What is wrong with the AI?

Gandalf Parker · #1 April 26th, 2007, 04:41 PM

Well put Uncle Yee. Personally I dont tend to enjoy MP much either. Im just not much for person-to-person challenges. Its ok but it tends to be for me, what SP is apparently for others. So I agree that the "mp is the answer" makes me wish that the conversation didnt get sidetracked that way.

As to the original questions:
Im not sure if setting the pretender and scales can be done in a mod. But it can in a map.

I can understand not wanting to play with no indepts just to get a different AI action. That would not lead to better game play. You might as well play on the mini-map battle simulator where you make the armies and they meet on the next turn. As far as whether or not thats the important flaw in AI, I dont know.

There might be a mod in the mod subforum that duplicates most of the units of a nation which you can tweak to your desire. Some of the "improved" versions of the present nations might give you a clue on how to remove the "weak" pieces. Then you can start a game with that nation, select the god and scales, and after the first turn set that nation to AI.

Wikd Thots · #2 April 26th, 2007, 05:52 PM

Fine, I will try to quiet down.

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
I can understand not wanting to play with no indepts just to get a different AI action. That would not lead to better game play. You might as well play on the mini-map battle simulator where you make the armies and they meet on the next turn. As far as whether or not thats the important flaw in AI, I dont know.

battle simulator? is that a mod? It still does not sound like what I want but it might help on just the formations and what orders to give.

Edi · #3 April 26th, 2007, 06:26 PM

Gandalf, I know it is a well-meaning thread. My previous post might seem a bit harsh, but it is not meant to be hostile, just to express how and why this thread turned out the way it did.

That said, I will also comment on the subject of these prospective AI boost mods: Making them, one for each nation, is a horrendously time-consuming task if you want to keep intact anything like the variety the game normally has. This is another reason why there are few people interested in the subject. It's a project on the order of the CBM mods, except perhaps even more difficult unless one wants to use the suggested quick and dirty methods of neutering independents.

On further reflection, the quick and dirty method of putting ridiculous resource costs on the indies does have a lot going for it, though, with some pretty decent advantages over a NI map:

AI will not recruit indies
If indie commanders and select other indie units are not modded, it will be possible to avoid all the hordes of chaff, while the national AI troops will be boosted by relatively small numbers of high quality troops (such as the plate cuirass crossbowmen, possibly decent heavy cavalry/cataphracts etc)
Players will still have access to indie mages recruitable from poptypes, allowing branching out if they do not have those types of magic
AI will also use these mages, at least some of the time.

This type of mod would not be at all difficult to do, and the idea itself is intriguing enough that I might actually do one just for the hell of it. After all, there are not that many independent units and I have the full list of poptypes to boot.

Foodstamp · #4 April 26th, 2007, 06:33 PM

BTW

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...b=5&o=&fpart=1

Sounds like this mod may be a good challenge for SP players.

Wikd Thots · #5 April 26th, 2007, 06:46 PM

YEAH! That is what I am talking about!
A better AI for Mictlan.
Thanks you Foodstamp

Arralen · #6 April 26th, 2007, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Foodstamp said:
BTW
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...b=5&o=&fpart=1
Sounds like this mod may be a good challenge for SP players.

It's not a good idea, it's rediculous ... . Basically breaks the game, and would require tons of work to do for all nations ... .

Foodstamp · #7 April 26th, 2007, 07:08 PM

Arralen · #8 April 26th, 2007, 07:12 PM

Ok, I'll add some details to the original thread ...

In short: The way proposed there is NOT the way to help the AI play better. IMNSHO.

Wikd Thots · #9 April 26th, 2007, 07:09 PM

Why is making a new balanced nation good, and making an unbalanced version of nations for AI play a bad thing?

Gandalf Parker · #10 April 26th, 2007, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Wikd Thots said:
Fine, I will try to quiet down.

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
I can understand not wanting to play with no indepts just to get a different AI action. That would not lead to better game play. You might as well play on the mini-map battle simulator where you make the armies and they meet on the next turn. As far as whether or not thats the important flaw in AI, I dont know.

battle simulator? is that a mod? It still does not sound like what I want but it might help on just the formations and what orders to give.

Sorry I was slow getting back to this.
The mini-map is at http://www.dom3minions.com/docs/Mini_v3.zip

Create an early era game on the mini-map and join as a human player for Arcoscepphale and human player for Ermor. You will find that they both have an additional army. Set the formations and scripts, then have them both meet in one of the neighboring provinces. Watch the battle. If you want to do it again then just quit that game and start another on the same map. If you want to try different armies then use notepad to edit the Mini_v3.map file. You can select commanders, units, equipment, set experience levels, etc.

Gandalf Parker