Expert Players vs Newbies game

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by Tris:
Can you script Messages to occur in game on certain turns? This would make a fantastic tutorial.

Afraid not. Apparently MODs can be swapped in and out during a game. Also, Im thinking maybe the map image file can. I might play with doing that so that a "message" to the player, or certain highlights, could be changed in mid-game

I have a couple of other newbie-tutor things in the works. A new Version of mini-map being done as a tutorial on mapping. And a "care package" for new players which will include a full set of premade gods, a started game, and a web-based walkthru. Whats done so far is scattered into a directory at http://www.dom2minions.com/starter/

Im also considering a Version of the web-game board being worked on here to run something of my own. Somewhere between the MP games its doing now, and the competition ladder done by battlesite. Mine will be an arcade ladder where everyone plays against the AI for the "top 10" score position in each Category. Not only would that be good for newbs but I think the data might be helpful to the devs.

[Gandalf Parker]

so any offers? If not then I will eventually get around to whipping one out myself. I dont want to hear any comments about how badly I achieve it from the various experts in AI behaviour

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by LintMan:
I'm certainly not an expert, but I think that I've seen the AI reserve its high-magic human pretenders (ie: great enchantress) for rituals/research, instead of sending it out to die. So designing some sort of high-research, high bless-effect or rainbow mage on a human chassis might also work OK for the AIs.

AIs can't play bless effects worth crap. Instead of focussing on their sacred units, they'll continue to churn out LI and militia. They don't even accompany their sacreds with a priest to bless them! No human player would ever use his sacred units without a priest...but the AI doesn't care.

It follows that the AI should not be playing a bless effect.

The AI also does not intelligently use spell tactics or forge items. You just don't see wrathing squads, drainlife/skeleton squads, flaming arrow casters, or any of the obvious spell manuevers that humans pull.

This is why the AI does very badly with mage and summon-oriented nations such as Mictlan, and does much better with straightforward nations like Ulm.

In conclusion, it's mostly a waste to give the AI any kind of magic on its pretender: It won't know how to effectively use that magic to summon powerful critters and/or equip them with goodies. The no-magic wyrm for anyone but Ermor, who needs at least some death magic to create commanders, is what the AI will handle best.

[ May 29, 2004, 20:05: Message edited by: Norfleet ]

[Gandalf Parker]

OK so high magic would be possible but not high bless. Im not sure that a human high-magic pretender would offer more of a challenge than a Wyrm. Maybe for Atlantis since I considered its land-attack weak I was thinking of placing it behind the others. They would provide protextion so that Atlantis can research heavily for later game. Since they wont attack each other it would be easy to trap atlantis to where thats its only optionf or something to do.

But Rlyeh does well with magic doesnt it?

If the pretender is a Wyrm then it will go out and combat. Would the scale costs be worth adding magic to a Wyrm? I still like the idea of a nest of Wyrms.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
But Rlyeh does well with magic doesnt it?

Nope, fraid not. Usually, the AI R'lyeh is killed by some landlubber, because R'lyeh is a magically-dependent nation that is very tricky to play, because Astral magic lacks the directness of other magics.

AIs simply do badly at magic: They don't synergize, they just make seemingly random decisions that are very short-term at best. Thus, any investment of points made into the AI's magic will yield poor returns. Give him lots of scales instead, so he can churn out lots of crud, something he does well.

[Gandalf Parker]

So if a 3-way alliance between Ermor, Atlantis and Rlyeh all had Wyrm pretenders with scales that cranked up on order and productivity and high-admin castles on a map which would allow some build-up time.. this would be step-up in challenge?

Who should get the most build-up time if none do magic well? Who does best in early, mid, late game? Should the map try to arrange it so that Rlyeh has first front? Then Ermor, then Atlantis?

[Norfleet]

Ermor needs some death magic, however: Otherwise, they can't summon their mages and commanders.

The other problem with putting the AI allied with Ermor, is that then the AI will do absolutely nothing about the spread of Ermor's dominion into their lands: The result being that all the other nations will quickly lose their population and die off if Ermor is placed near them, particularly if Ermor is placed between them. Water nations, in particular R'lyeh and Atlantis, are unusually susceptible to dominion loss in such a manner due to the way water tends to expose their profiles.