AI - Question :: Techtree changed, AIs don´t act

[Ka]

so, another one, how about the AI in game.
We did altering a techtree to somethnig different, but the computer player doesn´t seem to be able to actually play the game, it is building some resource collectors and then just stops doing something..

so i was wondering, how the AI works, is it techtree-specific, so that an addition or a change in the existing techtrees messes up with the intelligence, or does it work different.

for that question, i´m just curious, ´cos we are looking forward until the multiplayer-modus comes to life, but if a training-round (against AIs) were possible for our game, it just would be beneficial.

ka

[martiño]

The AI is quite dumb. It should be tech tree independant, but I'm pretty sure that there is a lot of situations that will break it.

Debugging AI is a real pain (you have to play a lot of games to see if it is behaving properly in every situation), and once multiplayer is implemented AI will not be that important.

[Ka]

aye, that´s true, everything in gameplay aims to the multiplayer thing..
as for our project, the AI simply does .. almost nothing.  building  ~4 resource collectors is all, then there´s a complete stop. but anyway, i just wanted to ask because out of curiousity. who knew, perhaps i did something wrong? . but thx 4 reply...
ka

[martiño]

Is quite difficult to guess. But maybe the AI doesn't have any resources in sight. As far as I remember, if there are no resources near the base, or if the worker units can not collect them the AI will just run out of resources and dont do anything.

[Ka]

no, sorry, can´t be that way: we do not use harvestable resources, just statics, which are produced by a unittype.. but perhaps the problem occures, just because the ai doesn´t need to harvest?

[martiño]

This is probably the problem.

It is very dificult to do a generic AI, I dont know any game that lets you change the tech tree and the AI still works...

[Ka]

it´s difficult to get into the depth of this problem, but i ll try to write doen some observations:

as mentioned before, our techtree is quite different, there´s no need for harvesting with units, except the manalisk building, which must be placed onto a specific object in game (manapool). the units are advancing by morphing them most of the time. life must be produced all the time, so it spreads out to get more lifeenergy.

i did the following experiments:

- playing against tech / magic:
-- that actually won´t work , too. the computer simply does nothing, the peasants at tech for example are just standing around, even if there are all resources available. but once, the ai did act normally. that was before i added the manapools into the system.  since then (at least i think), the ai even cant play tech or magic

-playing against own techtrees:
-- giving the ai no choice of the path,e.g. just amoban fraction is researchable for the ai, or even given from the start.: what i noticed is, that on one hand the ai isnt producing life continously, and on the other, it won´t morph life into unit 1 (protoplasma).

-- standard gods dawn game: all different fraction are chooseable: ai (still) does nothing.

all own techtree games still wont work, even if there are all ressources on the map nearby. (as suggested above).

we will release the first download of the game soon, so some testers can write down their thoughts and issues / likes. i ll send you the username and password for the developers access immediatly then..

thx and greetings
ka
www.3dtowns.at

[crusadingknight]

If I were you, I'd probably write my own AI engine for use with your mod, so you won't have to worry about generics. Anyway, if your version is resource-free, a specific version will probably be more effective.

[Ka]

yes, but i simply cant write an AI. that´s a fact. i´m a designer, of gamesystems, shapes, 3d models, worlds, a creator. no coding skills are given to me. almost. yes. i can write html. ahm, anyway..

greetings
ka