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

[Wendigo]

Just finished a demo game vs 4 impossible AIs, indeps lv6, relaxed playing: Ermor, Mictlan, Tien Chi & Machaca, killed Mictlan & Machaca before the time ran out.

I agree that the AI builds far too many light troops & militia types, yet this is something that should be easily patched with a resources boost & some hardcoded build orders that require a % of HIs & elites & prioritize national troops over indeps.

I faced some sizeable forces, Tien Chi had around 500 troops at its capitol by the end of the game, I faced also some good summons by the AI: Fiends of darkness by Mictlan & Mech men + Crushers from Machaca. So while there's certainly room for improvement regarding the strategical AI, it is not as bad as the prophets of doom anounce. It's definitely correct for a game of this type.

The tactical AI is even better than in Dom I, it now Groups its troops by type & has them perform with pretty correct scripts. Mictlan Fiends ignored my troops at front and flew over them to hit my mages in the rear.

The tactical spell AI is still great: Machaca managed to kill my Pretender with a good choice of spells when I stormed its capitol (which is something that many human players have failed at, btw).

[HJ]

I've seen a good move by the Ai earlier today. I was Abysia, besieging Vanheim capitol. Instead of constantly pouring a few troops every now and then on my besieging army, it seems that the AI waited for the reenforcements to arrive, and then hit me with everything plus sallied forth from the castle. It was a cool fight where my moloch killed his ghost king in one-on-one fight, only to be smitten by a puny dwarf the next turn casting shards from close range - they all hit the spot. And I didn't even manage to catch that dwarf later... Grrr....

[Mortifer]

Originally posted by MStavros:
1. The AI is preferring light troops. -> not good. Light troops are very weak compared to the heavy troops. This is why it is so easy to crush the AI.
2. The AI should summon more creatures.
3. The AI should use more assassins.
4. The AI should guard his mages / commanders better.
5. The AI should use better battlefield tactics.

I agree with these points. Someone had mentioned before, that the AI is always moving with his armies, it wont stand in a province ever. That should be tweaked as well.

[Alneyan]

I will have a few questions about the AI, as you can see, I have not played much yet.

1) Do we know what are the differences between the different levels? Is it only improved intelligence, or is there a resource/gold/research/magic gem (and so on) bonus the player does not have? Dominions AI may not rely as much on bonuses than the vast majority of AI.

2) For the beta testers mainly: is the AI more efficient in the middle and late game than in the early game? Perhaps the AI does not handle well early conflicts, or has trouble with early expansion (compared to an experienced player who tries to expand as fast as possible), or some other problem. Most AIs tend to have a lot of problems in the early game, and some can even be wiped out without much hassle in the beginning of the game. (And then we would have to wait for the full game to see what is the situation after, say, 100 turns)

3) Is there any chance players could alter/make their own AI files? That would depend obviously on how the AI behaviours are handled. There are games in which the original AI has been improved by players. (Space Empires IV for example)

[MStavros]

I try to help:

1. The AI won't be smarter @ higher diff. levels, but it will have more design point to spend. I think thats all. Correct me if there is anything more.

2. I am not a beta-tester, but you can find lot of suggestions, that how to upgrade the AI.

3. That would be a good idea, however I don't think that any of us can script a really good AI.
I guess Dominions AI is lot more complicated than the Space Empires IV. AI. [I am not sure..]
However..who knows.

[DominionsFan]

Originally posted by MStavros:
I met with an AI army in my Last game. It had more than 300 units, mostly weaklings of course.
The AI will make bigger armies, however they are weak compared to the human armies.

The AI should be tweaked various ways.

1. The AI is preferring light troops. -> not good. Light troops are very weak compared to the heavy troops. This is why it is so easy to crush the AI.
2. The AI should summon more creatures.
3. The AI should use more assassins.
4. The AI should guard his mages / commanders better.
5. The AI should use better battlefield tactics.

Yup, nice listing. If these things would be tweaked! The AI would roxor!

[Mortifer]

Yet another annoying thing:

I just had a game, and I met with Ulm at turn 12. They had some small, wandering armies.
One of those armies was like this.

-Pretender God [Earth Mother]
-Ulm Cpt
-2 heavy infantry.

I was like wtf!

I mean what the hell is the point in this AI "maneuver"? If we can call this a maneuver at all!
Of course I've killed his pretender.....

[ November 01, 2003, 15:09: Message edited by: Mortifer ]