Proof of stupid AI spellcasting

[PDF]

Originally posted by Wendigo:
Then you should rename the thread PDF, because your example proves nothing.

This was a mistake of the strategic AI sending to the arena a mage that knew no combat spells (ie, had a little thau research, but no evo or alt research). Mages default to cast, if the mage just knows crap he will cast crap regardless of how good or bad the spell AI be.

Despite the nay-sayers, the spell AI is one of the best parts of the game. You want some proof? get the same mage, research evo1 & thau1 and send him to the arena...he will cast star fires instead of com master/slave. But you cannot plant melons & expect apples to grow.

Maybe the AI Marignon nation had few spells, but it was on turn 12-15 IIRC, he should have had some..
And anyway the guy should rather run, or attack with fists than casting CM+CS when he's alone !! That he only knows totally useless spells (in these conditions) isn't a reason to cast them...

[Arryn]

Originally posted by PDF:
And anyway the guy should rather run

IIRC, you cannot run when in the arena, which is where the pic was from.

[PDF]

Originally posted by Arryn:

quote:

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Originally posted by PDF:
And anyway the guy should rather run

IIRC, you cannot run when in the arena, which is where the pic was from.

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He should try to run in circles, to exhaust his opponent ! ... I recall Chaplin doing that on a boxing ring, against a big badass , in a movie (don't recall which ..)

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by PDF:
Maybe the AI Marignon nation had few spells, but it was on turn 12-15 IIRC, he should have had some..

It had researched at least conjuration 3 and thaumaturgy 1. I imagine it was going for conjuration 4 for summer lions, which is what Marignon tends to do as an AI.

And anyway the guy should rather run, or attack with fists than casting CM+CS when he's alone !! That he only knows totally useless spells (in these conditions) isn't a reason to cast them...

Do you really want your mages to run into a melee on the battlefield when they decide that they don't have a useful spell to cast?

[Taqwus]

Graeme --
In this case, the choice was between casting useless spells or melee, because in the arena it's victory or death (unless, perhaps, you can Return out. Hm, if it's a one-round tournament, can you summon Lammashastas and return out, and still win? Hmmm.) If he has no useful spells, the choice became melee or die.
Casting useless spells also drives up fatigue, which could be bad if there's an opportunity to cast an especially draining spell later, or if melee is a risk, or if communion is an issue -- useless spellcasting is good for butchering one's own communicants, for instance.

[johan osterman]

The AI never closes voluntarily for melee unless specifically told so, and I think most players would be very unhappy if this were to change, and expecting the AI to take into account the few times when he is alone in combat and then act differently in this very rare and special situation is to, in my mind, put to unreasonable demands on it.

[mivayan]

Here is what my star child assassin did during an assassination against an ulm prophet:

scripted actions: cast luck. fire: mindbLast, mindbLast, mindbLast, mindbLast.

cast spells: astral shield, body etheral, astral weapon, resist magic, twist fate, communion master, communion slave, star fires, star fires, star fires, star fires.

There was a brief message: "the armies of special monsters have been routed". Then he ran away. The ulm commander was still paralyzed(5).

I would prefer that the ai dont cast communion master or slave when alone. In fact, I would prefer if it was never cast at all unless scripted to.