One reason for strange AI attack behavior

[Alpha Kodiak]

I was doing some testing on the AI for a new race I am working on (coming soon to a forum near you!) and I finally figured out why in the past I have seen large AI fleets show up to threaten me, only to have the fleet disappear and then I get attacked by one or two ships.

I watched my race put together a fleet of 18 ships to attack another AI it was at war with. They moved through a couple of systems, got to the target system, and were within a couple of sectors of a key planet. Then the resupply minister kicked in and decided that all those ships needed to go back to the nearest resupply point. The next turn, a single straggler showed up that had been sent from a closer system, and was now the loner in the target system.

The problem is that a human will realize that it is ok for the fleet to drop a little low on supplies, since a colonizer can be sent in to set up a resupply base after combat is over, but the AI doesn't think that far ahead. It doesn't want to strand its ships in enemy territory, so it pulls them out.

Can anyone think of a way to mod this behavior? I can't think of a way to tell the AI to ignore supply needs under certain circumstances.

[Emperor Zodd]

Suggest to Aaron to program the AI to fix this.

[raynor]

Could you please run a test for me? Try placing an enemy ship in a warp point between your fleet heading back to resupply and the closest resupply depot. I'm curious if the Resupply Minister is smart enough to engage and destroy the enemy ship enroute to resupply? It seems possible that the Resupply Minister may try to avoid combat enroute to the Resupply Depot.

[Baron Munchausen]

Well, this makes an interesting problem. If you set the supply warning level higher for YOU, the human player, you get better warning that your ships are low on supply and are more able to avoid stranding ships. But then the AI gets confused and keeps recalling fleets before they can attack. If you set it low so the AI doesn't get schizoid you might lose track of your supply status and strand a ship or even a fleet beyond resupply range... Could we have seperate resupply warning levels for human and AI players?

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 15 March 2001).]

[Alpha Kodiak]

quote:

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Originally posted by raynor:
Could you please run a test for me? Try placing an enemy ship in a warp point between your fleet heading back to resupply and the closest resupply depot. I'm curious if the Resupply Minister is smart enough to engage and destroy the enemy ship enroute to resupply? It seems possible that the Resupply Minister may try to avoid combat enroute to the Resupply Depot.

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If I can set up the circumstances properly, I will give it a shot. Finding a fleet that is returning for resupply and interposing a hostile ship may be tricky to set up. I will look for the opportunity, though.

[Alpha Kodiak]

quote:

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Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
Well, this makes an interesting problem. If you set the supply warning level higher for YOU, the human player, you get better warning that your ships are low on supply and are more able to avoid stranding ships. But then the AI gets confused and keeps recalling fleets before they can attack. If you set it low so the AI doesn't get schizoid you might lose track of your supply status and strand a ship or even a fleet beyond resupply range... Could we have seperate resupply warning levels for human and AI players?

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 15 March 2001).]

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Even with seperate warning levels, you could run into problems with the AI because it might start stranding ships when it is not in a position to take over a system. Perhaps there needs to be a "Occupy System" command that would cause ships to not leave the system for resupply, and would cause a colonizer to be dispatched to a planet in the system after the enemy has been removed. Of course, there are probably all kinds of holes in that idea, as well.