Question for the Developers?

[Arryn]

Peter,

I am loathe to debate the relative merits of another game's AI in a Dom forum but I feel compelled to point out why I consider the Paradox AI (which is pretty much the same in all games based on the EU engine) to be so stupid. The key factor is not in what the AI attacks, though even in that regard the Dom AI is far superior (and I've been playing with it for six weeks at 12-18 hours per day, every day). The true measure of an AI is in how well it defends. In this, the Paradox AI is one of the worst I have seen. And what makes it particularly annoying to me is that the user community has been pointing out the flaws for 2+ years and they continue to release new games that have bugs that were reported 2 years and 3 different games earlier. Paradox doesn't have the excuse that IW has in developing a game in their spare time while working on other jobs to feed their families. Despite this handicap, IW has created one of the best AIs in the genre. Paradox is either incompetent at this aspect of game design or doesn't care.

BTW, pointing out that the EU engine is realtime is meaningless as the AI can take as long as it wants per country. I play on a 2.1GHz system, but I have also played their games on a 350MHz (which is just above their minimum spec, FYI) and the game just slows down. It doesn't play "dumber" because it has insufficient time to do the same amount of calculations. Hence the flaw in your argument.