This is a continuation of these threads: http://aow.triumph.net/forums/topic...ai-do-in-auto-combat-and-that-would-need-fix/ and http://aow.triumph.net/forums/topic...ined-by-extremely-poor-ai/page/4/#post-264438
The stuff we can actually edit:
See also https://age-of-wonders-3.fandom.com/wiki/AI#Modding_AI
Strategic AI
– maximum number of summons per spell (e.g. Banshees limited to 4) – Max AI sustained at once
—- In particular: Banshee and Dread Reaper are currently limited at 0. The max of different class scout units should be reviewed compared to other summons.
– maximum proportion of one given unit (currently 20%)
– change research priorities (lower CP upgrade priority and increase Empire Upgrade priority for Warlord and Dreadnought)
– change building priorities (including for units: BuildFrequency)
– change hero upgrade priorities
– remove Dispel for AI (to avoid Dispel spams)
– upgrade the AI tactical (defense, resistance) bonus for Strong and Very Strong Defenders (require a mod by strength though)
– delay research of the Disjunction spell a bit and its cost on every spell to prevent the AI spamming it like crazy, yet increase its effectiveness a little to counter the ease of reinforcing spells
– boost buildings’ bonus because the AI builds most of them
Tactical AI
– reduce obstacle damage (e.g. of Fireball to avoid the AI using it on a Wooden Wall instead of units)
– Die to Unit Score Penalty (value the AI adds to target evaluation scores if the actor will die attacking a target unit)
– priority of some spells like: Call Ancestral Spirit, Summon Siege Engine which do not seem to be used
AI boosts
– hero upgrade with XP boosts for AI heroes
– Avatar skills “Free for AI” and “Research Type” – never (cannot be obtained by players)
– sneaky healing
– starting army boosts
– income boosts
The stuff we want to edit and potential test environments:
Choice of target and abilities by individual units
AI01
TEST ENVIRONMENT: I don’t know, that’s very hard to reproduce, we should try to get a save game and a video when that happens.
AI02
TEST ENVIRONMENT: player A has a Settler and a Builder. Player B has all the spells: Slayer's Doubt, Stiffen Limbs, Root Spears, Holy Cure, etc. and a unit, for instance a Marauder. Player B attacks player A: if the spells are not used, then it is solved.
AI03
The point 1/ should be do-able, but need test to see the result.
TEST ENVIRONMENT: first a preparatory fight to damage one of your unit. Then the real fight vs 1 Reanimator. Keep your injured unit just out of range at the beginning, then hit the Reanimator for about 20 HP and get your injured unit at range where it could be killed. In theory, without the patch, the Reanimator should heal itself.
==> the test map should for instance have 2 human hotseat players so that you can hurt yourself in a controlled environment + 1 independent structure with 1 Reanimator
=> this was tested and didn't work: http://aow.triumph.net/forums/topic...o-combat-and-that-would-need-fix/#post-264449
AI04
Solution 2 would be to split Fireball into 2 spells, one for obstacles and one for unit, and prevent AI from using the obstacle one.
TEST ENVIRONMENT: city with Wooden Walls, siege with a Leader with Blessing of Health, Holy War, Fireball and many CP and let’s say 5 Cavalry vs 4 Human Archers, 4 Human Longswordsman. Check if the AI does cast Fireball on walls.
AI05
TEST ENVIRONMENT: city with Leader in, Repair Fortification only. Attack the city with some Wall Crushing units like Trolls.
AI06
TEST ENVIRONMENT: AI Leader with Dispel, 1 Mystic. You attack with a Necro with Stiffen Limb and some units (to absorb damage, e.g. Trolls), cast Stiffen Limb on the Leader on turn 1. Check that it does Dispel it before Breaking Control.
AI07
TEST ENVIRONMENT: 1 unit on each side, a lot of CP and only the spell to test in the spell book of each player.
AI08
TEST ENVIRONMENT: big battles with a lot of CP and only the spell to test in the spell book of each player.
Stuff already done
DreadReapr did a lot of changes to tactical AI in his mod, see his changelog.
The stuff we can actually edit:
See also https://age-of-wonders-3.fandom.com/wiki/AI#Modding_AI
Strategic AI
– maximum number of summons per spell (e.g. Banshees limited to 4) – Max AI sustained at once
—- In particular: Banshee and Dread Reaper are currently limited at 0. The max of different class scout units should be reviewed compared to other summons.
– maximum proportion of one given unit (currently 20%)
– change research priorities (lower CP upgrade priority and increase Empire Upgrade priority for Warlord and Dreadnought)
– change building priorities (including for units: BuildFrequency)
– change hero upgrade priorities
– remove Dispel for AI (to avoid Dispel spams)
– upgrade the AI tactical (defense, resistance) bonus for Strong and Very Strong Defenders (require a mod by strength though)
– delay research of the Disjunction spell a bit and its cost on every spell to prevent the AI spamming it like crazy, yet increase its effectiveness a little to counter the ease of reinforcing spells
– boost buildings’ bonus because the AI builds most of them
Tactical AI
– reduce obstacle damage (e.g. of Fireball to avoid the AI using it on a Wooden Wall instead of units)
– Die to Unit Score Penalty (value the AI adds to target evaluation scores if the actor will die attacking a target unit)
– priority of some spells like: Call Ancestral Spirit, Summon Siege Engine which do not seem to be used
AI boosts
– hero upgrade with XP boosts for AI heroes
– Avatar skills “Free for AI” and “Research Type” – never (cannot be obtained by players)
– sneaky healing
– starting army boosts
– income boosts
The stuff we want to edit and potential test environments:
Choice of target and abilities by individual units
AI01
SOLUTION: Decrease the valuation of flanking if it’s possible. Or increase very slightly the valuation of damage taken?– moving near a unit and taking an attack of opportunity by moving to an adjacent hex while engaged to try to flank the enemy… because 1/ you do not flank it when you do that, and 2/ you take an attack of opportunity!!! It’s ok to try this kind of movement to attack a 2nd unit but not if you want to flank the unit you move near to
TEST ENVIRONMENT: I don’t know, that’s very hard to reproduce, we should try to get a save game and a video when that happens.
AI02
SOLUTION: Remove Settlers and Builders from the list of valid targets (just like Undead can’t be affected by some spells).– Casting Slayer’s Doubt (or Stiffen Limb) or any damage spells (e.g. Root Spears) on a Settler (or Builder for that matter): it’s not going to attack you anyway!
List of spells:
Dispel
Root Spears
Hornet Swarm
Flash Bang
Force Field
Weapon Kit
Quick Dash
Rain of Poison Blades
Blind
Panic Attack
Cunning Escape
Moving Target
Shadow Form
Magic Fist
Star Blades
Sphere of Protection
Chain Lightning
Harmonizing Energy
Cosmic Spray
Static Sphere
Slayer's Doubt
Smite
Divine Protection
Instant Wrath
Mighty Meek
Rebirth
Last Stand
Lion's Courage
Berserk
Shout of Intimidation
Phoenix Warrior
Killing Spree
Steadfast Ward
Suffocate
Seeker Enchantment
Haste
Bless
Holy Cure
Resurrect
Killer Instinct
Disintegrate
Stoning
Stone Skin
Slow
Fire Ball
Skin of Oil
Fire Halo
Vengeful Frost
Frost Missile
Shock Missile
True Resurrect
Warp Equipment
Degenerate
Death Ray
Stiffen Limbs
Syphon Life
Safeguard
Aura of Inspiration
Shield of Light
Black Lightning
TEST ENVIRONMENT: player A has a Settler and a Builder. Player B has all the spells: Slayer's Doubt, Stiffen Limbs, Root Spears, Holy Cure, etc. and a unit, for instance a Marauder. Player B attacks player A: if the spells are not used, then it is solved.
AI03
– heroes (and other units) use Healing or other healing abilities in a very untimely and unwise manner, very often opening their flank to enemies (like: they move IN FRONT of their ally and literally open their back to their enemies). Two issues here: 1/ healing abilities should receive a lower priority because sometimes the AI prefers to heal rather than attack, even when it could lead to a kill, 2/ the movement should be more clever, to avoid turning your back to enemy units
The point 1/ should be do-able, but need test to see the result.
TEST ENVIRONMENT: first a preparatory fight to damage one of your unit. Then the real fight vs 1 Reanimator. Keep your injured unit just out of range at the beginning, then hit the Reanimator for about 20 HP and get your injured unit at range where it could be killed. In theory, without the patch, the Reanimator should heal itself.
==> the test map should for instance have 2 human hotseat players so that you can hurt yourself in a controlled environment + 1 independent structure with 1 Reanimator
=> this was tested and didn't work: http://aow.triumph.net/forums/topic...o-combat-and-that-would-need-fix/#post-264449
AI04
SOLUTION: Motasa already implemented that, see http://aow.triumph.net/forums/topic...ined-by-extremely-poor-ai/page/4/#post-264438– cast Fire Ball repeatedly on walls in siege battles even after one breach was made (casting Fire Balls on walls is a waste of mana overall but it’s even more so when a breach has been made; in my case, it started casting Fire Balls immediately after having cast Blessing of Health, whereas it should have cast Holy War first, as it’s much more useful on 10+ attacking Devouts)
Solution 2 would be to split Fireball into 2 spells, one for obstacles and one for unit, and prevent AI from using the obstacle one.
TEST ENVIRONMENT: city with Wooden Walls, siege with a Leader with Blessing of Health, Holy War, Fireball and many CP and let’s say 5 Cavalry vs 4 Human Archers, 4 Human Longswordsman. Check if the AI does cast Fireball on walls.
AI05
SOLUTION: Should be easy to change. But then it will cast it vs Flying units… :Sthe AI never uses Repair Fortification
TEST ENVIRONMENT: city with Leader in, Repair Fortification only. Attack the city with some Wall Crushing units like Trolls.
AI06
SOLUTION: See if we can raise Break Control’s priority to extremely high. Another option is to prevent AI from using Dispel entirely, might be a good idea, as Motasa did.– Dispel (with the Leader’s CP from outside the battlefield) Stiffen Limb BEFORE using Break Control on it (it should check if a unit in range can do Break Control, or Break Control should have a higher “initiave” than Dispel, which means units with it act first)
TEST ENVIRONMENT: AI Leader with Dispel, 1 Mystic. You attack with a Necro with Stiffen Limb and some units (to absorb damage, e.g. Trolls), cast Stiffen Limb on the Leader on turn 1. Check that it does Dispel it before Breaking Control.
AI07
SOLUTION: make it excluded for 1vs1Cast Chant of Unlife, Greater Reawakening, Slayer's Doubt and Stiffen Limbs in a 1vs1 battle
TEST ENVIRONMENT: 1 unit on each side, a lot of CP and only the spell to test in the spell book of each player.
AI08
SOLUTION: activate Call Beast Hordes for AI. Test activating the other 2.The AI does not cast summon spells in auto:
– Call Beast Hordes (should definitely be used as there is no “target” hex to choose)
– Call Ancestral Spirits or Summon Siege Engine (probably because the AI would not know WHERE to cast it?)
TEST ENVIRONMENT: big battles with a lot of CP and only the spell to test in the spell book of each player.
Stuff already done
DreadReapr did a lot of changes to tactical AI in his mod, see his changelog.
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