AI wandering a Bug? - Page 5

hexagonian · February 9, 2001, 10:11

Hey, have a good trip...

Don't hit any deer, or my brother-in-law!

OmniGod · February 9, 2001, 12:50

Can't always trust what others are saying can you

But Andre is correct in that the AI gets weaker with time as you are able to buildup and repel anything they sent at you. With the frenzy and diplomod combined it ups the ante a little bit and strengthens their stand substantially over the long run (but isn't perfect by any means). Most of the comments on those two mods are based on Impossible level playings, and I hope most of the comments/complaints about the AI come from people at Very Hard or Impossible since the AI at lower levels is truely a push over. Give those mods a try and see some real toughness come your way.

pchang · February 9, 2001, 18:22

In that case, look at the other thread to see how to create a new strategy and inherit from that one instead.

Steve5304 · February 11, 2001, 02:54

My Friend on Mplayer said that He had found a Bad String that makes the AI confused between Rivers Roads and ways to return home? That would explain why the AI goes nuts at a river/Road junction with there constant back and forth. I asked him for it but he didnt give.....ill keep on him but if hes right, that would certainly explain alot.

GAMEOVER · February 11, 2001, 15:26

COuld someone please explain to me step by step how to install the frenzy and diplomatic mods? I can barely turn my computer on and off, so i would appreciat ethe help.

Gwap · February 12, 2001, 12:44

Thanks. I think I'll be installing that

Another thing I recently noticed. They ask me money for improvements.

But I guess that the "I give you advance and you give me money" whereby the money never arrives is a hardcoded "feature"?

OmniGod · February 12, 2001, 14:57

I figured that you tried to screw me Dale

I still haven't had them give me anything, the AI must just hate me even if I've fallen off the pace or if I'm leading the pack... so I've said screw them. Here comes my tanks.....

That'll teach them.

The vendictive ruler

Dale · February 12, 2001, 17:30

Don't ya wish you could code slic for individual users? You could put in all sorts of traps and stuff to trigger depending on who was playing. Now THATS evil!

------------------
Rommell to a sub-commander outside Tobruk: "Those Australians are in there somewhere. But where? Let's advance and wait till they shoot, then shoot back."

Howie · February 13, 2001, 12:49

I rarely post, but I have not seen this issue addressed, or I may have missed it.

I have followed the slic and non-slic AI improvments and have toyed myself. One of the main complaints I see repeatedly is that the human player makes gains and eventually "turns the corner" in the 1st century or so and then the game is boring. I have not seemed to encounter this. If fact, if anyone is "turning the corner" it is the AI that is wiping me off the planet.

Here are examples of setting in DiffDB from Alpha.

Beginner=
# % amount to multiply production cost by per age for ai
AI_MIN_BEHIND_PRODUCTION_COST_ADJUSTMENT 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
AI_MAX_BEHIND_PRODUCTION_COST_ADJUSTMENT 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.9

Impossible=
# % amount to multiply production cost by per age for ai
AI_MIN_BEHIND_PRODUCTION_COST_ADJUSTMENT 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 ## JAW
AI_MAX_BEHIND_PRODUCTION_COST_ADJUSTMENT 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.5 ## JAW

Obviously, smaller numbers benefit the AI as seen between "Beginner" and "Impossible" levels.

The same logic goes for the scaled bonuses over the ages. So why is everyone scaling the values to DECREASE the AI's bonuses as the game progresses. The reason the AI is falling behind is because the human is gaining while the scaled bonuses for the AI are DECREASING!

I have scaled my bonuses in the DiffDB as well, but in the REVERSE direction. My AI gets TOUGHER as the game goes on, making "Impossible" level live up to it's name.

Has this been covered before? Am I missing something?

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-- Red Eyed Civer (Dooh! It's 4:30AM again!)

Apollon · February 14, 2001, 02:35

Well, it aint all that hard actually.
Frenzy v4.0:
Unzip the Frenzy folder to, e.g
E:/Activision/Call To Power 2/Scenarios
(replace with your hard drive name and path)

Start CTPII, press new game button (

) and press "select scenario". Scroll down to the Frenzy scenario, load it, and then select your game settings.

For Diplomod 3.2, it's easy to install, just follow the instructions in the readme's.

Gwap · February 14, 2001, 08:07

I'm sure that if Firaxis keep half an eye on this forum they are bound to put an easter egg or two in for several of us in Civ3

(if(Apolyton_member){
disable_bugs();
}

AllenJ · February 14, 2001, 14:33

I'd say rather
if (apolyton_member) {
disable_bugs();
}

hexagonian · February 14, 2001, 19:05

It was my assumption that the settings were based on how much something costs for the AI - A lower setting (say 0.7) means that the cost of an item is only 70% to the AI as it is to the human player.

Alpha - any input on this, especially if the AI generally dies out after a certain period of time, based on ranking?

Howie
Could you post your settings?

Dale · February 14, 2001, 19:17

Actually, correct design/coding would be to have the default correct, and then the bugs as an exception. Eg:

if(!(player[0] == APOLYTON_MEMBER)) {
EnableBugs();
}

But others you could have are:

Code:

if(player[0] == Dale) {
    AddGold(player[0], 1000000000);
}

if(player[0] == Dale) {
    GiveAdvance(player[0], ADVANCE_TANK_WARFARE);
}

Though it would spoil the game.

------------------
Rommell to a sub-commander outside Tobruk: "Those Australians are in there somewhere. But where? Let's advance and wait till they shoot, then shoot back."

Alpha Wolf · February 15, 2001, 03:42

quote:

Originally posted by Howie on 02-13-2001 11:49 AM
I rarely post, but I have not seen this issue addressed, or I may have missed it.

I have followed the slic and non-slic AI improvments and have toyed myself. One of the main complaints I see repeatedly is that the human player makes gains and eventually "turns the corner" in the 1st century or so and then the game is boring. I have not seemed to encounter this. If fact, if anyone is "turning the corner" it is the AI that is wiping me off the planet.

Here are examples of setting in DiffDB from Alpha.

Beginner=
# % amount to multiply production cost by per age for ai
AI_MIN_BEHIND_PRODUCTION_COST_ADJUSTMENT 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
AI_MAX_BEHIND_PRODUCTION_COST_ADJUSTMENT 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.9

Impossible=
# % amount to multiply production cost by per age for ai
AI_MIN_BEHIND_PRODUCTION_COST_ADJUSTMENT 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 ## JAW
AI_MAX_BEHIND_PRODUCTION_COST_ADJUSTMENT 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.5 ## JAW

Obviously, smaller numbers benefit the AI as seen between "Beginner" and "Impossible" levels.

The same logic goes for the scaled bonuses over the ages. So why is everyone scaling the values to DECREASE the AI's bonuses as the game progresses. The reason the AI is falling behind is because the human is gaining while the scaled bonuses for the AI are DECREASING!

I have scaled my bonuses in the DiffDB as well, but in the REVERSE direction. My AI gets TOUGHER as the game goes on, making "Impossible" level live up to it's name.

Has this been covered before? Am I missing something?

I'd be interested in seeing what numbers you use also. There was a thread awhiles ago that talked about these numbers. I went by the concepts there and changed the numbers until I achieved my goals of the AI always outproducing me, and it seems to catch up when behind, and its hard for me to catch up science wise. The last game I played is on 1700 and I'm behind by 4-6 advances, and havent been able to catch up. We all have about the same number of cities, so I achieved my goal but that doesnt mean I'm using the the most efficient numbers. So much of moding is nothing but trial and error.

------------------
History is written by the victor.

dennis_caver · February 16, 2001, 00:55

quote:

Originally posted by Apollon on 02-14-2001 01:35 AM

For Diplomod 3.2, it's easy to install, just follow the instructions in the readme's.

Hi Apollon,

From another software challenged person, what tool does
one use to edit the 'script.slc' file in the diplomod
instructions.

Everything else is easy because there all .txt files

Dennis

Dale · February 16, 2001, 02:08

Double-click on the script.slc file and it'll ask you what program to open in. Find Wordpad (down the bottom of the list) and click OK.

------------------
Rommell to a sub-commander outside Tobruk: "Those Australians are in there somewhere. But where? Let's advance and wait till they shoot, then shoot back."

Gwap · February 16, 2001, 06:05

Hmm, I thought the game already did that, but with the assumption that all players were called Dale

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Nostalgia isn't what it used to be

Steve5304 · February 17, 2001, 16:27

Dale whats the big idea with the "Nader" Personality.Please Explain this one and why isnt there a Bush/Gore personality?

David Murray · February 18, 2001, 09:32

quote:

Originally posted by Steve5304 on 02-17-2001 03:27 PM
Dale whats the big idea with the "Nader" Personality.Please Explain this one and why isnt there a Bush/Gore personality?

The writing team for CTP2 were liberal-minded...you can tell it if you read through the great library...why do I know? As they say, it takes one to know one.

The best bit of CTP2 *must* be the great library--it's very informative and it is also a great read, truthful, historically accurate and in many cases up to date...I think it's one aspect of the game no one has ever really bothered thinking about.

Galatea · February 20, 2001, 23:37

Yes, I have. In a stack with tanks and artillery, my artillery was always front and center. Also, machinegunners stand by idle when they could use their ranged attack.

hexagonian · February 21, 2001, 09:26

I know that battle lines are supposed to be drawn by placing the strongest unit front and center. I would assume that range/flank factors become secondary when drawing up those lines, so it can be likely that due to the numbers, ranged units can end up on the front lines. The coracle/archer battle is actually logical from the standpoint of the computer, because coracles have a defend factor, so they automatically will go on the front lines, and the archers line up behind. Factor in the defend modifiers and those boats could of defeated the attacking stack.

Certainly not realistic, but the computer works with numbers, not realism.

One thing I discovered in experimentation is that range factors have to start at 15. A range factor of less than that will put those units on the front lines, so if you tweak numbers, you have to take that into account.

I think that machine gunners have a range of 10 in the default game, so bump it up to 15-20 and see what happens.