Good game, but....the AI is very bad.

[proteus]

I like this game. I usually play single, thus I have some major problems with the AI.

1. The AI is massing weak troops. Why? I see hella lot of light infantry and cheap troops. Pointless, they are toast.
2. The AI is making weird strategic decisions. It is moving around with strong commanders without a point, and without a decent army.
3. The AI is not equipping its heroes properly, sometimes not at all.
4. The AI is not protecting its heroes/commanders.
5. The AI isnt using the mid/late game spells very well.
6. The AI wont summon too many "heavyweight monsters". -> I wonder what the heck the AI is doing with its magic income.
7. The AI's battlefield tactics is kinda laughable as well.
8. The AI isnt building forts, just very rarely. Maybe this is causing our next problem, that the AI is making LI mostly?

I patched the game to 2.11 of course, before you ask.
I dont wanna be rude, but all of these should be fixed with the next patch.

P.

[ May 09, 2004, 12:48: Message edited by: proteus ]

[Leif_-]

Originally posted by proteus:
I dont wanna be rude, but all of these should be fixed with the next patch.

You probably shouldn't hold your breath. AI is a notoriously difficult area, and the nature of Dominions makes it a very difficult game to write an AI for (basically, it's got a very large amount of different inter-releated factors which make for a much larger search-space than most comparable games.)

You might see incremental improvements to the AI, but you're not going to see the AI "fixed" in a patch. The issue is simply so complicated that to do make any huge improvements would likely take far too much work to be worthwhile.

I suggest you try a few multiplayer games instead. The human mind might not be the best computer that can be made, but it's the only one we can build with unskilled labour.

[proteus]

Yes I do play multi, but you know, it takes too much time to play multi games in these type of games.
[Especially in this, in mid or late game]

I think that it is not impossible to script a good AI, in fact I am sure that all of these mentioned weaknesses can be fixed...and hopefully they will be.

P.

[Leif_-]

Originally posted by proteus:
Yes I do play multi, but you know, it takes too much time to play multi games in these type of games.
[Especially in this, in mid or late game]

I think that it is not impossible to script a good AI, in fact I am sure that all of these mentioned weaknesses can be fixed...and hopefully they will be.

P.

Of course they can be fixed, it's just going cost more than it's worth. Basically, what you'd end up with is a huge expert system, probably near the size of the game itself.

[proteus]

Originally posted by Leif_-:
Of course they can be fixed, it's just going cost more than it's worth.

I dont agree. Huge amount of players are only playing singleplayer games. They should get the best what is possible for their money.
This game costs a lot of money, like the top seller high-end games. This is why the devs should focus on this, since this is the weak part of the game right now.


P.

[Leif_-]

Originally posted by proteus:
I dont agree. Huge amount of players are only playing singleplayer games. They should get the best what is possible for their money.
This game costs a lot of money, like the top seller high-end games. This is why the devs should focus on this, since this is the weak part of the game right now.


P.

I think you severely underestimate the effort and work that goes into making a good AI - particularly for something as complex as Dominions. Besides, the AI in Dominion isn't really any worse than the average for strategic games (in my opinion it's surprisingly good, considering Illwinter's position). Let's face it - even for games that are created by the big hitters, the AIs are generally weak.