Areas of Influence

[Aradae]

I heard some discussion about a feature from Civ 1 and 2 where units would attack armies that came within a certain distance.

What was wrong with this feature that made the designers leave it out of the the last two civ games?

[Wiglaf]

It was extremely annoying and made moving around a real hassle. It also made stacks of units even more powerful than they should be.

**** ZONE OF CONTROL

[Pinchak]

Sounds like a very cheap and primitive AI code.

Good thing they have advanced the AI to make more rational decisions.

[Aradae]

Originally posted by Pinchak
Sounds like a very cheap and primitive AI code.

Good thing they have advanced the AI to make more rational decisions.

that's not what I'm talking about at all. It was where units would take attacks of opportunity on any unit passing within a certain range even if it wasn't their turn.

[Wiglaf]

No, the poster is referring to zone of control. The units don't auto attack. They prevent other units from moving into squares adjacent to them.

This made it so you can't easily avoid enemies but must confront them. The problem is that a) this made the map really narrow and b) could be exploited by a good human player. AI can be forced into attacked super power stacks.

[Dis]

civ3 had a feature where armies would take pot shots at units passing nearby. usually would take 1 blip off the hp.

[Kuciwalker]

ZOC is a PITA for AI.

And I challenge anyone who says "well make the AI better!" to write the algorithms that handle it well and efficiently.

[Wiglaf]

I thought you always got pissed whenever someone said "program it yourself."

[guermantes]

Originally posted by Pinchak
Good thing they have advanced the AI to make more rational decisions.

Speaking of which, I always wondered if a friendly AI civ feels threatened if I line up soldiers along their borders and act accordingly. I once took 3 border cities in one turn from Asoka and during my build-up he did not reinforce his cities at all. He was pleased with me but we did not share the same religion.

Does the AI at all perceive troop movements as potential threats?

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
I thought you always got pissed whenever someone said "program it yourself."

I'm not asking them to program it themselves. I'm asking them to come up with the mathematical solution to the problem, which has thus far eluded us.

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by guermantes
Does the AI at all perceive troop movements as potential threats?

Since the AI still persist in doing active patrols along their border areas (at least the player's border), that could be UNINTENTIONALLY potentially threatening.

[Kloreep]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
No, the poster is referring to zone of control. The units don't auto attack. They prevent other units from moving into squares adjacent to them.

I think that's the poster you're replying to.

I believe Dis has it. Civ3 had units with a Zone of Control ability that could take potshots. A disincentive to move against the rules of Zones of Control, but not an outright disallowance like in Civ2.

[DrSpike]

Which was almost totally pointless.

[Brael]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
ZOC is a PITA for AI.

And I challenge anyone who says "well make the AI better!" to write the algorithms that handle it well and efficiently.

Granted I'm not that great at programming (some simple scripting is about my limit) so I may just be way off here but couldn't civ 4 handle ZOC by treating it differently from both civ 2 and 3 by using combat modifiers? ZOC could be treated so that surrounding tiles recieve large -defense modifiers. The problem then would be that you could herd AI's into passing through specific tiles but couldn't the AI then look and see how many paths in it has, if they're within acceptable range, and if not try to push its way through a ZOC?

[Kuciwalker]

1) The AI will still be pretty terrible at setting up ZOC to its advantage.

2) Otherwise, I think that could work.