AI - The Artificial Idiot

[PriestyMan]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

Well anything that shows the person actually looked at what was going on and had a tweak in mind. Placing a certain spell higher or lower in consideration. Or how the AI purchases or uses its units. If a suggestion showed understanding of the actions and was reasonable then it would get forwarded by someone. Especially if the original discussion could be linked to safely.

we still dont know what your talking about? linked to safely? you mean like its unsafe to link to the discussions your talking about? what?

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally Posted by PriestyMan

we still dont know what your talking about? linked to safely? you mean like its unsafe to link to the discussions your talking about? what?

Why is that unclear. A reasonable suggestion would get forwarded by someone. ESPECIALLY IF the original discussion could be linked to safely. Bringing up a suggestion was one thing but it was also helpful if the discussion here could be linked to. Some of the discussions here were in tones that I wouldnt link to.

[DeadlyShoe]

my only real complaint with the battlecaster AI is that it will cast unnecessary self buffs after the scripting runs out. i think it should only self buff in the first couple of rounds at most, if that. I guess the AI doesn't see the difference between 'mages' and 'thugs'.

other than that, and sometimes odd spell choice, ive found the battlecaster ai surprisingly intelligent and adaptive. sometimes its nice to just be on Cast Spells, because it will pick things based on range and need. And its smart enough not to cast scripted spells that arnt useful anymore- most games arnt nearly that clever, they'll follow the plan down in flames.

i think most complaints come as a result of late game competitive multiplayer where theres a HUGE amount of spells available...drastically increasing the # of spells the AI can choose from and dramtically REducing the chances the spell you want casted is casted. Also, the AI doesnt understand lategame synergistic combos as well as it might.

in this particular case, a lot of the problem seems to just be that the mages are also priests. ive noticed that the AI heavily prefers Holy spells, presumably because of the low fatigue cost.

[Loren]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

Come up with some suggestions on how you would change what you see so that we can discuss it. The offer has been out there since before Dom3 was released but very few have actually bothered to look at it.

One fairly simple one: When the script runs out add a couple of additional options:

Cast defensively and cast offensively.

The former would encourage the caster to buff himself or other friendlies, the latter would pretty much exclude buffs.

[thejeff]

"Summon" would be a nice addition to "cast offensively" and "cast defensively".

Sometimes you want the ever-growing horde of undead. And sometimes you're just getting one more phantasmal warrior instead of raining lightning down on their heads.



Another thing that would be really nice, but that falls afoul of Gandalf's dread "If" test would be a little situational awareness for defensive buffs. Start with the obvious, don't cast protection on people with heat auras. Or a little more complicated, boost the chance of defensive buffs if the thing they defend against is happening all around you. Fireballs crashing around you, take a turn to cast fire resistance. That would be trickier to code, since it requires some knowledge of state, but I can think of ways to do it that wouldn't devolve into long if/elseif chains. You could, for example, increment a counter when a fire spell is used and then add that to the score for the other sides fire resist spell.

[cleveland]

The 5-round scripting limit gives the Artificial Idiot a fighting chance...

[Peacekeeper]

the AI mages should keep track of whos firing at them and try to fire back with spells. So if a group of archers are actively targetting the mage, he should be using spells to destroy the archer group.

[PriestyMan]

I really think it should take into account what races the mage might have a real grudge with. i mean if there is a dwarven smith on the battlefield, he should target a goblin before anything else. even if he has to run forward to get at him. and elephants should ignore all other targets if there is even one markata on the field

[TheConway]

Wait guys, I GOT IT! We just extend the number of script turns! HOLY ****! It doesn't even require a link to unsafe threads! If there's anything we all learned in Government class its that shifting the problem farther up the road is ALWAYS the best choice, apart from talking about mysterious hints and shadowy "classified" intel.



Has anyone here even wondered why JK would want to go through all the hell that AI improvement would entail? I can't see why.

[DeadlyShoe]

there's UI issues with that and it would unavoidably add more micro. i spend far too much time scripting mages already. A better scripted AI would also create a better SP/Coop experience.