shouldn't be able to whomp two Impossible level AIs on my second proper play of the game without ever feeling even slightly pressured, should I? I mean there are several settings of AI there, but I'd never use anything but impossible, despite the fact that it supposedly cheats in terms of resources, gold etc. Most other games I'd hesitate to play on an 'impossible' setting not because the AI cheats an insane amount, but because it is ruthless, efficient and aggressive.

Again, I'm not complaining here, but I find it hard not to chip in when people sing its praises. It's certainly adequate, considering the game leans toward multiplayer,... but impressive? Meh.

Saxon · #8 March 6th, 2007, 05:03 PM

The AI is pretty good, but it does not compare to a human. However, short of very simple games, like chess, AI just isn't that good yet in any context. Compared to a lot of other complex strategy games, the AI is excellent.

I have faced AI SC, but not often. I have also seen good spell casting choices. I agree, the large army approch is not the way to play the late and mid game, but I have seen humans do worse...

PDF · #9 March 6th, 2007, 09:01 AM

The AI is not that impressive IMHO. And indeed the AI "cheats", it gets more design points/gold/resources when set above normal level. Plus it gets information about where your provinces are to cast some spells on them.
Problem is that it builds mainly tons of low-end units, and has no idea about pretender design, bless strategies, or anything magic.
Still I agree it's a fun SP partner on small maps, as you are hard-pressed containing numerous AI armies in the early game.