1.3 beta 2a | AI totally idle

from GalCiv2 Forums
I just played a Normal level game against 9 opponents. 8 of them are almost totally idle with no ships, no techs researched, colonies almost empty of buildings, no ships built, etc. Only the Drengin actually did anything, and they are also far behind me in everything. Something is definitely wrong with Normal AI being this unreactive.

Top of debug.err file is shown below:


Debug Message: Version v1.3 beta 2a last updated on: Tue Aug 8 16:18:51 2006
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 8/20/2006, 18:10:59
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: MYPC
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Model: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
BIOS: BIOS Date: 08/04/05 22:35:07 Ver: 08.00.09
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Physical Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 390MB used, 2071MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: RADEON X800 Series
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip Type: ATI RADEON X800 XL AGP (0x554D)
DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_554D&SUBSYS_03021002&REV_00
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: SyncMaster 193Pplus,SyncMaster Magic CX911P (Analog)
Monitor Max Resolution: 1280,1024
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6626
Driver Date: 7/18/2006 23:58:29
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes

Display device 2:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY2
Card Name: RADEON X800 Series - Secondary
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip Type: ATI RADEON X800 XL Secondary AGP (0x556D)
DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_556D&SUBSYS_03031002&REV_00
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1360 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6626
Driver Date: 7/18/2006 23:58:29
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes



Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0007&SUBSYS_10061102&REV_00
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: P17.sys
Provider: Creative Technology Ltd.
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.0314
Driver Date: 6/4/2004 05:27:46
Type: WDM
Other Drivers:
Acceleration Level: 3
Cap Flags: 0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0



Debug Message: *********END dxdiag info.*********
Debug Message: Entering WinMain
Debug Message: ******* Starting Game Shell *******
Debug Message: Going Fullscreen
Debug Message: Preparing to change display settings.
Debug Message: Using multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_4_SAMPLES
Debug Message: Game Resolution: 1280 x 1024
Debug Message: Running fullscreen.
Debug Message: HAL (hw vp): RADEON X800 Series
Debug Message: D3DPRESENT_INTERVAL_DEFAULT
Debug Message: Refresh rate: 60
Debug Message: Bit Depth: 32 bit.
Debug Message: *********Checking D3DDevice Caps***********************
Debug Message: A full-color cursor is supported in hardware at high resolution modes.
Debug Message: RGB in format 6:6:6, Masks reported as ff0000:ff00:ff
Debug Message: Now Fullscreen
Debug Message: Shell initialization complete
Debug Message: ***** Initializing Game *****
Debug Message: Timer Frequency is 0 b2bb2850
Debug Message: Initializing sound card.
Debug Message: initailizing bink
35,950 views 16 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If you go a bit further with the degub.err, it should show what the intelligences were set to (the specific values). There have been some issues with some AIs getting set to brain-dead, especially when you use the randomize setting.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Normal level is a below average AI. What was your size of sandbox and how many turns in the game did you play and what type of victory did you manage?
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Normal level is a below average AI. What was your size of sandbox and how many turns in the game did you play and what type of victory did you manage?


+ Normal scenario
+ all victory conditions disabled, so Conquest was the goal
+ Minor Races disabled
+ I checked the "use CPU intensive algorithms"
+ Huge galaxy
+ all 9 races left with default attributes
+ set difficulty to Normal with no randomization, with equated to Normal intelligence for all races

I have not played GC2 for quite some time, but I'm not working this week so I wanted to get in some long games. I started at Normal level as a warm up, but this was just WAY too easy. It has to be a bug of some kind, because when I played a lot during the beta testing period Normal was, well, NORMAL!

When did that "allow AI to use CPU intensive algorithms" option get added? I checked it. Could that be broken and screwing up the AI? I still have a savegame if that would be helpful to anyone. How can you tell what AI level was set after the game is already started?
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
and I played a LOT of turns before I realized that the AI wasn't doing anything (except the Drengin). Like I said, it was sort of a warm-up after not playing for a long time.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
When did that "allow AI to use CPU intensive algorithms" option get added? I checked it. Could that be broken and screwing up the AI?


It was added in 1.2, and for the most part it just lets the AI redesign its ships more frequently than the base once-per-year.

How can you tell what AI level was set after the game is already started?


You should be able find the intelligence in Foreign Policy->Stats->Misc, though if you scroll down a bit firther in the debug.err than you posted above you should see the actual values, rather than the name of the level (the values are more accurate for troubleshooting).
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
All you people, join my empire Zegarea. Zman2100 out.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You should be able find the intelligence in Foreign Policy->Stats->Misc,


ARRGGGHHH!!!! The Drengin are set to Normal and the rest are set to Fool! Well thanks for telling me where to find the AI Intelligence level. I'm still really irritated that I wasted time playing against a gimped AI. I definitely set the game difficulty to have all AI players with Normal intelligence (they were already set that way when I chose overall game difficulty of Normal) and I confirmed each one on the setup screen before I started the game. Have other people experienced this bug?
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yes, I have, I specifically came to this forum to find out what was happening.

I Played about 10 years worth and the AI did squat. I noticed it's lack of activity early on maybe 2 or 3 years into the game, but played a bit more to see if anything would happen... nothing. I even tried giving them money and techs, but nothing.

My settings were almost identical to proud canadians with one exception, I had minor races enabled. I also checked to make sure the AI's were set to normal before I played.

I'll try again at a higher AI level to see if that makes a difference.

Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have noticed with 1.3b2 that whenever I start a game the Terrans are set to "Fool", while that main setting is Suicidal. All the other races come up at the highest setting, but the Terrans are always set to fool.
So I have to manually reset the intelligence level each game to make sure it is correct.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm seeing this a lot as well--especially with the Dregnin, they rarely expand at all!

Plus the intelligence settings for the AI are constantly incorrect. I like to play at Tough or painful, but whenever I contact other races I check the stats and see that their intelligence is 'sub-normal.' Very annoying!

Moosetek13,

How do you set the intelligence levels manually?

Cheers!
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
How do you set the intelligence levels manually?


On the game setup screen where you can choose which AI races are going to be your opponents in the game, you can click each one individually and set the intelligence (and other things too). I don't think you can change the AI intelligence after the game has begun. If you could, I'm sure that would trip the "cheating" flag anyway.
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
yep, in my current suicidal game, the terrans are set to fool......prescient?

COME TO ME ARMS PC!!!!

  
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have gotten into the habit of resetting the main intelligence setting to Obscene, then back to Suicidal before each game. That resets the Terrans back to Ultimate.

I tried editing the Prefs.ini file directly, but it reset itself.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I've had the Terran problem, but haven't known why. Thanks, Moosetek. This is definitely a bug, but it looks like the Stardock people will be looking at it now.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It was added in 1.2, and for the most part it just lets the AI redesign its ships more frequently than the base once-per-year.

How often does the AI get to redesign ships with this selected? Does selecting it raise your MV score? I play games on very fast research so a lot happens in a year. Not enabling this feature would cripple the AI on fast research; I almost think this should not be an option. Perhaps the AI redesign frequency should be keyed to the research rate or every time it gets a tech that affects ship design.
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I've seen the same thing happen, but I know the AIs were set to something higher than Normal. Happened with the Drengin and Yor, if memory serves.