Brain Dead AI Nations

[iceboy]

Originally Posted by Zeldor

Better Independents 2.0 works just fine [but don't enslave or charm indie troops]. That makes AI recruit only national troops.

Some other hints:
- use normal research as at some point AI cannot effectively increase research rate
- use supplies at 300, AI loves to starve troops
- avoid lots of water and water nations [AI cannot deal with attacking water]
- set AI to aggressive

By which BI version I mean resources, gold, or both?

A few things here:

You cannot change the AI settings when using a modded AI. I do use very difficult research settings and gold at 50. I also use resources and supplies at 300. The main reasons for this is playing on such a big map you need to scale things back so they dont get out of control. I used to play with half or normal resouces but I maxed that to see if it would help the AI. I am getting about the same results. As you can see on the map I do use water and all water nations but that is not really the problem. The only thing I am trying to improve on is early expansion...whatever happens later is fine with me!

[MaxWilson]

I use BI w/ both and haven't had any problems. The resource-only version worked okay too, but apparently the AI makes suboptimal purchasing decisions in that case.

Note that you *can* set AI difficult/attitude when using a modded AI, if by "modded" you mean "modified using map or mod commands." What you can't do is generate the pretender *using the in-game GUI* and start the game as a human, then set to AI. What you can do is generate the pretender as part of a custom map scenario (modify the map you're going to play) and set it to AI from the very beginning. Note that you can make the AI pretender pretty much arbitrarily powerful in that case, too, and/or give him some starting items or SC companions. For instance, you could let each AI nation start out with 1 Ophan commander. (Ashdod national summons.)

Oh, yeah, I suspect setting research to Easy might be a good idea. The AI doesn't really seem to target its research very well, unlike a human, so if you set it to Easy research there's a slightly higher chance of the AI having the right spells it needs for a given situation. (Whereas a human will just compensate for harder research by beelining for the most important spells.)

-Max

[Zeldor]

iceboy:

Unfortunately game does not work in SP on big maps. The thing getting out of control will happen, no matter what settings you use. And lowering gold and resources hurts AI [especially when you add higher indies].

If your goal is to improve their early game I'd suggest just adding some starting units to the map file. If you want to give them melee SC you should use #clearmagic, so he goes to melee instead of casting stupid spells.

[Endoperez]

Since this is all for single-player, you could have Easy or Normal research and take Drain 3 for your nation. -2 RP for each of your mages will slow down YOUR research by quite a lot, but of course it depends on your nation.

[iceboy]

Originally Posted by MaxWilson

I use BI w/ both and haven't had any problems. The resource-only version worked okay too, but apparently the AI makes suboptimal purchasing decisions in that case.

Note that you *can* set AI difficult/attitude when using a modded AI, if by "modded" you mean "modified using map or mod commands." What you can't do is generate the pretender *using the in-game GUI* and start the game as a human, then set to AI. What you can do is generate the pretender as part of a custom map scenario (modify the map you're going to play) and set it to AI from the very beginning. Note that you can make the AI pretender pretty much arbitrarily powerful in that case, too, and/or give him some starting items or SC companions. For instance, you could let each AI nation start out with 1 Ophan commander. (Ashdod national summons.)

Oh, yeah, I suspect setting research to Easy might be a good idea. The AI doesn't really seem to target its research very well, unlike a human, so if you set it to Easy research there's a slightly higher chance of the AI having the right spells it needs for a given situation. (Whereas a human will just compensate for harder research by beelining for the most important spells.)

-Max

Thanks! Ive tried to find a guide on how to mod my map with AI types and difficulty but cannot seem to find this. Any tips?

Which AI type makes a more competitive SP play?

Aggressive, Defensive, or Normal?

Also does the CBM mod improve SP AI play?

[Gandalf Parker]

Take a look at the SemiRand program. Except for some slight things (such as adding @ for a random sign) its files are just text files that get added to a .map file

The files available with SR provide examples of programming provinces with logical names, populations, defenses, magic sites, etc. Such as, what should be there if a province is named Village of Weres. It also has examples of using map commands to provide logically built gods and scales. So that the god/scales for Pangaea make sense and are different than the one for Mictlan, or Ermor, or Ulm.

[Gandalf Parker]

By "which makes for more competitive SP play" do you mean in the vanilla mode? Or which can make best use of map-added changes?

And I dont know about CBM. I never use it in solo play, and rarely in mp if I can avoid it.

[iceboy]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

By "which makes for more competitive SP play" do you mean in the vanilla mode? Or which can make best use of map-added changes?

And I dont know about CBM. I never use it in solo play, and rarely in mp if I can avoid it.

Vanilla...

Thanks I will look at the semi rand to find examples of modding ai difficulty and personality types modding!

hmmm I could not find this in semi rand could you point out in more detail?

Is there a list of all the modding commands anywhere?

[MaxWilson]

Yes, check the "docs" subdirectory of your Dom3 installation for modding and mapping PDFs. Edi has created an update for modding (Age of Unreason, if I recall correctly) that you can find on the forums too. Edi's version has a few more commands documented, and you can also check the progress page (http://ulm.illwinter.com/dom3/dom3progress.html) for stuff that isn't documented anywhere yet because it's so new. Usually it's pretty easy to guess what the new commands do.

Example mod command: make Bashanites have str 30
#selectmonster 2010
#str 30
#end

(I happen to know what the Bashanite unit number is because I frequently add them as test opponents in battles using Shift + 'U', but if you need to learn a unit's number you can check Edi's database or else select the unit and click Ctrl + 'I'. Or maybe it's Shift + 'I', I can't remember.)

-Max

[iceboy]

Originally Posted by MaxWilson

Yes, check the "docs" subdirectory of your Dom3 installation for modding and mapping PDFs. Edi has created an update for modding (Age of Unreason, if I recall correctly) that you can find on the forums too. Edi's version has a few more commands documented, and you can also check the progress page (http://ulm.illwinter.com/dom3/dom3progress.html) for stuff that isn't documented anywhere yet because it's so new. Usually it's pretty easy to guess what the new commands do.

Example mod command: make Bashanites have str 30
#selectmonster 2010
#str 30
#end

(I happen to know what the Bashanite unit number is because I frequently add them as test opponents in battles using Shift + 'U', but if you need to learn a unit's number you can check Edi's database or else select the unit and click Ctrl + 'I'. Or maybe it's Shift + 'I', I can't remember.)

-Max

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?