Dominions 2. AI. Suggestions, that how to fix it.

[MStavros]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:

quote:

---

Originally posted by MStavros:
I don't think that different AI themes could help at all. The core AI must be changed. We've posted lot of things, that what is wrong with the AI, I am totally sure that those things CAN BE upgraded.

Well, along with other things, how its brought up has alot to do with whether or not it gets worked on.

As far as fixing the total AI I still havent heard suggestions that sound like they can be applied to the total AI. Most sound like player preferences for their method of play with the nations they prefer on the game settings they like. Unless we can come up with some formulas that can be play-tested against a "total AI" fix then the basic premise (that there is a problem) is still hanging. Much less a decision that it would be a good idea to fix it.

---

Hm, I guess we've mentioned all major AI problems here, so the devs can work on these things.
Oh one more thing. If you want to say anything -AI related, please post them here.

[Aristoteles]

Lot of replies we had here, so I post the AI weaknesses list again. [With a little update.]


THE "AI WEAKNESSES" LIST:
1. The AI is massing weak troops
2. The AI won't protect his pretender/commanders/priests/mages
3. The AI won't build forts, maybe 1-2 max, but that is very rare as well.
4. The AI's battlefield tactics could be better
((Example: You can use a few units and put them to the front, the AI will attack them with full force more than likely. Usually the AI's own missile units will kill some or more of its melee units.))
5. The AI is making very odd things. IE. wandering around with his pretender alone from province to province ((the pretender is surely not doing anything, since it is moving in all turns. - and it is doing this in the border provinces! - the AI pretenders are all dead before turn 20-40 ususally.))
6. The AI won't stay in a province, it is always moving his armies.
7. The AI won't make complex strategic maneuvers. IE. Making a focused attack against a province.
8. The AI won't equip his supercombatants..at least I've never seen that in the demo.
9. The AI is building too many temples ((??????? This is good or bad, I cannot decide.))
10. The AI won't search for magical sites? ((I am not exactly sure, but I have never noticed, that the AI searched for magical sites.))
11. The AI won't use enough priests / it won't use priests to bless his troops in battle

[Zerger]

Hum this is new..the AI won't use enough priests? Are you sure about this?

[Nerfix]

I doubt that. I have seen plenty AI priests.

[Gandalf Parker]

Yet another item on the list that "fixing" it for one nation would make it pretty stupid for another. Then someone would be saying that it made too many.

[HJ]

I've seen plenty of AI priests. Who else would build a temple in every province otherwise?

After some prolonged games some points seem to be ok as far as I was able to tell. There are enough mages, commanders have items and gems on them, when the AI has enough troops it sticks them on the border, etc.

However, there are some points that still stick out. The main one is the lack of forts beyond the starting one, which leads to the lack of national units. There are heavy units in those armies (a lot of militia too, but they are there), but they are indie heavy infantry and cavalry, and not national ones. It's kinda odd when you fight IF Ulm and its whole army is brown and not black in color, and not a single templar in sight. This leads to the lack of supply and starving armies as well, since they recruit a lot of cheap units that then require a lot of supply. So this is all interlinked - no forts->reliance on indie militia->cheap units->numerous armies->big supply requirements->starvation due to no supplies->no forts. And they even take cheap forts (usually mausoleums), so it's not like they have to have tons of money to build them. They certainly have no problems with building temples everywhere. Labs are there, but I haven't seen one in provinces that give access to indie mages yet.

Another thing is gem income, which seems to be rather low. Also, it does seem that the AI empowers its pretenders, but I don't know whether it does that to his mages as well, both to make them stronger in their starting paths and to diversify them. If they don't diversify or empower, they cannot do searching very well, and I don't know how the AI handles the site-searching spells and whether it uses them at all. This would also be linked to alchemy - I don't know how the AI handles conVersion of gems, and whether it does that at all, and this would help with empowerment and diversification. Those things are very hard to tell, especially in game that takes so long to get to later stages and hence get a good sample size for judgement, but low gem income is readily observable in score graphs.

[ November 22, 2003, 20:24: Message edited by: HJ ]

[Aristoteles]

I meant, that the AI wont use his priests in battles correctly, IE wont cast enough bless spells etc.

[ November 23, 2003, 09:15: Message edited by: Aristoteles ]