Lots of sweet new AI features in the latest patch. I'll be working on integrating them in the near future. Version 1.3.3 The "oh **** new patch with new folder structure which breaks my baby!" release Fixed bug in checking placement of advanced naval factory Updated for new AI folder structure No longer stops building GIL-Es when there is an orbital threat
Absurd AI is easier for me to beat after these updates. One big thing I've noticed is that in naval situations, AI might send out a few ships, but then it builds a *massive* amount that stay packed in it's base. On Pacific/Poseidon it's to the extent that it's easy to take and keep mex. Then when you have nearly all of them, build a few holkins and let then destroy the fleet without any resistance. Edit: I'm using your latest AI mod.
I'm at work on the next update, integrating all the new AI functions. My primary focus for this update is improving Queller's FFA play, particularly in multi-planet systems. I find that Sorian's AI is much quicker off planet, and so while Queller might win the world it loses the system and thus the game. So far I think I've cracked it for systems where you all start on the same world, but have off-world expansion possibilities. It still needs to be better for multi-planet spawns though. Also need to look at more aggressive teching in these scenarios. The trickiest bit is trying to introduce this without weakening its 1v1 game. I'm trying to avoid introducing personalities specifically for this as I want to use those more to allow people to tweak Queller's playstyle. Oh yeah, one of the things recently introduced was the ability for the AI to know what personality has been selected. This opens the door for things turtle, rush, and so forth. That won't be in the next update but might be what I do in the following one. I'm changing how it assesses threat in the next update, so hopefully that should resolve this issue. If you run into it again if you could link me to a replay ID that'd be handy, then I can see exactly what causes it to fall into this trap, though I think I know. It might just be the hard coded routines though. The AI doesn't always attack things with its naval forces which it can.
Apparently I need to do more work on the 1v1 stuff too. The Sorian AI is much better on Meso than it used to be. Nice work, @Sorian
It's not good enough for that without a resource boost (which it's getting much better at using). Based on some testing I did a while back against human players I'd guesstimate it to be a high silver. Right now if you put Queller in slot 2 on Meso it will lose to the vanilla AI at 1.0 eco. Interestingly there's something about that spawn that fucks up Queller's opening build which I need to figure out. Another thing I've been thinking of trying is introducing some Queller specific things you can build which can adjust its behaviour. For example, build the "Attack now!" structure and Queller will immediately move out with whatever troops it has. I'm wondering if there's a more elegant way to do it. Once I've tackled personalities I might speak to some other modders.
Once you play the game go to replays and write down the Game ID. Maybe there is other ways, but I find that easy.
Oops. I deleted the Queller mod as part of troubleshooting factory build problems I was experiencing. Doesn't appear to be available now.
After playing online, I go to Replays, and the list is populated until I filter on "My Games Only" and "Versus AI", then the list is blank. The list is populated for all other filter combinations. Go figure.<shrug>
Such is life. I think it's quite hard to get your replays and even to find the right one is still hard.
I've also found a bug in the current PA release which will cripple Queller's naval game if it's in slot 1. So don't put it in slot 1.
I've finally taken advantage of the new personality support to split Queller into five distinct difficulty levels, each one aligned with one of the leagues. The idea is to provide a broader range of difficulties than the current AI and to play poorly in a more humanlike way at the lower levels. To that end I've been watching a number of replays to try and get a feel for the style of each league, though obviously the size of silver means that's a bit of a fudge. I'm aiming for Queller to represent a mid-league player's style, with the understanding that even at its highest setting it's currently only high silver/low gold in terms of ability. Below is a rough breakdown of what the difficulties look like in dev currently. Bronze and Silver are the most distinct, while the differences between Platinum and Uber are quite subtle. My plan is that future development will be on Uber, so it'll grow into more of an individual over time. Bronze The turtle. Economy first opening One army Techs as soon as possible Goes orbital as soon as possible Poor troop selection Doesn't scout Doesn't react to what the enemy is doing Loves fabbers Loves static defence/offence Loves super weapons Poor use of fabbers Doesn't think about running costs No micro Silver Nibbles around the edges. Factory first opening Few armies Techs early Goes orbital early Expands slowly Poor troop selection Barely scouts Doesn't react to what the enemy is doing Likes fabbers Floats economy No micro Gold The first difficulty that really understands how to play the game. Smart factory first opening Some armies Prefers T1 Expands OK Good troop selection OK scouting Some reaction to opponent's play Dislikes fabbers Stalls economy OK micro Platinum A few multitasking limits make this slightly worse than Uber. Smart factory first opening Numerous armies Techs smartly Goes orbital smartly Expands quickly Excellent troop selection Smartly reacts to opponent's play Smart economy handling Best micro Uber Queller plays the best game it knows how. Smart factory first opening Unlimited armies Techs smartly Goes orbital smartly Expands quickly Excellent troop selection Smartly reacts to opponent's play Smart economy handling Best micro I'm holding off on release due to a bug which causes the AI in slot 1 to think it's alone on a planet at the start of the game. This has been interfering with testing, and is preventing me making some of the improvements I want to the platoon sizes. Once it has been resolved I will look to finalise this release.
I was thinking I'd release this as it seemed good enough, then I noticed that something in the silver and especially bronze profiles causes the sim to collapse pretty quickly (sim below should be 21fps and the AI should sure as hell not be that high). No errors in the logs unfortunately so I'll be figuring out why this happens. Urgh
Oh joy, there's an issue in the factory files too I have a good idea as to the cause. EDIT: I think it's only the factory file, but for some reason it's showing in the fabber manager.
