SUGGESTION: AI troop building algorithm

[Arralen]

Looks like no-one liked the idea that much that he put some time into testing it. As my time is severly limited, I didn't get very far in my test game 'til now.
Here's the result - I tried to move/attack in a fashion I've seen the AI doing it :

turn 0_______________________________________________
sidhe war godess
water6, earth 4, death 1
growth, luck, magic +1, DOM 4
fortified city .. 6 points left

against difficult AIs:
Abysia, Ulm, C'tis, Caelum, Pangaea, Vanheim, Jotunheim, Machaka

on Karan w/o waterways
indies 7, rare random events, rest standard

prov tax set to (100-unrest)% each turn
__________________________________________________ __
turn 1
start:
prov. 123, inc. 190, ress 80
treas. 400, inc. 190, upk. 17
builds:
sidhe lord 280/16
2 danoine sidhe 35/16
2 cu sidhe 16/1
1 longbow
remain: 6 gold/24 ress.
__________________________________________________
turn 2
treas. 165, inc 190
(123) ress 80
declares prophet
builds:
bard 75/5
2 danoine sidhe
1 cu sidhe
remain: 4 gold/42 ress.
__________________________________________________ _
turn 3
treas. 165, inc 190
(123) ress 80
random: witch Branwen A2S2N3
assembles for attack on
neigbouring prov (50 militia & LI):
Castellan, 15 HI, 6 LongB (fire achers)
Sidhe War Godess (5x Cast, Attack nearest)
Sidhe Lord prophet (divine bless, cast)
4 danoine sidhe (fire nearest)
3 cu sidhe (hold, attack rearmost: flank)
set up in middle of map
builds:
bard
2 danoine sidhe
1 cu sidhe
remain: 4 gold/42 ress.
__________________________________________________ __
turn 4
fight in (128)
5 archer(3), 20 militia (3), 10 light inf (6), 3 commander (11) LOSSES: 1 MI spearman(9)
random: 28 unrest in man
treas: 95, inc. 90, upk 36
(123) inc 84, ress 74
(128) inc 6, ress 12
attack on next prov (121): 40 LI, Crossb, HI
builds:
(123)
monk 30/1
4 tower guards
1 slinger
(128) nothing
remain: 6 gold/3 ress
__________________________________________________ _
turn 5
research Alt1, Evo1
fight in (121)
11 crossbow(5), 7 HI(13), 15 Jav(9), 3 Com(13)
LOSSES: 1 Longb, 3 HI, danoine sidhe retreat
(2 danoine sidhe go to 128, I'll leave them there)
treas. 63, inc 125, upk 38
(121) inc 5, ress 25
(123) inc 112, ress 105
(128) inc 8, ress 12
army goes back to (123)
builds:
def 2 in all prov
(123)
forester
1 cu sidhe
1 Longb
(121),(128) nothing
remain: 4/92
______________________________________________
turn 6
research Alt1,Evo2
treas 88, inc 158, upk 41
(121) inc 5, ress 26
(123) inc 142, ress 111
(128) inc 11, ress 13
priest moves to 121 to build temp
army assembles for attack on
neigbouring prov 116 (50 LI, Crossb, HI):
Castellan, 11 HI, 6 LongB (fire achers)
Sidhe War Godess (5x Cast, Attack nearest)
4 tower guards
Sidhe Lord prophet (divine bless, cast)
4 danoine sidhe (fire nearest)
5 cu sidhe (hold, attack rearmost: flank)
set up in middle of map
builds:
(123)
castellan
1 danoine sidhe
1 cu sidhe
1 slinger
(121,128) nothing
remain: 0 gold, 42 ress
__________________________________________________ ___
turn 7
power ranking
provinces: 1 / forts: - / income: 6 / gem inc.: - /research: 6 /dominon: 6 / army size: 8
research Con1, Alt1, Evo2
treas 135, inc 185, upk 45
(116) 17, 11
(121) 6, 27
(123) 152,126
(128) 10, 13
priest builds temple in 121
random: Beothric, knight of Stone lead-75
Jotunheim sighted in 86
2nd castellan set out to gather dainone sidhe from 128
armies attacks 106 [to cut of Jotunheims advance - as the AI always does] (60 woodsmen, blowpipes)
builds:
castellan
(116,121,128) nothing
remain: 2 gold
___________________________________________
turn 8
treas 169, inc 223, upk 45
(106) 23, 19
(116) 22, 12
(121) 7, 28
(123) 116,132
(128) 10, 13
fight in (106): 2 LOSSES: HI
prophet builds temple in 106 (next to Jotunheim prov.)
SWGss searches for sites
army sits idle
3rd castellan moves up with 1 d-/1cu sidhe
builds:
(123)
castellan
1 d-sidhe
(106,116,121,128) nothing
remain 1 gold

___________________________________________
turn 9
treas 176, inc 249, upk 48
....

I think it does quite fine 'til now, maybe it is a little bit fond of building castellans. Even bulding much more scouts wouldn't do that much good, so maybe I'll put in a %tage (growing with turns elapsed) that, if no mage is build, NO commanders is build unless there's a dire need for leadership.

Other suggestions?

[Scott Hebert]

Something I would change is the unrest part of that idea.

Taxes should be lowered by 20% for each 5 points of unrest in the Province. This results in 0 Unrest in the Province the next turn (assuming 25 or less Unrest) so that the Tax Rate can be raised back to 100%. Since unrest itself lowers the income of the province, this is preferable IMO than waiting for it to resolve itself.

[Kristoffer O]

Hmm, it's a bit difficult to follow without graphical representation. I should test it when I get some spare time.

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by Kristoffer O:
Hmm, it's a bit difficult to follow without graphical representation. I should test it when I get some spare time.

Family man, teacher, game developer. And you talk about testing this for us when you get "free time"?

Now Im feeling guilty. I KNOW I have more free time than you do.

[MStavros]

Ah, so anyone came up with any good ideas so far in this topic?

[Arralen]

Originally posted by MStavros:
Ah, so anyone came up with any good ideas so far in this topic?

You'll find the idea this thread is all about at the very beginning.

How good it is is debatable, though. And testable, so feel free to do a test game and report your findings.

[ May 09, 2004, 21:36: Message edited by: Arralen ]

[HotNifeThruButr]

How about something to discourage the building of units that don't go well together? Like if the comp has 60% of his already built + will be built forces (measured by gold + resource value, not unit numbers, so one knight will be "more" than 2 militia) as units without missile weapons (exclude javelins and other such minor missiles)and with less than, say, 13 prot, it will feel less compelled to make Archers, Comp bowmen, slingers (excluding Mictlan warriors with slings) and Longbowmen. Maybe have it roll a 3 sided dice, and if it lands on 1, proceed with archer building, if not, abort. Having 60% or more of your army being units with 13 or greater prot makes the three dice roll apply when the comp wants to make crossbowmen and other artillery types.

A way to improve location might be to might be by giving forts that are closest to an enemy province (not indep) that borders on your province a higher priority when building. This will be measured in "provinces away," so a fort that's two provinces away from an enemy will have a higher priority than one that's three provinces away. The capital might be exempt from this rule since there are cap exclusive units.

Maybe this can just work with unit Groups.

Edit: There might also be an impact on troop building depending on the neighbor and his force's composition. If the AI "sees" enemy forces with many hoplites, it will bump down light infantry, and missile units production and train more heavy infantry, heavy cavalry, and artillery/crossbow type units. If it sees tramplers with morale lower than 11 and no berserking, it will build more missile units. But always bump up production in units that are as big as or bigger than the enemy's tramplers.

Is that realistic?

Edit: This also makes it possible to reform the difficulty system, where instead of cheating on pretender points (that's the current AI difficulty setting, no?) we can enable more AI features at harder levels and disabling AI features at easier ones so it actually plays smarter/dumber. For example, an impossible AI might know not to mix Knights with Crossbows and orders non-combat commanders to flee instantly, or give assassins optimal assassination equipment whilte an easy AI wouldn't care about unit mixes in combat and wouldn't equip assassins with good equipment.

Edit: thought of something else. You could also factor in spell to troops synergy (I believe that's the right word for worky-togetherness). If the AI utilizes an army of light infants, it could be less inclined to cast flying shards, while friendly high prot units and hostile low prot units encourage it. It will not summon Air Elems when facing enemies composed of units bigger than the elems themselves. If it's got abysian or other heat resistant units, it will bump up desirability for heat spells.

[ May 10, 2004, 03:18: Message edited by: HotNifeThruButr ]