Weak AI? Give him more time!

[MarkG]

i think giving more time to the ai will probably make it better.

open Const.txt under Call To Power 2\ctp2_data\default\gamedata and find these lines
<center><table width=80%><tr><td><font color=000080 face="Verdana" size=2><font size="1">quote:
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1>
</font>AI_GOAL_TIME_SLICE 25 # time in milliseconds for an AI frame
AI_MAX_TIME_SLICE 250 # (in milliseconds)if the ai exceeds this time its turn is ended
AI_TOTAL_TIME_SLICE 3000 # (in milliseconds) if the total time in time in the ai player exceeds this its turn is ended
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1></font></td></tr></table></center>

i've changed them to 75, 1250 and 13000 and it seems to have some effect.

[marc420]

Thanks!

I saw those settings yesterday while browsing through const.txt, and I wondered if that would help.

I had an old, old chess program where you controlled the difficulty of the AI by controlling how much time the AI had to search for the best move. If you give it more time, it can run through more possibilities, and thus (hopefully) play smarter.

marc

[WesW]

Here is what we did in the Med mod 4. This is from the Miscellaneous readme:

"AI_GOAL_TIME_SLICE 125 # time in milliseconds for an AI frame
AI_MAX_TIME_SLICE 1250 # (in milliseconds)if the ai exceeds this time its turn is ended
AI_TOTAL_TIME_SLICE 15000 # (in milliseconds) if the total time in time in the ai player exceeds this its turn is ended.
(These were all increased by a factor of 5)

Note: For those of you with older computers (generally under 300MHz), I would suggest that you increase the timeslice settings by an additional factor of five (for a total factor of ten), as these changes have been seen to have very significant effects on AI performance for those machines."

[colorme]

Mark,

Did you see a substantial increase in AI intelligence by increasing the AI time slice? I have a P3 450 MHz

[MarkG]

i did see a significant difference in the war part: much more attacks, with use of stacks(although he did some idiotic things too, like sending 1 catapult alone to attack a city), better defence(always has some bombarding unit), use of slavers(which he did anyway though)

in the diplomat part there was not much of a change: no sending of diplomats, basically waiting for to create an embassy and be "nice", etc

i would definately recommend you increasing those numbers though. it's worth a try

[Kautilya]

Thanks for the tip.
Although if you increase it ten times does this mean that the computer will take exactly ten times for each move? My computer is a P2 300 so it's already quite slow in the latter stages.

[Azmel2]

quote: Originally posted by MarkG on 12-03-2000 05:45 PM i did see a significant difference in the war part: much more attacks, with use of stacks(although he did some idiotic things too, like sending 1 catapult alone to attack a city), better defence(always has some bombarding unit), use of slavers(which he did anyway though) in the diplomat part there was not much of a change: no sending of diplomats, basically waiting for to create an embassy and be "nice", etc i would definately recommend you increasing those numbers though. it's worth a try

I'm sorry to say that those values in const.txt won't have any effect on the ctp2 AI. The only way to get the AI to spend more time thinking is to play on the hardest difficulty level. I probably should have made this a parameter, but I didn't get the chance.

-- Richard

[pchang]

quote: Originally posted by Azmel2 on 12-12-2000 04:40 PM I'm sorry to say that those values in const.txt won't have any effect on the ctp2 AI. The only way to get the AI to spend more time thinking is to play on the hardest difficulty level. I probably should have made this a parameter, but I didn't get the chance. -- Richard

ARGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

Does this mean it didn't do anything in CTP1 either?

[MarkG]

quote: Originally posted by Azmel2 on 12-12-2000 04:40 PM I'm sorry to say that those values in const.txt won't have any effect on the ctp2 AI. The only way to get the AI to spend more time thinking is to play on the hardest difficulty level. I probably should have made this a parameter, but I didn't get the chance.

dear god, i must have been dreaming...
i'm telling you, it was smarter!

[pchang]

This thread would seem to indicate that the AI would perform much better on a 1GHZ Athlon than a 33MHZ Celeron.

[MrFun]

Hey Mark - does increasing the AI's time to make decisions enable it to transport a substantial attacking army overseas?

[MarkG]

quote: Originally posted by MrFun on 12-13-2000 01:58 PM Hey Mark - does increasing the AI's time to make decisions enable it to transport a substantial attacking army overseas?

i havent played a game with that setting(e.g. i didnt have lots of sea)

[marc420]

Hmm, like MarkG, I must have been dreaming. I'd have sworn it was playing better. I even got lazy and left my capital weakly guarded and it came over and took it from me. Yes, I actually saw the AI launch an attack.

So question: Do these settings do anything? And if so, what do they do? I'm curious, so I'd like to know if you can tell us anything without giving away any Activision secrets about AI programming.

[Aristos]

Off course there is an effect... i don't know why these people lie about that.

i saw the AI build 2-3 stacks of 12 units, attack-ranged, penetrate my front lines (not guarded), search for the "prettiest" cities, and launch attacks (i just was prepared inside the cities, if not i would have lost them easily)...

plus, they defend better... all that and more after the changes...

[ChaosSpeeder]

Hi,

quote: Originally posted by Rebel Rick on 12-14-2000 09:21 PM plus, they defend better... all that and more after the changes...

what are the other changes?

bye, Andre