Did They Ever Improve the AI?

[ianiow]

I think the dev's deserve congratulating on the big boost the latest patch has given the AI. The most impressive aspect is the way the AI forms up its army at the start of the game. Several times now in multiplayer I have not needed to reposition my DAG army's initial AI deployment because it was just what I would have chosen anyway.

Good stuff!

[TheGrayMouser]

I think the dev's deserve congratulating on the big boost the latest patch has given the AI. The most impressive aspect is the way the AI forms up its army at the start of the game. Several times now in multiplayer I have not needed to reposition my DAG army's initial AI deployment because it was just what I would have chosen anyway.

Good stuff!

I most heartily agree (especially as the improvment wasnt even slated for this patch)
Cheers Slitherine!

[jamespcrowley]

Indeed, credit where it is due. The AI is streets ahead of where it was when FoG first came out. Its setup is not at all bad and the battle mechanisms are much more logical and, therefore, effective.

It will now give a pretty decent challenge, especially I would think to a beginner and is now a very useful tool for practising games prior to MP. In fact it actually beat me the other day but, of course , I wasn't trying too hard - well thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

[EricS]

Thanks for the positive feedback, it's good to hear that the AI changes are appreciated. As mentioned above, the most recent change is the deployment.

In the past, the AI deployment and the initial default deployment for human players in army generator games were exactly the same. But in 1.3.0 they're now a bit different. The AI's deployment is meant to suit the way the AI player will make use of its battle groups. The default deployment for human players tries to give a reasonably orderly and simple layout to your army, and should guarantee that any allied nations are given their own space.

[Rosseau]

Thanks for continuing to support AI development, EricS. I will continue to buy your expansions!

Many of us shy folk stick to single player. But in fairness, if I ever go MP with a computer wargame, this one would be it.

[rbodleyscott]

Thanks for continuing to support AI development, EricS. I will continue to buy your expansions!

Many of us shy folk stick to single player. But in fairness, if I ever go MP with a computer wargame, this one would be it.

Give it a whirl. A turn based internet computer game such as this is absolutely ideal for a shy person. You won't be expected to keep up a witty repartee through the game.

"Good luck" at the beginning, and "Thanks for the game" at the end will suffice nicely if you cannot think of anything else to say in between.

[hidde]

Thanks for continuing to support AI development, EricS. I will continue to buy your expansions!

Many of us shy folk stick to single player. But in fairness, if I ever go MP with a computer wargame, this one would be it.

I had never played anything MP during 20-25 years of Pc-gaming untill I took the plunge with FOG.
Haven't played anything else since...nuff said, do it!

[claymore58]

Thanks to the HexWar dev's the AI is impressive. Have to be more careful when playing as the AI will now seemly punish mistakes. Which means that i will be playing solo more - rather than multi-player only.

Regarding online play .... I think that one of the reasons why multiplayer is an enjoyable experience is the age and maturity of the players themselves. I don't think that the World of Warcraft brigade are much interested in FOG (Blizzard have announced that WOW players must use their real names on forums to reduce the abuse)

Claymore (not my real name, but close)

[Morbio]

Thanks to the HexWar dev's the AI is impressive. Have to be more careful when playing as the AI will now seemly punish mistakes. Which means that i will be playing solo more - rather than multi-player only.

Regarding online play .... I think that one of the reasons why multiplayer is an enjoyable experience is the age and maturity of the players themselves. I don't think that the World of Warcraft brigade are much interested in FOG (Blizzard have announced that WOW players must use their real names on forums to reduce the abuse)

Claymore (not my real name, but close)

They backtracked on that proposal a couple of days after announcing it because of the torrent of negative feedback they received.

[Igorputski]

Thanks for the updated info on the AI guys. I might take the plunge and buy one of the xpansions now just to get the DAG. (All the expansions come with a DAG right?)

[deeter]

They do. I recommend the lastest expansion if you're only getting one.

Deeter

[Triarii]

Thanks for continuing to support AI development, EricS. I will continue to buy your expansions!

Many of us shy folk stick to single player. But in fairness, if I ever go MP with a computer wargame, this one would be it.

I had never played anything MP during 20-25 years of Pc-gaming untill I took the plunge with FOG.
Haven't played anything else since...nuff said, do it!

Ditto and ditto.

[TheGrayMouser]

Well it hasnt been quite that long for me and wargames but FOG got me to try out MP... The dowbside though is , that now I want to play live players for all my older games but cant even bear to have to do it via email (not that i have been playing anything else lately though )

[Igorputski]

Before buying Immortal Fire I decided to test the ai again on the final battle of Spartacus "Silarius River 71bc). Now either the developers didn't put enough time and testing of this battle or the ai for the romans is still very stupid. I thought the Romans were to supposed to have won this battle hands down? And where are the reinforcements that arrived on the flanks of Spartacus that day? And why does the ai insist on disorganized lines just a few turns into the battle. It is so easy to flank I just don't see the fun and challenge in playing against it. Come on even "Hoplites" the free card version of this type of warfare is more challenging. The lines break down much like that combat system in Spartan where everything just globs up in the middle and flanking becomes so simple it's a laugh and a joke. Why can't these ai be programmed to run an organized line of battle? It only takes a few turns and then an idiot could win these battles against the ai. Why I bet even a Caveman could do it.

[TheGrayMouser]

Please learn C++ (or whatever) Igor and progam the perfect AI, you will become an instant hero in the wargaming community

[rbodleyscott]

Please learn C++ (or whatever) Igor and progam the perfect AI, you will become an instant hero in the wargaming community

Years ago I subscribed to to the Yahoo wargames AI discussion group.

It rapidly became clear that nobody on the group had much of a clue.

What I could not quite decide was whether the professional computer game designers were keeping their secrets secret, or had no clue either.

Ah well, I hope to get back into programming when I retire, so maybe I will try again then.

[TheGrayMouser]

Well, if knowledge is being withheld that could better wargame AI's, the info needs to be extracted by whatever means necessary

[pipfromslitherine]

AI in a system with even simple rules is incredibly difficult - look at current chess AIs compared to how long people have been working on it, and how simple (and deterministic!) the rules of chess are. It's worth googling if you're interested in the current state of AI, but building a language that even well describes complex systems is hard in itself.

The best games in general can hope for is the appearance of good AI - basically AI that does enough stuff to avoid doing obviously silly stuff. Any maybe some 'suprising' stuff too. Anything where you can script behaviours is going to look more interesting, but basically it's all smoke and mirrors.

I once got called out for having 'great AI' in a printed game review, when in fact the units were just moving randomly. So it depends on how hard you're looking usually .

Cheers

Pip

[Morbio]

I once got called out for having 'great AI' in a printed game review, when in fact the units were just moving randomly. So it depends on how hard you're looking usually .

Cheers

Pip

Random movements, I've often played like that, usually against Pantherboy! So maybe your AI isn't too far of the mark realism-wise!

[pipfromslitherine]

He probably considers you to be almost preternaturally cunning and unpredictable. Has a wall profiling every post and move you've made, searching for a pattern.

Or he just thinks you play drunk a lot. One or the other I bet...

Cheers

Pip