The AI Improvement Thread

[Renojustin]

This thread is to list the many and sundry things that might be done to improve the AI. I think that the SP experience could use a little more love... or consider being able to add worthy AI opponents to small multiplayer games.

The fact of the matter is that the AI plays like a five year old child and if we're able to focus on the things that it doesn't do well, or properly, or at all, we might be able to home in on what makes the AI so bad against players and rectify it!

I'll start -

A simple-sounding change would be to be able to set the difficulty of the AI when you change from a player to AI. This would allow you to set the scales for a nation to something beneficial to that nation and then have something of a challenge when you change them over to Impossible.

Another thing I've noticed is that the AI doesn't seem to use items properly... they are distributed in what seems to be completely random fashion. Surely the AI would benefit from giving appropriate path-boosting items to mages and combat items to thug and melee chassis instead of the drunken-night-of-looting method that seems to be the current method? Just having path-boosted mages casting rituals and Battlefield Enchantments or even evocations would be a step up.

Let's hear a list of things that the AI can't do, and then possible fixes for each problem.

[llamabeast]

I'm not sure there's much point in going through this, since I don't get the impression that JK is interested in working further on the AI. Most games, of course, get little or no improvements after release, so we are lucky so much gets changed. However, they only tend to work on things they are enthusiastic about, and my impression is that JK is not enthusiastic about making AI changes.

There is a lot of room for improving the AI via map commands and so on, though. For instance you can design the AI's pretenders for it using map commands, and still set them on "Impossible" so they get good bonuses. If you use Edi's Better Independents mod they will recruit far more national troops. Combining these can make the AIs far more fearsome. And of course you can go further my modding individual nations if you want. For instance, you could mod all Mictlan's commanders to #onebattlespell Divine Blessing, so their troops will always be blessed.

[QXel]

llamabeast said:
For instance, you could mod all Mictlan's commanders to #onebattlespell Divine Blessing, so their troops will always be blessed.

Ouch! I never will do this!

Well, Renojustin, if you want challenge in SP, Llamabeast is right, there is really enough ways to improve AI.

Just to see, try a game on Aran map with 9 opponents, just at mighty level ... No map modding, just NI mod (or BI mod, as you wish) ... I'll try it last evening with Agartha, which is new for me, but the game isn't ... Bouh! I was laminated!!!
Just playing in overcrowded maps is a challenge ...

Add some map command to create AI gods & their scales, semi-random it with heavy Indies, set AI to mighty or impossible, and start a game with you and (max player for the chosen map +2 or 4), and then, let me know the result

[Edratman]

One change that might not be too involved is to have a multiplier on the starting troops based on difficulty level for the AI. I think that would be a big expansion advantage to the AI if it gets 2 or 3 times the amount of starting troops.


Changing the troops would be better, but I am pretty sure that would involve using new nation codes, and these numbers are limited.

[llamabeast]

This would also be quite easy to mod. It's just a matter of someone finding the time I guess.

Edit: Sorry, it wouldn't be possible to mod the starting army to depend on the difficulty level. But you could just mod the AI nations to have larger/different starting armies.

[QXel]

IIRC, you can already add whatever troops you want in any province, including starting provinces, with map command.

Well, you haven't the surprise, but whatever, because you're not expecting encounter any neighbour nations before some turns, and if you mod indy prov. as well, the AI would have get some reinforcments to gap loses.

If you also mod gold/resource cost of national troops for AI, the AI would have more troops for the same cost than you. This could be quite challenging!
You just have to pay attention on which troops are accessible as indy, and since they all have been identified in NI or BI mods, no difficulty on this.

Of course, no possibility to mod this dependant of AI level, but this is quite easy nonetheless.

[Gandalf Parker]

It is unlikely that anything except the simplest and most general change might get programmed into the game. But there is a gap between the people who feel that they best know the changes that each nation should make to be AI, and the people who can incorporate those ideas into mods and maps. So if we list the ideas here we can get them to the people who can most likely help us.

As to setting the AI level when changing a person to AI in a multiplayer game, that doesnt really apply. The level of the AI mostly only applies to the creation of the god (how many points are used). When you change a player to AI you usually already have something much better than the AI randomly comes up with anyway.

[Gandalf Parker]

Along that line, the best fix Ive seen for ai yet is well planned gods, scales, equipment, etc. A number of threads have asked, and received, peoples favorite builds. Such as, this gives middle age Pangaea a set version of Lord of the Wild named Natural Disaster with some added equipment, specific scales, and an ally preference. The number 40 stands for middle-age Pangaea if that helps to read the code.
#god 40 812 -- Lord of the Wild
#comname "Natural Disaster"
#allies 40 48 -- likes to ally with Oceania if they are both AI
#clearmagic
#mag_death 4 -- needed for Pangea spells and a bless
#mag_nature 4 -- needed for Pangea spells and a bless
#mag_blood 4 -- good combo with the above and a bless
#additem "Treelord's Staff" -- 2 more nature
#additem "Skullface" -- helmet with 1 more death and support
#additem "Armor of Souls" -- armor and 1 more blood
#additem "Boots of the Behemoth" -- goes well with his size 6
#additem "Brazen Vessel" -- misc slot and 1 more blood
#additem "Ring of Sorcery" -- 1 death and 1 nature and 1 blood
#dominionstr 40 6
#scale_chaos 40 2
#scale_lazy 40 2
#scale_cold 40 -1
#scale_death 40 0 -- this line might need removed
#scale_unluck 40 -3
#scale_unmagic 40 -1

-- 6 points left over

The points left over dont really matter unless you want to play it yourself since you can give an AI more than the points would allow us to have. Adding those lines to any favorite map will cause middle age Pangaea to get that whether its a human player or an AI.

Suggested builds like this have been incorporated into the SemiRandomizer program of Ballbarians. Using that program will assign the AI's more intelligently designed setups from the many files that were provided from expert players. If you feel you can build a better Fomoria or Gath then Im sure he would love to have them.
edit: you dont have to give them in map commands like I did altho it helps. Just a description would work and others can convert it to commands if its interesting.

[MaxWilson]

Gandalf Parker said:
As to setting the AI level when changing a person to AI in a multiplayer game, that doesnt really apply. The level of the AI mostly only applies to the creation of the god (how many points are used). When you change a player to AI you usually already have something much better than the AI randomly comes up with anyway.

What about the resource/gold/gem bonuses? That's more important than the extra design points in my opinion.

-Max

[NTJedi]

Renojustin the AI thread is great but should be organized like the shortlist threads created by Edi, such as the shortlist bug thread. This type of organization has really helped the developers use their time more effectively.

now here's a major AI issue which existed since the days of DOM_2:
AI sending its Pretender into the Arena Death Match Problem

It becomes quickly obvious the AI should never send its pretender into the arena death match when 5+ AI pretenders are being killed by each arena death match event.

Suggested Fix: Every pretender has a pretender tag... any unit with the pretender tag needs to be prevented from participating.