AI Helper Builds

HoneyBadger · #1 March 23rd, 2008, 03:28 PM

It's possible, in SP games, to set all your opponents on "Human" for the first round, and then go in and set up their Pretenders/scales/etc. You can even play the first round for them, and then reset them all to "Computer" and allow the AI to carry on from there. I've noticed recently that there's been a lot of requests (even more than usual) for ways to improve SP difficulty. This seems to be one of the most common solutions, but it's also one of the least accessible, especially for people who are new to the game (or like me, aren't necessarily that strategically adept in the first place).

We've had a few threads about this before, but I was wondering-for those of you who have given this any thought-what your suggestions are for a starting Pretender build for each of the nations. Include what to do for the first round, and strategies for the various mod nations, if you'd like.

ano · #2 March 23rd, 2008, 04:42 PM

You should note that when you set players to AI, they will be controlled by the normal AI and there's no way to adjust the difficulty, AFAIK.

Ewierl · #3 March 23rd, 2008, 05:17 PM

Quote:

ano said:
You should note that when you set players to AI, they will be controlled by the normal AI and there's no way to adjust the difficulty, AFAIK.

However, "difficulty" setting does not affect AI behavior- it instead gives the AI bonus creation points, gold, research, etc. A well-designed pretender might more than make up the difference.

Aezeal · #4 March 23rd, 2008, 06:32 PM

Agreed with Ewierl.. it would even be nicer if you could give them more points though to compensate should be possible.. I guess you could make a mod to give all players more points and then just not use them ?

llamabeast · #5 March 23rd, 2008, 06:45 PM

You can set AI gods _and_ put them on Impossible, via map commands. Unfortunately I pretty much channel my tech poking with dominions on to the multiplayer side, and so haven't invested any time in this, but I know it can be done, and I think it's reasonably easy too. Try the mapping manual (in dominions3/doc).

Sombre · #6 March 23rd, 2008, 09:46 PM

Fixing the scales manually will NOT even out the difference between normal and impossible AI. The bonus it gets to gold, gems, production; these are greater than the difference between order3 and turmoil3 and so on. Besides which the AI on impossible gets extra points at pretender creation and is therefore more likely to have positive scales anyway.