AI pretender mod

[BigDaddy]

I was thinking of ways one might make the AI tougher, and it seems as if, if was possible to remove its pretender choices and replace them with premade pretenders might help quite a bit, especially when just setting up a game for yourself. It might require some work in selecting mods, but the AI should turn out a lot stronger with discount overpowered chassis and then whatever additional crap it decides to take (I wonder if it would still take bad scales!).

Anyone ever try this? It seems possible...

[Gandalf Parker]

A version of it. The SemiRand program can add pre-built pretenders with magic choices and scales to the map. Thats probably the best way.

But a mod would be easier. The AI seems to do OK with two types of gods. Great big SC (super combatant) or little human ones. But it does best with non-moving such as the monolith.

But its the choices after that it messes up the most. Magic, dominions, and scales.

[BigDaddy]

Well, with the mod you could at least pick magic and dominion for the pretender, then you'd not have to worry about it inexplicably dying on the third turn from dominion death. And it would have useful paths... You could pump the humans research, I don't know if it would keep it at home more though...

You cannot control the scales it picks and it still might add superfluous magic paths...

[Gandalf Parker]

But then it would be available to you also. So you would need a mod for each nation so you can turn the mod on and off so it wont affect you also.

the SemiRand program on the other hand sets pretender, and magic, and scales. But its done with map commands instead of mod commands.

It is kindof fun though to give AIs pretenders that arent available to players. Such as Grigori's, or Eater of the Dead, or Tarrassque

[BigDaddy]

I'm theoretically sold on the SemiRand program but don't know how to use the map commands.

And yes, that is why I said mod selection would be complex, plus, if you're just playing one player why would you pick the cheaty AI pretenders unless you wanted to... maybe to go AI... that would work.

[Stavis_L]

Here's the link to Ballbarian's RanDOM/SemiRand programs:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=34826

As far as knowing map commands, the idea is that you shouldn't need to, since the program is doing the map modification for you. You will basically get just what you asked for above, which is intelligently designed pretenders/nations (although some of the submissions are more viable than others.) If you'd like to make your own map/god files, there's even tools to do that for you (linked in Ballbarian's .sig.) You could even send them back to BB for inclusion in later releases :-)

It still doesn't solve the problems of e.g. over-recruitment of chaff, or not knowing what combination of magic items to put on a thug, or what paths to research first, etc.

I highly suggest following the help here:

http://www.dom3minions.com/~semirand...p_Draft02.html

...as the program itself is not very intuitive (no offense Ballbarian; it's much appreciated all the same.)

[Gandalf Parker]

*slap head*
Ive used other methods for providing better AIs so long I forgot the original one. Start as human, pick an appropriate god, magic, scales, etc. Maybe do the first turn or two. Then switch it to run AI.

If you go thru the "Game Tools" you can build the design and save it. Then after selecting a nation you can choose "load Pretender God" and avoid going thru it every time.

Once you get tired of that (and have some god AI god-builds designed) then you can use the SemiRand program to randomly select a god for the AI from the pre-builds so you can semi-surprise yourself

[Globu]

You don't need to set them as human players for either map commands or, unless I am sorely mistaken, SemiRandom. I've gotten to tinker with this subject a bit when setting up a slate of thematic pretenders for my version of the Glory SP map. It's extremely minor, but the one thing that it fails to address is the appellations and gender of the god -- so, even though you've completely changed the pretender an AI has gotten to, say, a male dual-bless Earth/Nature or something, it still might be listed as a female Eater of Children and all that, and constantly referred to as she.

[BigDaddy]

I read somewhere that the practice was to give them full imprisoned points with an awake pretender, is this correct, is it enough?

Obviously, I could make them all 10paths all magic and dominion trampling ghost king sphinxes... with perfect scales.....

Almost forgot immortal.

Spawns Shedus and sphinxs come to aid it in battle.

[Gandalf Parker]

Sounds good.

But keep in mind that if you are going to build a pretender, it doesnt have to use the pretenders usually offered. Any unit in the game can be used. A halfling, a dragonfly, an upper demon, a horror. There are some scarier things in the game than pretenders.