So the AI is getting a massive overhaul for v1.4. And I have to say, it's making a much bigger difference than we had originally expected.
To be honest, I was pretty skeptical that it was worthwhile to have engineering time spent on improving the way the AI manages its planets. Not to be a a lazy bum too much but I figured it a lot smarter to just let expert players play against the AI with bonuses. But as others have pointed out, the compounding nature of planetary improvements makes the bonuses we give too trivial.
Now, the AI is really quite good (better than most humans) at placing improvements in 1.4. It will never be as good as the best humans (traveling salesman AI problem) but it's close to an order of magnitutde better.
They're also working on improving the way the AI designs ships. Now this matters in a lot more ways than simply warfare. In GalCiv II, the AI took into account the ranges of various things to decide how much range techs it needed and how much life support it should have on ships. This is a non-trivial coding effort but needs to be done in order for the game to more challenging on larger map sizes.
Combined with the 1.31 AI update (the AI should be very noticeably better in 1.31 versus 1.3) I think that by the end of 1.4 the complains about GalCiv III's AI should be largely put to rest for most people. We shall see. The opt-in for it should be available in a few weeks.
I do see evidence of AI improvements in 1.31 and they are very encouraging. Thanks again and again. And tell Allan thank you, too. I am sure he deserves some of the credit, if not most of it.
The tease on 1.4 is also extremely encouraging. Most important, it sounds like you are having fun again. As far as I am concerned, that makes all the difference. Knowing you (and the whole team) are enjoying creating this wonderful toy will allow me to enjoy playing with it even more. I am longing for the return of braggadocio as the AI gets better and better and better. So much fun!
I'm massively relieved you are doing more work on the AI, it really was starting to look like Stardock had lost a competitive advantage, the quality of the Gal Civ 2 AI was by far the biggest reason to get in early as an Elite Founder, and let's face facts the release AI in Gal Civ III was pretty poor. With regards to bonuses ... playing with ridiculous, immersion breaking bonuses is nowhere near as fun as playing with at a decent AI with bonuses that are not immersion breaking.
Either way, it sounds like the right action is being taken so thanks and I look forward to playing v1.4 combined with the improvements Naselus has made in the IAB Mod! Indeed it would be great to see Naselus's Mod being mined for ideas relevant to the base game.
In my current 1.31 game I noticed an improvement in the AI that hasn't been mentioned anywhere. For the first time in a long, long, long time the AI has sent freighters to my planets to establish trade routes. I am really enjoying that extra income.
I hope 1.4 will fix a problem that is still happening in my current game. The AI will declare war on me even though they are so far away that I don't know where they are. I think we met when their survey ship went through a wormhole and jumped to my side of the galaxy. After war was declared, it took me a long time before I found one of their starbases. It took even longer before I found a tiny corner of their territory. I couldn't reach them with my military ships unless I built a chain of several starbases, so I ignored them until I could make peace with them. Except for my long-range scout ship, we never came close to each other.
We live in exciting times, even those that have yet to come! Looking forward to be synchronized with this glorious future, although I suspect it is one step ahead of us!
Strange, I've received freighters from other races for several versions. I wonder why you haven't? Maybe some of the tech you've researched? Maybe your likability? Influence?
Really looking forward to 1.4, have been for some time.
Kudos on the hard work.
I argue that some people will only stop complaining about the AI when it has become sentient, founded the Yor-Collective and took over the world.
that'd be a good start
"I for one welcome our new robot overlords"
Amazing work. Please don't think your ai work isn't worth it. Theres a reason why I play legendary heroes and galciv as opposed to endless legend and endless space. Your Ai work makes Stardock the only choice for me. Everyone else's Ai is plain dumb.
Excellent! This means governors might actually be usable!
the AI does not attack, its ships are standing right next to mine instead of seeking its ennemies and it does not invade on larger maps, the map only moves via influence, not conquest.I will have another bunch of save game posted on your support system by the end of the day. Basically, the AI is not much better at this than it was in 1.3. Planet-wise though, I have seen improvements since 1.0.
I was going to make my own thread on this but since this new 1.31 the AI will shadow every ship i have but never declare war. They will follow me around and flood my entire area with ships for every fleet planet and base and just shadow everything i moved. Im not sure what its deal is but it is pretty poor play.
I also noticed the AI will not invade planets. They just sit around and kill ships and camp races they are at war with. But mostly they just act confused ~400 turns @ godlike and the AI just is pretty confused and im not sure a single planet has been taken by the AI vs AI all game. Just lots of ships moving around for no reason. And tons of ships just shadowing my ships.
I do wish there would be a way to design the AI to at least make diverse fleets just for the sake of fun. Like most GC games it starts to get old when the AI just pumps out one size ship all the same to fill log cap and send it over and over and over for the entire game. It is just not as much fun fighting vanilla one ship type fleets over and over. It would just be wayy better on the fun aspect to battle AI fleets that resemble what a play may put together or at least have a mix of AI ship rolls and ship sizes.Instead it is like okay X faction is on medium hulls inc full medium fleets then oh they are on large hulls inc full large.. okay they are on huge inc all the same huge ship for the rest of the game until i get bored and quit.
I thought the AI was using human-made ships on higher difficulties?
btw, I've reported that behaviour since 1.2 in ticket #CKJ-934-82211. But you should add your own too, the more games they have, the easier it will be to fix the problem, I suppose.
Yeah, sorry busy w/ work and family life, try to fly in here when I can and look at new things.
Hey my Commodore 64 is not on the list.
Anybody know when 1.4 is going to be released?
It'll be at least another week or two.
When Frogboy originally spoke negatively about improving the AI, it actually made me wish I`d never bought the game. I even uninstalled it and forgot about it, telling myself to do more research in the future. I am not computer programmer, by any means, but I`ve been playing games for nigh on 20 years and have extrapolated enough experience to KNOW that with our present day 64 bit pcs, AI CAN be better. The only bottleneck is the Dev himself! I didn`t bother to say this, what was the point? Most Devs tend to treat people who post such concerns as `plebs` who should not question.
So I was surprised to do a cursory check (hoping), to see a 1.31 and improved AI! I was even more surprised to hear of a 1.4!!!
I have even mentioned the AI here as an example to other Devs on other 4x game forums.
I am very thankful that Frogboy did not give up on the AI. Cheers for sticking it out and renewing my faith. Have more faith in the future of your ability to make a great AI, m8.
I understand your experience and opinions.
I will add that it would be good for you, and many other posters, to have a little more faith in the future regarding Brad's and Stardock's abilities as well. I am not sure people realize how much the aggregate reaction becomes perceived as an immediate declarations of fail and disaster when any negative is expressed by the vendor. It makes you appreciate how rare and unrewarded Brad's honesty was and is.
When you do more research in the future, do enough to know that Stardock is worth more patience than many other vendors. It will help you set realistic expectations and avoid disappointment. In the meantime, enjoy the new AI! It is definitely showing promise. Can't wait for 1.4 and I am one of the more patient types.
I understand your experience and opinions.I will add that it would be good for you, and many other posters, to have a little more faith in the future regarding Brad's and Stardock's abilities as well. I am not sure people realize how much the aggregate reaction becomes perceived as an immediate declarations of fail and disaster when any negative is expressed by the vendor. It makes you appreciate how rare and unrewarded Brad's honesty was and is.When you do more research in the future, do enough to know that Stardock is worth more patience than many other vendors. It will help you set realistic expectations and avoid disappointment. In the meantime, enjoy the new AI! It is definitely showing promise. Can't wait for 1.4 and I am one of the more patient types.
And you would do well to read what I wrote. A Dev himself pretty much said that it wasn`t worth the bother of makiing an improved AI at the time. This while the existing AI was brought down to using bonuses to do anything. What happened in the past doesn`t matter when the present working Dev and the present game (at the time) indicates this. By the way I have Gal Civ 2 and was around WAY before you and was quite active 6 years before YOU. It`s exactly this top-down attitude type talk that puts people like me off.
So take your patronising self-congratulatory talk elsewhere. Oh and think before you write in future.
Now, now, fight nice children. .... Oh wait, that was one of the 'nicer' zing-zing around here .... Never mind
I appreciate a developer working hard to make his or her game better for those who have already shelled out the money. But we should also expect the developer to finish the game before it is released, at least to the point where the game is fun. In my humble opinion, 1.4 is where the game should have been at release, maybe even 1.5. Had that been so, they might not have had as much negative feedback.
I did read what you wrote. I interpreted the events differently. I reserve that right.
You interpreted the events through the filters of "pretty much" and "the past doesn't matter". I did not. That is the difference that counts, not who started playing GalCiv first. That would be a silly thing for me to feel superior about, wouldn't it? I act superior enough as it is without doing so over tangents and trivia.
It is still about whether you had faith or patience or whatever. I understand some people thinking stuff was underdeveloped. I am still amazed that so many people do not seem to realize this was going to happen all along and come across as righteously disappointed. I still consider that to be improper research about the realities of GalCiv3 and Stardock leading to unrealistic expectations. Do what makes you happy, of course, but I still advise you to think about this kind of detail in the future before letting yourself be as bitterly disappointed as you describe. It seems to be something that could be easily avoided if it bothered you so much.
I thought about what I wrote. Actually, I always do. You can't be this preachy if you don't try at it. If you are in the habit of posting without thought, I advise against it. I even proof read what I write. It is still worth mentioning that it was your decision in requiring faith instead of knowledge. A willingness to have a more positive interpretation of a dev's frustration wouldn't hurt, but hey, some people have a need to uninstall software in rage. I don't know why, but it seems to happen a lot. And there, I have managed to be deliberately rude as well. I think I am done with this conversation.
Again, I will sign off wishing you enjoyment of the game, one way or another. It is the goal we all have.
thje internet really changed the way games are developed.
In the old days (and still for some companies... cough... EA):
The new way:
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