Supercombattant pretenders....what about...

[mr.white]

my very first game I used an earth mother. She Lasted about 3 battles until she found machaka and got blinded by a witch-doctor. Sigh.

[Mortifer]

Originally posted by MStavros:
What about do not allow the Pretenders to leave their home province?
That would be the best. Why?

1. Supercombattant Pretenders can be abused easily.
2. The AI won't make stupid things, like moving with his pretender from province to province ALONE. The AI is always loosing his pretender very fast. I don't understand that what is the AI is doing with his pretender anyways...IT is always moving it..

So this way both problems would be solved.

Actually you've got some points.
The idea is good, but I doubt that it will happen.

I say, let IW to update the AI, there is a thread about the weaknesses of the strategic AI.

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000191

If those things will be fixed, we are all good.

This is a minor thing. If you don't want to abuse the AI, don't build a pretender SC.

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by MStavros:
A good strategic AI is extremely difficult to implement, and it's NOT that important. If you're concerned about it, then I assume you're primarily an SP player, right? Then there's something illogical in your rant: if you think the AI can't handle your SC pretender, why do you play a SC at all? If you absolutely want to play an SC pretender, why don't you script the AI to make him more challenging? Eg, try adding the following line in your map files:

I did much the same with my random generators. I tended to scatter the map with structures (castles, labs, temples), give AIs multiple starting sites, and give every province a randomly selected "commander" with bodyguards and random magic items. A very insane game.

Some of the most disastrous combinations of late-summons creatures or even pretenders showed up as the AIs prophets and extra units.

If I got to know the map too well I just re-ran the script and re-scattered everything.

[Particle]

Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:
A good strategic AI is extremely difficult to implement, and it's NOT that important.

Actually it is VERY important. You are saying this, because you are using Dominions II. for multiplayer. This was a selfish comment Nagot.

[ November 02, 2003, 17:16: Message edited by: Particle ]

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Particle:

quote:

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Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:
A good strategic AI is extremely difficult to implement, and it's NOT that important.

Actually it is VERY important.

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Nope, it's not - because there are easy and effective workarounds for single player. I provided two, but it seems you forgot to read them.

[MythicalMino]

my question concerning the strategic AI is this: If it is indeed as weak as ppl are claiming it is, then what happened between Dominions 1 and dominions 2? Granted the AI in Dom1 wasn't the "end all, be all" of AI, but it was decent enough, hell, it can still give me a very big run for my money....so, what happened between the 2 games?

Something had to have happened during the final stages of development, where the beta testers couldn't have caught it. If they were saying that the ai was great, but now, completely new guys are stomping it, then something had to happen towards the end, right?

It either has to be something to do with a late-stage development code change or data change somewhere....or, the ppl that are saying that they can wipe the virtual floor with the AI are either lying about it (NOTE: I AM NOT SAYING ANYONE IS LYING, THIS IS JUST A POSSIBLE OPTION!!!!!!!!)....or, they are setting the game up strange or something along those lines....

Now, if it is indeed something went wrong in the late stages of development, then possibly IW will be able to find it easy enough....and fix it of course....

[LordArioch]

I think the people finding it easy are making rampaging supercombat pretenders. That's like being amazed the dom1 ai was easy when you played as caelum and air elementaled it to death.