A Suggestion...or Plea...

[kserra]

I have read a lot of different posts here about how people have modified their files to make the AI a bit more challenging...I too have tinkered a bit, but I know someone out there is far smarter at manipulating the files to produce something resembling a computer challenge...so:

My plea is for someone who has made some really good changes to their files to post them here so that we can download them and replace them with ours...

I think that would help so many people here...perhaps it would allow some people to get back into the game...anyways, any smarties out there, please help the "common" man...

Thanks!

Kevin

[hexagonian]

Here you go, all the easy-to-implement AI fixes and tweaks... (courtesy of many people on the forums here)

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The sliders
Go to the const.txt file and make the following change

UNIT_WORKDAY 0.2 # slider to work
BASE_WORKDAY 0.8 # work per person when slider is zero
UNIT_WAGES 4.0 # what does 1 notch mean
BASE_WAGES 12.0 # gold per person when slider is zero
UNIT_RATIONS 2.0 # what does 1 notch mean
BASE_RATIONS 6.0 # food per person time POP_HUNGER

The most apparent change here is the amount of gold you have left after wages. This will affect the science output decreasing the overall rate of science. The food slider should not be changed the standard 12 base and 3 per points is better. When I changed this the timescale of advances where much better.

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The healing rate of units
Go to the const.txt file and make the following change

CITY_HEAL_RATE 0.2
NORMAL_HEAL_RATE 0.1

Before units could just go to a city and they were automatically healed. It will lower you healing rate as the AI don't use it that much.

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Goody Huts
Go to the aidata\strategies.txt and make the following change

GoalElement { Goal GOAL_GOODY_HUT Priority 450000 MaxEval 10 MaxExec 3 }

I raise the default to 450000 in most cases. Not so high that its the top priority, but now they wont ignore them. I still occasionally find a hut the AI bypassed but not nearly as often.

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The Production Bonus
Go to the DiffDB file and make the following change

AI_MIN_BEHIND_PRODUCTION_COST_ADJUSTMENT 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7
AI_MAX_BEHIND_PRODUCTION_COST_ADJUSTMENT 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

AI_MIN_AHEAD_PRODUCTION_COST_ADJUSTMENT 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7
AI_MAX_AHEAD_PRODUCTION_COST_ADJUSTMENT 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.1

Each number is per age. Low is good for the AI. If the AI get a production bonus it can build a lot more units. Meaning harder game. And when I tweak the AI to attack more, more attacks.

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AI time Slice
Go to the const.txt file and make the following change

AI_GOAL_TIME_SLICE 125 # time in milliseconds for an AI frame
AI_MAX_TIME_SLICE 1250 # (in milliseconds)
AI_TOTAL_TIME_SLICE 15000 # (in milliseconds)

This is the time the AI uses to consider strategies for units and so on. Higher Value longer time better strategies.

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Aggressive AI
Go to the Goals.txt and make the following change to the siege powerbonus line

PowerBonus 50000

The "PowerBonus" parameter determines how much of a priority bonus the AI should give to targets it already has troops nearby to. By default, the city in the cell with the most AI attack strength gets a 5000 point bonus. By increasing that to 50000, you make it more likely that the AI will attack enemy cities that it already has troops near. I think 50000 might be a tad high, but something like 10000 or 20000 could increase the agressiveness of the AI. If you make the bonus to big you risk the AI ignorning all other factors when picking a target city to seige.
[This message has been edited by hexagonian (edited December 29, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by hexagonian (edited December 29, 2000).]

[Bluevoss]

I had just about given up on the game, but if you say this makes it better, I'll give it a try.

Can anyone confirm the improvements?



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Bluevoss-

[Bluevoss]

Okay, I tried to put in the changes. Some questions -

1) AI time slice does not seem to be set in DiffDB. Is it in another file?

2) Goals.txt has many, many powerbonus settings? Which one should be set to 50000?

I really want to try these. Please let me know when you can. Thanks!



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Bluevoss-

The siege powerbonus... if I remember correctly, you can check in Colorme's thread (i think) on the Creation forum

[Bluevoss]

Thanks for the information. I played last night in quicky-mode (small world, 3 races) and found myself in a number of little brawls. They still don't push as much as I'd like, but they are getting better.

I'm really hoping that the players (and maybe activision) can get togther and whip the AI into shape.

Hey, I haven't really played anything higher than medium at this point. In the upper levels, does city management become more of an issue? I've only had one city rebell (I'd just captured it) and a turn later, it was cool again. I hardly ever see city satisfaction drift away from 78%.



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Bluevoss-

[hexagonian]

The AI timeline slice is in the const.txt file. I've edited the post above...

I've used all of the settings except the 'Aggressive AI' and the 'Goody Hut' (I just found out about those, and changing settings mid-game has a tendency to screw things up). I have noted that the production setting really seems to introduce more units in the game - (I have seen multiple 10-12 unit land stacks and 4-6 unit naval stacks early on, and cities have been well-defended.)

If the AI can attack more with the new siege setting, then it will go a long way in making the game more competitive.

What I would like to see is an adjustment for the happiness as in CTP1, where city size affects happiness. Currently, I do not see happiness being too much of a problem.
[This message has been edited by hexagonian (edited December 29, 2000).]

[Alpha Wolf]

I'm having happiness problems on the impossible level. Mostly due to distance from capital, being that cities are farther apart now. OK, OK, so I'm totally starving everyone, forcing them to work all day, and not paying them. Does that really make me a bad guy?

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History is written by the victor.

[Bluevoss]

I wonder if there is some way that the text files can be tweeked to make happiness a bigger issue. I sorta miss the Civ2 ballancing act. Nothing was funner than a game of "Democracies at War!"



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Bluevoss-

[Alpha Wolf]

sure there is. Change const.txt(?) to make unhappy at 75 and revolt at 70. Now that will keep you busy.

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History is written by the victor.

[Bluevoss]

Well, THAT really improved the game!

I figured what you were talking about was RIOT_LEVEL. When you set it at 75 (rather than 73), the whole durn game wakes up. Suddenly, you have to be VERY careful about what you do. Shrines are now in all my cities, and I am very careful about the empire settings. And now, you cannot just set them to max and forget it now.

Man, its almost like CIV2 again.

Besides RIOT_LEVEL, is there something else that controls the revolt? I couldn't find anything that looked easy to figure out.

News from the front: I put a city way out to take advantage of hardwoods. Next thing I know, I've got a rolling revolt (based on capital distance). It wasn't until I'd parked three units in there that I managed to take control of the town again. I sure can't wait until I can put a theater up.



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Bluevoss-

[Alpha Wolf]

Yes, thats the flag I was referring too, and REVOLUTION_LEVEL tells at what level to revolt. Wish they had kept those flags together.

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History is written by the victor.

[Bluevoss]

Thanks, Alpha. Found the flag and bumped it up.



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Bluevoss-

[Cyrius]

Does changing RIOT_LEVEL and REVOLUTION_LEVEL adversly affect the enemy cities? I hardly ever see them revolt, and I used to love sending Clerics, Infectors, ect. To start revolts in enemy cities in CTP1.