Wishlist: Battle AI hooks

[fantasma]

If I look at the debug, it uses a points system to decide what to use, so a modcommand #sspellpriority that adds a fixed bonus is probably very easy as the decision making is not changed in nature. A #prioritypertarget that scales with the number of effects only slightly more complicated, I guess, since there is already some code that takes into consideration the effect a spell has.

Then the modder community can assign priorities to spells and the devs are spared the work to balance things out. Was not there a while ago a thread by Kristoffer asking which spells are used too much/too little? So there already are - hard coded - values like these, it seems.

[WraithLord]

good idea.

I encourage all who stumble unto this thread to list the spells they think are used too little/much.

Another aspect that needs to be addressed is spells that should not be repeated if desired affect was already achieved, i.e. entangle or encase when target is already entangled/encased. The AI can spam repeat those indefinitely targeting that one SC while the other SC/s would slowly butcher all your mages.

edit: another caveat of this suggestion is that it doesn't take into acct the circumstances. i.e a whole different set of spells are required when the mage is on:
a- support role (i.e. please buff my soldiers)
b- mass kill (i.e. fireball those militias)
c- eliminate elites (i.e. put that SC to sleep/charm/frozen heart etc)

[Muse]

Originally Posted by WraithLord

edit: another caveat of this suggestion is that it doesn't take into acct the circumstances. i.e a whole different set of spells are required when the mage is on:
a- support role (i.e. please buff my soldiers)
b- mass kill (i.e. fireball those militias)
c- eliminate elites (i.e. put that SC to sleep/charm/frozen heart etc)

It may be possible to assign a category to each spell, then utilize the current script of the mage to determine which category the mage is expected to cast post-script.
Perhaps the category of the last spell scripted is given higher priority weight.

Though, this does run the risk of reducing the delicious quirkiness of the AI-- it may be useful to add an On/Off toggle, default to Off, for such a feature. Thus modders can control the 'Obedience Level' of a particular mage.

[WraithLord]

yes, or just add a sixth slot to script with role, something like:
spell1,...,spell5,anti-SC
or
spell1,...,spell5,buffer
etc.

[Muse]

Originally Posted by WraithLord

yes, or just add a sixth slot to script with role, something like:
spell1,...,spell5,anti-SC
or
spell1,...,spell5,buffer
etc.

I'm uncertain-- there is a finesse to positioning, equipping, and scripting mages to gain the desired effect.
An overt behavior-directing addition would take a bit of the cleverness out of it. (And a significant portion of the entertaining 'AI Manipulation' skill requirement.)

A larger project that may preserve such an element would most likely involve: multiple categories per spell, algorithm for determining weights from script, mage-personality modifier.
As a side note: While 'mage personalities' may be somewhat thematic, they may also serve to 'lock' a particular faction into playing a certain way, reducing tactical diversity.

Dominions has an appeal partially stemming from the semi-organic unfolding of battle events due to the complex AI structure.
A good bit of fun is had from SP testing, in chaos theory fashion, to find the most optimal starting arrangement.