The problem of AIs in strategy games

[ASHBERY76]

I bloody hate omniscence A.I cheats in strategy games where sensors are a factor.I remember playing alpha centauri back in the day getting my stealth sub fleets ready just to find out at a later date the A.I knew where they were all along.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: MartialDoctor
In the game Go, they still haven't invented an AI opponent good enough to beat a good, pro player. The best one invented yet lost to a pro player even when given a 9 handicap (the highest available).

Beating a pro player is far different from beating an average player though. It's absolutely true that on a level playing field, an AI can't compete with a human, but we allow you to make the playing field a lot more uneven than a 9 handicap in Go (I wish I had more time to play Go, great game).

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: martok
Assuming we have the original DW plus both expansions, at what difficulty level is the AI going to play its best game, minus any major cheats/bonuses?

I think one notch up from the default will be a good place to start for experience players. A lot depends on the rest of your galaxy setup options as well. The AI in Distant Worlds does not cheat at all, but you need to give it some bonuses through the various settings that are under your control if you are an experienced player and want a challenging game.

Regards,

- Erik

[MartialDoctor]

ORIGINAL: ASHBERY76

ORIGINAL: MartialDoctor
I won't beat this bush any longer. But if you think an AI opponent can be designed to beat a good human opponent, in a game like Distant Worlds (or just about any computer game out there), you are very mistaken.

Really? I consider myself a good human player who has been beaten many times by the A.I.SOTS1 can be pretty dam tough if you fall behind early.

Human players tend to restart failed early games a lot if early colonization is poor,ect,same with ingame events like a bad battle defeat,reload,reload.The A.I cannot do that.I think we would lose a lot more without this option.

I have only played SOTS once and so I can't comment on the AI there. My impression was it was better than average, though.

You are probably correct with the amount of people who reload their failed battles / games; I've been guilty of it before. But would you lose without making the other races larger and more tech advanced than you? My guess is not.

Anyways, I'd recommend not doing the loading and restarting. You'll find you have a much more challenging and fulfilling game if you just play the game as it turns out. You will also have to be much more careful about how you play. I find it much more interesting, at least [:)]