Curious about Dominions? how the AI thinks? which AI is best/worst?

[Gandalf Parker]

Not easily Im afraid. All we can go by is the outside info of small, medium, large map.

If I could view the map I would be more interested in who the neighbor is than how close it is. If Undead Ermor starts near Marignon then its weaker than if it starts near Ulm.

[VedalkenBear]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

Not easily Im afraid. All we can go by is the outside info of small, medium, large map.

If I could view the map I would be more interested in who the neighbor is than how close it is. If Undead Ermor starts near Marignon then its weaker than if it starts near Ulm.

Mm, that's a shame. The closeness of the neighbors will show the 'who' as well as 'what'. For example, if you're examining the probability that Ermor will win in the MA or LA, you can run a correlation analysis on the winning percentage (or perhaps 'xth to die') on their original distance from Marignon. If the analysis returns that there is a high positive correlation with distance, that would mean the the closer Ermor starts to Marignon, the worse they do.

Following that logic, if, say, MA Ulm consistently has a positive correlation with initial distance from most/all 'rush' nations, one inference you could draw would be that MA Ulm is highly vulnerable to rushes.

Now, I don't know much about the various switches involved, but... is it possible to manually set up a game, record the initial positions, and then set all the players to AIs, record what AI they receive, and use this utility to get the information?

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally Posted by VedalkenBear

Now, I don't know much about the various switches involved, but... is it possible to manually set up a game, record the initial positions, and then set all the players to AIs, record what AI they receive, and use this utility to get the information?

Hmmmmmm....
thats abit of a mix between the games I do, and pbem games that Im not well versed in. But it might be possible. Do a pbem start (sets up then quits), followed by superhosting after that.