Brad Wardell's views about technology, politics, religion, world affairs, and all sorts of politically incorrect topics.
Published on February 21, 2012 By Draginol In PC Gaming

Wouldn’t you agree it’s cheating if the game doesn’t provide you with UI features that the AI has easy access to?

The AI can send 8 armies from distant cities to converge on a target city at the same turn.

I can’t easily do that, as a human. Therefore, I didn’t really lose. The AI cheated.


Comments (Page 1)
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on Feb 21, 2012

Grr. I'm so ticked off. I know how it did it. But it didn't deserve to win.

on Feb 21, 2012

This is similar to the ancient proverb, "Skill is when I kill you, cheating is when you kill me."

on Feb 21, 2012

I call hacks!

on Feb 21, 2012

The thing is, where are MY really point? Where are MY army groups?

I hope people rise up with me and complain when beta 2 hits.

on Feb 21, 2012


Wouldn’t you agree it’s cheating if the game doesn’t provide you with UI features that the AI has easy access to?
The AI can send 8 armies from distant cities to converge on a target city at the same turn.
I can’t easily do that, as a human. Therefore, I didn’t really lose. The AI cheated.

But you can do it. You only need to devote the time to emulate the AI's effort. It's not the same as "The AI gets a bazillions credits at the start of the game" or similar conditions that players cannot replicate without cheats.

That said, giving players extra tools to plan and coordinate their turns? That's good.

Plus, don't we learn more from defeats? Thanks to that, we (the players) may get better UI stuff to play with.

on Feb 21, 2012

Just make sure beta 2 has that AI. I am tired of killing retarded people. 

You can make the UI changes for beta 3.

on Feb 21, 2012

What?  you can't do this?  I've done it dozens of times.... 

on Feb 21, 2012

seanw3
Just make sure beta 2 has that AI. I am tired of killing retarded people. 

You can make the UI changes for beta 3.

this

on Feb 21, 2012

In fairness, I can solve complex optimization problems involving millions of operations just by glancing at the screen. The computer can't do that.

on Feb 21, 2012

I happen to be an expert at stopping a large force from attacking my territory. I will build outposts between my cities and theirs. Those outpost will only serve to allow me to cast strategic spells as they move in on me. I doubt your AI will be able to make decisions about whether or not to stop their armies and wait for Tremors to wear off. If they leave units behind I can pick them off with my mounted armies. If they wait and only move forward after the spell is gone, I can better fortify and pick off the outlying camps. If they make it to my first city I will defend it for as long as I can and then raze the SOB. I will continue scorched earth until they reach my capital. Then I will use raise mountains to buy some time and regroup. I will be healing in a city and they will be stuck in the wild. As soon as I heal, down comes the mountain and I let the final battle be fought in my most powerful city. 

Then I counterattack and capture everything. I will have some really high level units by then. I may lose up to three cities, but I'll have their whole nation and two capitals. 

on Feb 21, 2012

I'm not sure that I would risk a scorched earth policy ... just depends on the situation. You can't guarantee to capture their cities just because you defeated their main force. You still have to worry about monsters and other factions (where your own cities are concerned) ... and they will still be building units most likely.

Best to kill their main force, then re-capture old cities, and then push forward after training some militia (in non-conquered cities, to spread out to re-captured cities)

 

Something to consider is that even after you kill their champions, they will re-appear in their cities ... able to cast spells if nothing else.

If you don't use scorched earth, there is a possibility that said champions will re-appear in your old cities ... where you have the opportunity to RE-KILL them for additional injuries

 

On the other hand, I would very likely raze my opponent's cities, if they prove a tough fight.

on Feb 21, 2012

I scorch the earth to prevent them from healing when I use my city to do so. I am assuming this force is smart enough to do so. I am also assuming that in this scenario I have weaker or less units. Letting those cities survive would also mean those heroes you mentioned could come back to the fight in the final stage when I let the mountain down. I plan on assassinating most of their heroes and sending them all the way back to Capitarland. We Tarth will have levels more experience from this defense and will be able to overpower their weakened heroes. If the AI was really going to threaten my cities, I would just wall in my territory as I did in WoM. The only opening would lead to Capitarland. That is what I will call it when I rule it. 

Can't wait to play you in MP Tasunke. I wonder how that would play out. 

*Folds Hands*

on Feb 21, 2012

You don't need rally points to do this. You just need to look at unit movement capabilities and distance (plus hindering terrain). Didn't you make a post complaining about how modern gamers want stuff spoon fed to them, like, yesterday?

on Feb 21, 2012

Frogboy
The thing is, where are MY really point? Where are MY army groups?

I hope people rise up with me and complain when beta 2 hits.

 

Or not. Not after playing AI Wars and realizing that having competitive AIs sometimes mean reinforcing what AIs can do well and humans can't (to compensate for what humans can do well and AIs can't).

on Feb 21, 2012

Wouldn’t you agree it’s cheating if the game doesn’t provide you with UI features that the AI has easy access to?

The AI can send 8 armies from distant cities to converge on a target city at the same turn.

I can’t easily do that, as a human. Therefore, I didn’t really lose. The AI cheated.

Point - why wouldn't you code some sort of feature where it always leaves 1 unit in a city and sends any surplus to a target spot?  Eg a modified select all/send.  I'd only do it if you are trying to think out of the box and come up with features that players would enjoy.    Oh wait, you already thought of what would be good for players?  Hmm... halfway there.

And side note - why should we need to complain?  You found a problem.  Now code a logical fix that would make you happy.  It will make us happy as well!  There has to be some sort of formula that you could implement that would work.  And it would be far superior to anything in any other TBS games.  So - make it happen.  It's actually a selling point that other companies would likely follow.

MAKE THE NEW STANDARD, BRAD!

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