A little disappointed...

Jarhead0331 · #1 December 22nd, 2003, 04:03 AM

Well, I finally broke down and bought SEIV: Gold and I liked it initially. It was really easy to get into, seemed to be very rich in options and I definitely had that all too rare these days feeling of "just one more turn...promise!" However, after playing for a few hours and trying multiple games, I'm beginning to think that the AI is very bad. This surprises me because all that I had read about the game seemed to indicate that the AI was very good.

I keep getting weird AI behavior in my games though and its making it pretty difficult to get very far in the game. For instance, some races constantly offer to make trade agreements and then they break them a few turns later for no reason...then they re-offer a few turns after that. Also, upon first contact, a races first action is to destry my colonies, and after they do that, they still have a warm or positive attitude towards me on the race screen. Also, many of the races are too often xenocidal...I mean they just mercilessly attack for no reason...you can chalk it to it just being in the nature of that particular race, but it has happened with many of them and with ones that aren't described as being that hostile...its getting to the point where its no longer fun...

Just my .02

Semper Fi

JayBdey · #2 December 22nd, 2003, 04:24 AM

Wait for SEV or play PBW.

Atrocities · #3 December 22nd, 2003, 04:58 AM

Have you played the TDM mod? It dramtically improved the Ai.

To be honest, making good AI, for any game, is an art form that has not yet been mastered by any game company. The best AI are AI's that can be modded and have the scope to change or alter just about anything. SEIV does provide one of the best foundations for modding AI that I have ever seen in any game.

The AI is basically a scripted program that the computer runs. Granted base Ai for seiv is not that hot, but it is still better than most if not all games of this type that have been released resently.

I can see a day very soon where games will have totally customizable AI at a level and scope that will boggle the mind. The problem with that is you will more likely than not, need a masters degree in programing to be able to take advantage of this. Another possiblity is learning AI. IE you as a human player, have your game recorded, and then compared to other successful players, and that forumla of game play is then optioned for an AI.

The better we become the better the AI becomes. GalCiv and Stars Super Nova have this, but only Gal Civ has gone to market with it.

The problem is, people cheat. This compermises the data the AI has available to it. So we are again back to square one.

Try playing a game with the bonus set to HIGH using the TDM. The TDM Mod has all of the original races and a few others.

Good luck, and by all means come join us at PBW.

Jarhead0331 · #4 December 22nd, 2003, 05:02 AM

Thanks for the post Atrocities...I will try the TDM mod...

I understand the difficulty with creating good AI, and its not that I expect the AI to act like Rommel or Patton...I just wish the AI could act more rationally...doesn't need to be a master strategist, just act rationally...

Semper Fi

PvK · #5 December 22nd, 2003, 06:07 AM

While I agree that PBW is a great way to play SE4, I've seen quite a few bizarre behaviours from human players, too!

PvK

Fyron · #6 December 22nd, 2003, 06:09 AM

At least humans are random in their nonsensicalness.

mac5732 · #7 December 22nd, 2003, 08:03 AM

an unpredictable AI is tougher then a predictable one, You don't want opponents to be passive, push overs or predictable. If they trash you, declare war and trash them back

by all means, try the mods but be warned some of them have genecidal races who just plain don't like you

and some will just drive you nuts. Don't expect the expected or for them to be predictable, if you do, your in for a short game

Enjoy, experiment, also you might want to change your initial settings, don't use neutral races in set up, set your settings to med or high, low or med ai races as well....

just some ideas mac

Alneyan · #8 December 22nd, 2003, 10:32 AM

Your main concern seems to be with diplomacy, where all AIs I know of are awful at best. (At worst they are easily exploited, cheated and abused) You may consider to leave diplomacy aside (meaning there will be no trades, treaties, or other things along these lines) with the AI, hoping the AI won't attack you when you are not watching.

Otherwise, if you do like diplomacy, you should really play PBW as only humans can be interesting in this field. When playing the AI you cannot quite grovel, bully, threaten or bluff, while an human will respond accordingly. And good luck for asking an AI to withdraw these colonizers from your systems.

gregebowman · #9 December 22nd, 2003, 03:25 PM

And make sure to get the latest patch for the game. As far as I know, 1.84 is the most recent patch. That, plus the TDM mod, should make the game more emjoyable. I would still stick with the diplomacy, because if you get a treaty where they give you resources and research points, then you get those for free as long as you have good relations with that race. Doesn't hurt to have a mighty fleet, because a race never asks you why you're building up near his borders.

Iron Giant · #10 December 22nd, 2003, 04:45 PM

I was ready to stop playing SE:IV for a while (I've played it for years now...) until I installed the TDM Mod.

Totally different beast! The AI is greatly improved...