What the computer player should do when he's out of money (ie. he realizes he doesn't have enough for the upcoming payday)?
I'm preparing a list of ideas, then we'll be able to discuss them in more detail.
What the computer player should do when he's out of money (ie. he realizes he doesn't have enough for the upcoming payday)?
I'm preparing a list of ideas, then we'll be able to discuss them in more detail.
Perhaps "bribe" the highest paid creatures, or assuming they have one.
Go on a trap/door make/sell
If I have doors I block the portal too. In general, when you're running out of money it's time to get more aggressive, less cautious, explore etc.
I think another problem related to that is that he often slaps his imps to death and therefore runs out of money due to creating new ones. Therefore I would consider reducing the slaps or disable them at all for AI.
Regarding AI player action when out of money, he should mine gold/gems, if not nearby, then searching on the map for it.
Selling traps and doors is also an idean but then it should be avoided that some doors and traps are sold that are already at the start. At a level like Elf´s dance it could be a problem if the AI sells the doors there and then attacks the player too early.
Ok, thanks for your answers.
Please let me know of any further suggestions.
Here's my summary, let me know what do you think about it:
When computer player has less money than 2 * payday expenses
- Stop putting creatures into scavenger room
- Start digging for gold/gems (dig for close gold, then dig for any gold)
- Start picking up gold lying on claimed ground and putting it into TREASURE
- Stop building new rooms other than first of basic rooms (TREASURE,LAIR,HATCHERY,RESEARCH)
When computer player has less money than 3/2 * payday expenses
- Sell traps and doors (sell crates from workshop, then start selling placed traps and doors; skip locked doors)
- Stop putting creatures into training
- Drop 1 gold on some creatures to make them skip payday
- Stop slapping imps which are low on health
- Stop expanding existing rooms
When computer player has less money than 1 * payday expenses
- Sell useless rooms (scavenger room,training room,barracks)
- Attack nearby enemy which is weaker than us (so-called safe attack)
- Loosen constaints on exploring (digging to neutral/hero ground)
- Block the way to portal so that creatures won't leave
Sidenotes:
- When creatures will no longer be put into SCAVENGER or TRAINING, the computer player will put them into other rooms, ie. WORKSHOP or LIBRARY.
Last edited by mefistotelis; December 24th, 2013 at 09:28.
Looks good to me
I like dragons! They're the center of my life! I'll never forget them...
Looks good generally. I'd include the Training Room as a basic room, though.
Also looks good. Maybe implement stopping slapping low-health Imps regardless of gold level - it seems like a waste, regardless of how much gold the AI (relatively) has.
One thing I disagree with here: I don't think the AI should ever sell the Training Room. It's too crucial a room even with low gold. If the AI is left without the possibility of training, it will become a sitting duck. Besides that, the training room isn't worth that much anyway compared to some other rooms.
In my opinion, the AI should sell rooms in this order:
- Scavenger Room - obviously a money sink, and also the most expensive room.
- Graveyard - somewhat expensive, and Vampires are expensive in every way.
- Barracks - does effectively nothing.
- Prison - unless AI uses it, it's useless.
- Torture Chamber - same, though at least it attracts Mistresses.
Also, I think the portal should only be blocked if creatures are angry and 1-gold pays or the Temple won't help.
One note - I'd say there should be a bias towards workshop working, so the AI can attempt to create a workshop flow economy. Creatures that can't work in the workshop, or are significantly better at researching, would research instead.
The Awakening
(current status: not awake) The Awakening Creatures Archive Keeper Animus of Faircoast Skios the Arachnid Warrior
Location: Faircoast Cavern
Level: 7
Gold: 0Krua the Icy Arachnid Witch
Location: Faircoast Cavern
Level: 7
Gold: 0Ouroboros & Ragnarok the Hellhound
Location: Faircoast Cavern
Level: 3
Gold: 0Vampire Ray the Vampire Fly
Location: Northland Iceland
Level: 3
Gold: 0Fortise the Violent Salamander
Location: Northland Iceland
Level: 3
Gold: 0Scutus the Metal Shield
Location: Red Crystal Islands
Level: 2
Gold: 0
IMO the selling of rooms is not a good idea at all. It would take away the need of tactics in some levels, e.g. Mistle: If the AI keeper sells the scavenger room, the player could easily recrute skeletons.
Same in Skybird Trill, you could easily rise vampires that will not be scavenged. Then you could scavenge the enemy vampires and making it too easy.
What's the point of selling it so you have money, but can't expend it on one of the most crucial things to spend gold on (as said, lest the AI becomes a sitting duck)?
Also, I generally imagine that if gold goes up again, one of the AI's first priorities would be to rebuild the training room, as it's still a very important room to have. Rebuilding it during every gold outage just costs more money in the long term.
Yeah, I don't know the rates either. I went with the assumption that the AI generally tries to spread it more or less evenly between training, workshop and research.
The Awakening
(current status: not awake) The Awakening Creatures Archive Keeper Animus of Faircoast Skios the Arachnid Warrior
Location: Faircoast Cavern
Level: 7
Gold: 0Krua the Icy Arachnid Witch
Location: Faircoast Cavern
Level: 7
Gold: 0Ouroboros & Ragnarok the Hellhound
Location: Faircoast Cavern
Level: 3
Gold: 0Vampire Ray the Vampire Fly
Location: Northland Iceland
Level: 3
Gold: 0Fortise the Violent Salamander
Location: Northland Iceland
Level: 3
Gold: 0Scutus the Metal Shield
Location: Red Crystal Islands
Level: 2
Gold: 0