RE: AI is cheating???
Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:03 am
We’ve checked, and what is happening here is that there is a disconnect between the code and the manual. That’s a fancy way of saying that the manual is indeed wrong, and at the “Normal” level the AI gets a bit of a boost. So, those of you who noticed this were absolutely right (and I was wrong to assume that jscott991 hadn’t read the manual). That said, we reject in the strongest terms – without actually using those terms, since this is a family forum! – that this is intended as an “AI cheat.” The fact that the AI gets a boost in resources as the difficulty levels increase is clearly indicated in the manual, it’s just that the manual is wrong about what “Normal” level means, and it turns out that there isn’t a level at which neither human nor AI is getting a boost. But this certainly is not some sort of intentional “cheat,” as has been claimed. Moreover, as has already been pointed out repeatedly during this discussion, these boosts are well in line with what many other games do – and the fact is that some games deliberately hide from the player the economic benefits given the AI, in the case of one prominent game even changing these from turn to turn so that the player can’t (easily) figure out what’s going on. (No, I’m not going to go into more detail, since I have a policy of never commenting on other developers. Except for when I mock a certain other company for making available valentine emoticons in its forum, which strikes me as an odd choice for wargamers.)
With that said, it’s obvious that something should be done, if for no other reason than that the manual as currently written is incorrect. And since multiple players want a “pure” level it’s obvious that we should add one, especially since it’s a very easy programming change to make. Normally, we would have had to wait for the next patch, but it turns out that there’s a strategic AI problem that we need to fix before we can release the patch – something to do with how it purchases units – so we can implement the change now, making it available when this patch gets released. We should note, however, that this new level will not necessarily represent an improvement: remember, the “Normal” level is the one that we recommend to new players, and, more importantly, it is the one around which the game was balanced. Playing a level with neither side receiving a boost might seem ideal to some, but it is not necessarily a better way to play. So all this recent excitement might not lead to an actual improvement in the game, but there’s obviously no harm in making such a simple change. (On a related note, it has correctly been pointed out that the AI is putting some/much of these additional resources into stockpiles, instead of spending it all – so the player isn’t actually subjected to 100% of what those added resources might buy. Since the AI can’t make unit purchases as intelligently as a human it is actually a good thing that it has an extra cushion of resources to play around with, since this ultimately makes the game more challenging. So again, while the idea of a level without an AI boost may seem like a good idea, it isn’t one necessarily. We’ll be curious to know whether players enjoy playing at that level.)
Also, I should repeat what I wrote in one of the five or so threads that have been devoted to this topic: the AI is not any smarter or dumber at the different levels. So a player shouldn’t have to fear that the AI will be less challenging in terms of the moves it makes if he plays at a lower level. The AI becomes more economically desperate, but it’s not anything like HAL9000 as he/it is being lobotomized...
With that said, it’s obvious that something should be done, if for no other reason than that the manual as currently written is incorrect. And since multiple players want a “pure” level it’s obvious that we should add one, especially since it’s a very easy programming change to make. Normally, we would have had to wait for the next patch, but it turns out that there’s a strategic AI problem that we need to fix before we can release the patch – something to do with how it purchases units – so we can implement the change now, making it available when this patch gets released. We should note, however, that this new level will not necessarily represent an improvement: remember, the “Normal” level is the one that we recommend to new players, and, more importantly, it is the one around which the game was balanced. Playing a level with neither side receiving a boost might seem ideal to some, but it is not necessarily a better way to play. So all this recent excitement might not lead to an actual improvement in the game, but there’s obviously no harm in making such a simple change. (On a related note, it has correctly been pointed out that the AI is putting some/much of these additional resources into stockpiles, instead of spending it all – so the player isn’t actually subjected to 100% of what those added resources might buy. Since the AI can’t make unit purchases as intelligently as a human it is actually a good thing that it has an extra cushion of resources to play around with, since this ultimately makes the game more challenging. So again, while the idea of a level without an AI boost may seem like a good idea, it isn’t one necessarily. We’ll be curious to know whether players enjoy playing at that level.)
Also, I should repeat what I wrote in one of the five or so threads that have been devoted to this topic: the AI is not any smarter or dumber at the different levels. So a player shouldn’t have to fear that the AI will be less challenging in terms of the moves it makes if he plays at a lower level. The AI becomes more economically desperate, but it’s not anything like HAL9000 as he/it is being lobotomized...
