Matrix Games Forums

I'm wondering which games have good AI as that's the way I tend to play most games. I know it's a pretty broad question.

Somewhat of a follow up of that question, which games are the quickest in making the AI moves? Ideally, I don't want a game that takes 10 minutes to have the computer make its moves.

Conquest of the Aegean has the best ai I have encountered. I assume BftB is at the same level or better. Also, with that system, you don't have to wait for the ai to finish-you keep plugging away at it as the ai continues its operations.

I have encountered other ai's that were not too bad, but none as good as CotA.

Agree. The Panther Games titles here in Matrix have good AI.
The fact that you can leave your troops alone to perform your macro orders without babysitting is proof.
If it works on your side, it also works one enemy AI side.  They do a good job probing for weak spots and attacking.
But some people don't think of it as a game since all they do is watch. [:D]

War of the Lance and the ai only takes a few seconds per turn and will beat you easily on normal difficulty until you get great at the game.
 
Centurion Defender of Rome and once again the ai only takes a few seconds per turn and will easily beat you on normal diffiuclty until you get excellent at the game.
 
Spartan played on hard, hardest or impossible will easily beat you until you get beyond great and excellent.
 
Norbsofts Gettysburg it's real time but not fast real time and the ai is excellent at flanking and sneaking up on you from the woods.
 
Conquest:Medieval a chesslike game of map conquest by Slitherine and a very good game and ai and once again the ai only takes a few seconds to complete its turn.
 
Panzer Command:Kharkov (soon to be Osfront). A decent ai and quick to play simular to Combat Mission but the ai is much better.
 
X-Com Defender and Terror (excellent strategic/tactical sci-fi game) ai plays quickly and the entire game is near perfect in every respect for challenge and fun.
 
SACRIFICE: Excellent real time strategy tactical game of conquest. Linear somewhat and the end is quite challenging. No micromanagement just soul gathering during battles.
 
HOPLITE: Free ancient card playing game very quick play very challenging ai. You take one of 40 famous leaders of ancient past and see how long you can last with him playing against the others. Spartacus is quite fun to play as.
 
That should be enough for awhile to keep you busy and losing.[:)]
 
 
 
 

ORIGINAL: jomni
Agree. The Panther Games titles here in Matrix have good AI.
The fact that you can leave your troops alone to perform your macro orders without babysitting is proof.
If it works on your side, it also works one enemy AI side.  They do a good job probing for weak spots and attacking.

+1 - absolutely the best AI in town - a good second in my eyes are the SSG produced games - Across the Dnepr etc.

ORIGINAL: jomni
But some people don't think of it as a game since all they do is watch. [:D]

What's stopping those people to micromanage to their heart's desire ?

I'm more like Hannibal of the A-Team - I love it when a good plan comes together. In the Command Ops engine you evaluate a situation and then set a plan into motion and watch it unfold, but then something happens - usually something unexpected or bad and you have to adjust your plan or radically change it or just take the risk that the original plan is good enough - nailbiting stuff

There's a demo for Battles from the Bulge, so give it a try.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

+1 for Panther Games. I've never played a game with a more intuitive and effective AI.

And I also agree that some people find it a bit too "watchy" rather than play - which is why I do what Eddy says - I do a little bit of micro management...not too much and that's the other beauty of the game - you can completely scale the micromanagement to your requirements in game. Also, being pausible/continuous play can make it difficult - thank god they also thought about giving orders whilst pausing.

geez - I almost talked myseld into buying BftB. [:-]

I agree with people here, the Panther Games' AI is very good.

I also think the AI from AGE engine is not doing too bad a job, but then I am certainly biaised. [;)]

Cat

ORIGINAL: CatLord

I agree with people here, the Panther Games' AI is very good.

I also think the AI from AGE engine is not doing too bad a job, but then I am certainly biaised. [;)]

Cat

The AGE AI is very good in most respects except for Winter attrition. The AI will let its armies waste away in the winter months so I usually set it to no attrition for the AI while I play with historic attrition.

Guns of August ... very good and chalenging AI !!!

ORIGINAL: Aces8

ORIGINAL: CatLord

I agree with people here, the Panther Games' AI is very good.

I also think the AI from AGE engine is not doing too bad a job, but then I am certainly biaised. [;)]

Cat

The AGE AI is very good in most respects except for Winter attrition ...

I thought they fixed that in BoA, I assume it's also OK in WiA.

In any event, the Athena AI is impressive.

Yes, AGEOD's AI is impressive. I'm still trying to beat it in BOA2:Wars of America. That's my current favorite wargame.

I'm quite a fan of the AI in Western Civilization Software's games, i.e. Crown of Glory: Emperors Edition (napoleonic) and Forge of Freedom (ACW).
These games both have a strategic level game and a tactical level for detailed battles, both levels are turnbased.
They are both deep and entertaining games and the AI on both the strategic and tactical level is among the best I have encountered.

ORIGINAL: briny_norman
I'm quite a fan of the AI in Western Civilization Software's games, i.e. Crown of Glory: Emperors Edition (napoleonic) and Forge of Freedom (ACW).
These games both have a strategic level game and a tactical level for detailed battles, both levels are turnbased.
They are both deep and entertaining games and the AI on both the strategic and tactical level is among the best I have encountered.

I'll readily agree that the AI from WCS and AGEod is a cut above the norm as well, so this answers the "good AI" portion of the original question, but as to the "best AI" there's just one King of the Hill and that's the Command Ops engine from Panther Games as mentioned above.

Don't take my word for it, just download the demo and be amazed [;)]

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

You may also want to try Hannibal: Rome and Carthage which was designed as a single player game with a strong AI. Just updated too! [8D]

Regards,

- Erik

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

You may also want to try Hannibal: Rome and Carthage which was designed as a single player game with a strong AI. Just updated too! [8D]

Regards,

- Erik

Hannibal gets my vote. It's a tough one.

ORIGINAL: NefariousKoel
Hannibal gets my vote. It's a tough one.

Here's my take on Hannibal. It's a single-player-only game so the game mechanics and the AI are tailor-made to be challenging. I'm not saying AI is not capable. But I think it's easier to create a good AI in a game like Hannibal.
PBEM and other two-player wargames tend to make the scnearios balanced but the AI can't cope. So kudos to those two-player games with good AI (mentioned above).

Would recommend the AGEODs and Hannibal as well.

ORIGINAL: jomni

ORIGINAL: NefariousKoel
Hannibal gets my vote. It's a tough one.

Here's my take on Hannibal. It's a single-player-only game so the game mechanics and the AI are tailor-made to be challenging. I'm not saying AI is not capable. But I think it's easier to create a good AI in a game like Hannibal.
PBEM and other two-player wargames tend to make the scnearios balanced but the AI can't cope. So kudos to those two-player games with good AI (mentioned above).

Sooo... what? Are you saying it's disqualified? I was of the understanding that he was looking for a challenging game with a good AI and therefore concentrating on the single-player.

Diablo seems to know what he's talking about [:)] With regard to Matrix titles, I've found that the SSG series AI is decent at maximising tactical odds (its like playing a chess computer at times). This requires long term strategic planning to overcome, which makes the games challenging, and enjoyable. I've found the AGEOD ACW and BoAII AIs to be a decent opposition too - they don't play silly, or generic(predictable) moves. Not easy to find this kind of challenge at the strategic level. Finally, I would mention The John Tiller Campaign Series. If you don't know the system, it will beat you mercilessly. Experience will enable you to overcome it, but it makes you learn the intricacies of the system. Some games don't have the best AI, but you will need to hunt around the forums to check on this.

If you want a challenging game, you need to check games designed for single-player.

Although SSG´s WW2 AI is a better one, it´s not really a challenge to beat the AI. Once you´re "in", you will win every battle, mostly with 1xxx points ahaed. Their games are designed for H2H.

Didn´t play the latest panther games, but with RDOA it was almost the same.

Most newer games don´t offer a big challenge to single player, because of this H2H dilemma.

I dig out older games, which are designed for single player, if I want a challenge.

If you want to get your ass kicked, try for example older SSG´s like original Battlefront or Reach for the Stars, which are offering a real

challenge.