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harlequin969
harlequin969
Join Date 04/2006
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Has the AI had a lobotomy?

April 14, 2006 1:05:19 PM from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
What do people think of the AI? Even at high difficulty levels I find it to be about as clever as my dog. I read reviews saying the AI was very good but its terrible. They hardly ever attack my transports even when right next to them, they have whole fleets that are useless because they give them crap engines and most of the planets I take off them haven't even got factories. Is my copy of the game especially stupid or is everyone finding the game way too easy?
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harlequin969
Xhala
Join Date 04/2006
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Reply #1 April 14, 2006 1:15:28 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
I can't say that I've found the game too easy, except for at the easy difficulty levels, of course. But if you feel that it is, try changing your play settings. First and foremost, crank the difficulty up to 'Suicidal'. (If you think that it's too easy at *that* level, then my hat is off to you.)

But even after that, you can tweak the other play settings also. Try setting the map size to 'Medium' or 'Large', with the maximum number of races (that way, the pressure is on you very early - you can even go smaller in galaxy size, if you'd like). Set the number of habitable planets to be lower, or the number of planets per system to be lower. Lots of things can be done to improve your gameplay experience.
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harlequin969
Martimus
Join Date 04/2003
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Reply #2 April 14, 2006 1:19:52 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Try updating to 1.1 beta 4. I agree that the AI does do a poor job with speed and planet management, but is much better in the 1.1 beta 4 version. (This is their release candidate for 1.1, so it should be relatively free of bugs.)
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harlequin969
BladeVenom
Join Date 03/2006
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Reply #3 April 14, 2006 1:27:32 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
I also found the game to be way too easy, but they are improving it. So hopefully a few more patches down the road, and it will play a reasonably good game.
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harlequin969
TriPp
Join Date 03/2006
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Reply #4 April 14, 2006 1:35:43 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Yeah but what difficulty are ppl playing on? Yeah the AI is amazing but its still just AI
I play on tough and as far as vsing comps go compared to other games it is alot better.Ussually they require sum sort of cheat or bonus no matter wut level of play : (
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harlequin969
redshift8
Join Date 04/2003
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Reply #5 April 14, 2006 1:39:20 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
I haven't gone to beta, but am up to Suicidal on 1.1x and the AI is still really bad at a whole lot of things.

I hope the next patch improves things, because right now the AI isn't challenging. Tactical Combat and Planet Improving are 2 areas that need serious work in the latest non-beta.
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harlequin969
Heroine4Life
Join Date 10/2004
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Reply #6 April 14, 2006 1:47:04 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
dont complain please unless you have the newest version.
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harlequin969
moo2niac
Join Date 05/2005
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Reply #7 April 14, 2006 1:51:39 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
dont complain please unless you have the newest version.


And when you have the latest version, dont complain because it is just beta.
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harlequin969
auboy105
Join Date 02/2006
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Reply #8 April 14, 2006 1:53:44 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Yes I was disappointed to see this in the last Beta 3A changelog:

"Normal and Bright AI intelligence levels made a bit easier."

The reason we love GalCiv is the great AI. Please dont dumb it down!
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harlequin969
No118
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Reply #9 April 14, 2006 1:55:56 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
So play on intelligent
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harlequin969
Xhala
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Reply #10 April 14, 2006 2:01:02 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Yes I was disappointed to see this in the last Beta 3A changelog:

"Normal and Bright AI intelligence levels made a bit easier."

The reason we love GalCiv is the great AI. Please dont dumb it down!


Have you noticed that there are five or six difficulty levels *above* those two?

They're just trying to make the AI at those difficulty levels more consistent with their names. Not quite the same thing as dumbing it down - because if you want it hard, you just pick an appropriately hard difficulty level.
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harlequin969
cebuguy
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Reply #11 April 14, 2006 2:04:17 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
I got raped on masochist level with the latest beta in one game (culture defeat by torians)then really kicked ass on the next game. The AI put up some nasty fleets which inconvienienced me but what I saw most recenly from the latest beta was the ai making crap planets. To much food, no moral or tons of moral and no food.
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harlequin969
misterwolf
Join Date 10/2003
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Reply #12 April 14, 2006 2:13:30 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
See, complaints like this are a result of the game falling victim to it's own reputation. The AI is excellent, but it's still only AI. People hear that the AI is amazing, and the expect miracles, rather than basic competence in many areas, which is really the best modern AI can do. Plus with the ship design and the open space combat, the AI is being asked to do some pretty difficult things.
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harlequin969
Sorael
Join Date 05/2003
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Reply #13 April 14, 2006 2:15:19 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
The AI does some things that appear fairly dumb, but it has been improving steadily with each patch. As for not having any factories on their planets, I think the AI buys most of their ship, especially if they pick the neutral and have the discount on ship purchasing. Same deal for the improvements, once my economy is really rolling i usually end up buying most of my planetary improvement. Without having to spend very much money on production you can a very high income, which makes this a workable strategy.
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harlequin969
Sorael
Join Date 05/2003
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Reply #14 April 14, 2006 2:19:33 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
The AI does some things that appear fairly dumb, but it has been improving steadily with each patch. As for not having any factories on their planets, I think the AI buys most of their ship, especially if they pick the neutral and have the discount on ship purchasing. Same deal for the improvements, once my economy is really rolling i usually end up buying most of my planetary improvement. Without having to spend very much money on production you can a very high income, which makes this a workable strategy. Especially on masochistic level or higher where the AI economies run at 200%.

sorry double post. Anyone else have problems with these forums?
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harlequin969
auboy105
Join Date 02/2006
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Reply #15 April 14, 2006 2:21:51 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Have you noticed that there are five or six difficulty levels *above* those two?

They're just trying to make the AI at those difficulty levels more consistent with their names. Not quite the same thing as dumbing it down - because if you want it hard, you just pick an appropriately hard difficulty level.





I dont want to play at higher levels where the AI gets bonuses. I want to play at intelligent where the AI plays its best without bonuses. If they are going to dumb down the AI do it at lower levels...
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harlequin969
Xhala
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Reply #16 April 14, 2006 2:31:32 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
I dont want to play at higher levels where the AI gets bonuses. I want to play at intelligent where the AI plays its best without bonuses.


I don't have my manual handy (I'm at work), but I believe that there are still one or two levels of difficulty above Bright where the AI is bumped up, but is still not getting any economic bonuses. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure.

And I'm sure that a lot of people would like to play a marvelous AI that has no other inherent bonuses... but, as misterwolf said, AI *is* still 'artificial'. I think that the AI in this game is pretty damn good - not perfect, but pretty damn good.

Ultimately, if you want a greater challenge, what's wrong with giving an imperfect artificial intelligence a bit of a built-in bonus to make the contest more difficult? In a way, it's just like improving the AI that you have, only simpler.
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harlequin969
Veantur
Join Date 03/2006
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Reply #17 April 14, 2006 2:41:45 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
i thing the ai is really good for a AI
i hope the next patch will fix the ai attack tactics
i want that the ai will attack in blobs and not in small waves
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harlequin969
Niarg
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Reply #18 April 14, 2006 2:59:11 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
I believe that their aim is for the ai to be able to beat 95% of people without cheating, if you're in the top 5% then you'll have to stick with letting the ai cheat.

Like people have said, it is just an ai. Compare it to the recent chess ais, after over 20 years and millions of pounds being spent we are only just developing computer programs that can beat the best humans, what chance do Stardock have?
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harlequin969
Xan
Join Date 01/2003
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Reply #19 April 14, 2006 3:00:00 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Oh please. If 1.1 is "Easy" then you're probably using some specific tactic that the AI just isn't familiar with countering.

It is an AI so it's not ever going to be as clever as a human. On Civilization 4, their equivalent to "tough" in GalCiv is way down the line. Its AI starts cheating very early in order to provide even the most remote challenge. GalCiv II's AI is much smarter than any other AI i've ever used.
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harlequin969
MegaVolt
Join Date 07/2004
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Reply #20 April 14, 2006 3:07:00 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
compared to a human player, the AI cant compete
it cant be as intelligent very simple
but compared to any other game AI, its outstanding
so yes, the AI sucks (if you compare to humans)
but its still the best one available and its the best by far

what i like to see is metaverse strategy stuff implemented into the AI
i think it was done for gal civ 1 ...
the developers could look at the metaverse replays and see how the best scoring players build their planets
then simply set AI priorities to match this setup
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harlequin969
vortexdr
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Reply #21 April 14, 2006 3:13:56 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
Well aye i agree game is to easy, depends though also on what area i find the AI real lacking in plantary managment but more so smart research and ship building.

Overall i would say as far as millitary goes the AI is incompetant. Would go a far way if it would research far into weapon tech trees rather then researching all 3 and gimping itself in the process that and well the AI is just horrible at building somewhat efficent ships. As said as far as millitary goes the AI is a joke even at Painful +.

Does a good job at culture but millitary is unfortunatly lacking. Don't even recall a game that i lost and that can mostly be attributed to the AI having horrible ships and almost refusing to research far into a specific weapon tech...
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harlequin969
Mismatched
Join Date 05/2002
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Reply #22 April 14, 2006 3:38:24 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
On my 3rd game ever I switched up to Tough. I am still winning easily. There are many areas of the AI that need improving. Fortunately I have harder difficulties to try. And personnally, I don't care how much an AI cheats so long as there is a level where I have a hard time winning, or even better I get my butt kicked.
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harlequin969
Popup Target
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Reply #23 April 14, 2006 4:01:05 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
I dont want to play at higher levels where the AI gets bonuses. I want to play at intelligent where the AI plays its best without bonuses. If they are going to dumb down the AI do it at lower levels...


Which is what happened here. Normal and Bright got toned down in response to the improved algorithms. Intelligent gets the same lack of bonuses/penalties it always had, but now is playing with the improved algorithms, so it is probably harder now.
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harlequin969
BladeVenom
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Reply #24 April 14, 2006 4:08:22 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
I got raped on masochist level with the latest beta in one game (culture defeat by torians)then really kicked ass on the next game.


The Torians do well now because of the changes made in population growth. It's not anything they do, except breed faster. More population=more influence. Make Love not War.

Play them or a custom race with a population growth bonus. Didn't use to matter becuase of the max pop. growth cap. Now it can win the game without you hardly even having to do anything.
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harlequin969
Zippyriver
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Reply #25 April 14, 2006 4:11:52 PM
from GalCiv II ForumsGalCiv II Forums
I dont want to play at higher levels where the AI gets bonuses. I want to play at intelligent where the AI plays its best without bonuses. If they are going to dumb down the AI do it at lower levels...


The two levels mentioned are lower levels.

I likewise play at intelligent (vs9large). And can beat it at that level, and feel like I was given a fair challange. I am still developing my strategy and of course it has holes in it. Playing at a level that the AI gets no bonuses helps point out those holes a lot easier. And likewise, I certainly don't want any pre-map bonuses either (not talking about race choices).

There is an idea for those that find the game to easy. Can you creat a race and not choose any attributes? either that or pick some "useless" ones.
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