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

[JaydedOne]

Originally posted by proteus:
Yes we do hope as well. I guess you dont really care about it as I see. Sad..

Constructive criticism citing that your topmost interest as a player for future patches is an AI improvement (and offering a few suggestions on how to go about it) is one thing. Flat-out Knocking a developer who has shown more support for his community than all but a handful of his better-paid, full-time colleagues is another.

Guess which one is more likely to garner respect and a proactive response from both devs and fellow community members.

[ May 08, 2004, 22:50: Message edited by: JaydedOne ]

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by Kuroth1:
Gandalf I am confused... Are you saying that the SP game of DomII IS BAD because of Bad AI and they should change the Description to read PBEM only???

Well Illwinter has never made any great claims about the AI. What was quoted was from the Shrapnel site. (they are the game production company. they are supposed to market it)

And yes, I think the description would be easier to fix than the AI for now. Im sure its on their list but I dont know what would have been left out of the Last couple of patches to give it to us. The speed control in battles? (I can hear he reaction to THAT)

Gandalf I had been meaning to ask you a question and now I guess is a good time... I think I read one time that you play SP 95% of the time.... My questions is what do you think of the AI??? Is the game fun and good as a SP game????

I would love to see it improved. I have no problem with asking. Im thrilled when I see Posts that actually try to pin down and test some suggested improvements. Its worked for me and Ive been making suggestions since the first days of Dom1. In my own small way Ive also tried to improve it thru maps. (www.dom2minions.com)

What I dont like is to see people saying its broke, making it sound like some falsified rip-off, demanding work be done on it, and generally turning it into something that the devs dont want to touch (well one dev programmer actually). Its not the subject I disagree with, its the tactics. Not only do I think they wont work well, I think they go in the opposite direction.

[ May 08, 2004, 22:54: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

[guybrush threepwood]

Hi,

First, I certainly think that every krone spent on this captivating game has been spent well!

And I certainly understand that the AI can be an extremely difficult thing to come up with good algorithms for.

But I just wanted to point out that improvements to the AI would certainly be highly appreciated by many people. If it is possible to find the time to do it of course.

Anyway, I find comments about "not getting what you paid for" hard to comprehend.

Cheers,
Thomas

[proteus]

1. I am NOT MStavros he is my older brother, and we are using one computer.
He introduced Dominions II. to me, and you know what?? We bought 2 copies not just one !!!!. I am playing multi games with him usually.
I didnt knew about his old topic, so Ive started a new, after we had a discussion about the AI at home.

I am a kinda new D2 player, I have like 2 months of experience, and I love the complexity of it.

I think that this is positive critism, isnt it??
Scripting must be hard I am totally sure, but this is nonsense to me still. Half year and no AI improvements....definitely not a good way to raise the 'fame' of IW.

Mr Parker, if you are a solo player, I simply cant understand your points at all. Even I can beat the crap out of this AI easily, and I am a newbie compared to you.
So what is the fun for you in the SP than?

IMHO the devs should make a statement, that they wont raise the quality of the AI, and people like me, who would like to enjoy the SP part as well will shut up once and for all, and play lot less with Doms II. [Only MP if we will have time for it.]
However I really hope that the devs wont forget about the lot of SP fans...eh well for 6 months they did actually.

You know I am reading that old topic, what my brother mentioned and all of those hella old problems with the AI are still not solved.
Perhaps IW should hire a new coder, if the current coder doesnt have the time to upgrade the AI...because it seems so..

[Norfleet]

You seem to believe that AI coding is easy, and that you can just "hire another coder".

I'm sorry to inform you that this is not the case. AI coding is damn hard, and even if you hire some overpaid code monkey, there's no guarantee he won't produce something which sucks even more. Name ONE game that has truly had good AI. Then tell me what its production budget was.

Do you think Illwinter can afford that?

[ May 08, 2004, 23:03: Message edited by: Norfleet ]

[proteus]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:

What I dont like is to see people saying its broke, making it sound like some falsified rip-off, demanding work be done on it, and generally turning it into something that the devs dont want to touch (well one dev programmer actually). Its not the subject I disagree with, its the tactics. Not only do I think they wont work well, I think they go in the opposite direction.

I apologize I never wanted to be 'demanding'. Simply this is my opinion.
I respect IW and their work, the game is really good. The only thing what I dont like, that the Doms II. AI improvement idea is totally dropped as I see.

A dev comment that it might be fixed...however they cannot guarantee it after lot of months..made me pissed.
So sorry for the tone of my Posts, but that made me very angry.

[proteus]

double post sorry.

[ May 08, 2004, 23:12: Message edited by: proteus ]