Brain Dead AI Nations

[Gandalf Parker]

Not from the map.
But developing an AI around the things that the AI does well, and helping it to avoid the things that AIs tend to mess up, can do alot. Such as, I personally find that the AI does better if I force it to use immobile pretenders. That way it doesnt lose them in battles and arenas.

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by iceboy

Thanks! Hmmm Ive found everything Ive been looking for except for setting AI to Aggressive, Normal, Defensive on my map. Maybe this is not possible?

Not possible, because the map sets up the *nation*. You still have to pick whether the *player* will be a human or an AI, and if it's an AI whether it will be Impossible/Mighty/etc. and Aggressive/Normal/Defensive. In theory you could use map commands to make yourself start out with a couple of extra SCs too, but how much fun would that be? Use map commands to buff nations that you're going to set to AI, unless you're designing a tricky scenario (e.g. tiny little five-province LA Marignon facing down massively developed LA Ermor--but Bogus and company have arrived to turn the tide!).

-Max

[iceboy]

Just thought I would give an update on some different things I am trying on my map to improve the AI.

I am now getting better AI results using a combo of:

CBM Mod 3.1
BI Mod 2.1 (Resources)
Resources at 200

Still using these settings:

Money at 50
Indies at 9

Here is the current situation as compared to the last time:

There is much more expansion for all nations and Arcos is doing much better!

[iceboy]

Also still using: Very Difficult Magic Research

[Endoperez]

How does the Army Graph look? How often does the AI suffer losses against independents (during the first 5-10 turns, perhaps), and how much does that affect its early game?

If the AI attacks too soon, it could take a while before it gets another army that can tackle level 9 independents. You could try lowering the indep strength to 7 to see how it affects the AI.




Have you looked at Random/SemiRandom yet? It can be used to create custom gods that SemiRandom randomly gives to AI nations. You can change even more things than you can in normal Dominions, making the pretenders start with magic items or experience, probably even spesific units under it's command.



Ballbarian's thread here:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=34826

Sample GOD file from the same thread. I've added comments, or changed Ballbarian's, when necessary. It can use all # commands listed in the Dom3 MAP-EDITING manual (map-editing and mods are different).

#god 11 138 -- nation 11 is EA Pangaea, unit 138 is Gorgon
@RANDOM comname COMMANDER
-- @commands are commands that SemiRandom can parse some way, that can be used to e.g. give a pretender one of F9, W9 or S9.

#clearmagic
#mag_earth 9
#mag_nature 4
-- pretty much what you expect

#additem "Shield of Gleaming Gold" -- hand slot
#additem "Sword of Sharpness" -- hand slot
#additem "Black Steel Helmet" -- head slot
#additem "Robe of Invulnerability" -- body slot
#additem "Boots of the Messenger" -- feet slot
#additem "Amulet of Antimagic" -- misc slot
#additem "Amulet of Missile Protection" -- misc slot
-- same here
#dominionstr 11 10
-- nation 11 (EA Pangaea) has dominion 10

#scale_chaos 11 3
-- Ea Pangaea has turmoil 3
#scale_lazy 11 1
-- sloth 1
#scale_cold 11 -1
-- heat 1
#scale_death 11 -3
-- growth 3
#scale_unluck 11 -2
-- luck 2
#scale_unmagic 11 2
-- drain 2



The amount of points isn't limited in any way. At most, you'll get a single message at the start of the game telling you that several nations' pretenders are better than they ought to be, but you can still give the AI nations all positive scales and a titan pretender with two magic paths at 9 and three more at level 4. You don't have to use all of these commands, either. The file name follows a format that defines the affected nation, and another .god file might only be used to ensure that EA Pangaea has good dominion and two good scales (Growth and Luck, in this case), in addition to whatever it's randomly given by Dom3.

#dominionstr 11 10
#scale_death 11 -3
#scale_unluck 11 -3

[Gandalf Parker]

The SemiRand program is fantastic but has never quite received the support from the players that we hoped for. If you find it useful then PLEASE add to it by sending in ideas for provinces and gods so that the "random" part of it has more to select from.

[iceboy]

Another really cool change I am seeing by using the CBM mod is watching the arena fights. So much difference! Its not just a smite fest. Many varied tactics and spells are used which is very cool and which I am sure translates to the battlefield as well. I have not watched many battles yet as I am mostly rolling over indies but it will be interesting to see when I come up against the AI opponents.

Thanks Ill take a look at the SemiRand program and see if I can figure it out...

Here is the current army graph:

[Epaminondas]

Is there a way to make the AI player "Impossible" once you turn the control over to AI after shepherding it through a few early turns? As far as I could see it, the only option when you hand over control is "Average."

It would obviously boost the AI performance a lot if you can make the AI "Impossible" after you give it a good foundation playing it yourself.

[Gandalf Parker]

You can build a nation using map or mod commands which exceeds player limits, then play it a bit and turn it AI. Or you can build such a nation and start it in a game with higher than normal settings. But as far as I know there is no way to become an impossible setting AI in mid game.

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally Posted by iceboy

Another really cool change I am seeing by using the CBM mod is watching the arena fights. So much difference!

Thank you. I appreciate your comments on this.
I always considered CBM to be a balancing mod built around player actions and designed for MP games. Not designed around AI. So the comments are helpful. Possibly I will add a version of vsAI games with CBM to my server. (the vsAI games get more play than the CBM games seem to)

There are other mods which have been designed specifically around the improvement of the AI. Some I have agreed with, others not so much. Personally I feel that the best ones are the ones which work with a specific nation. Where someone has put alot of thought into exactly what Mictlan does and doesnt do well as an AI. And another mod which put thought into what Ctis does or doesnt do well as an AI.

Gandalf Parker