[Freeciv-Dev] Re: more ai levels

[Lalo Martins <lalo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Please notice I'm trying to make the AI _easier_, not harder.
Also, I am _not_ a good player (despite being with Freeciv for
almost two years now), that's why I think I'm useful in this
particular point :-)


On Thu, Feb 24, 2000 at 11:33:02AM -0500, Mike Jing wrote:
> >From: Lalo Martins <lalo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >
> >- fight for the wonders, all of them that are useful, starting
> >from the Pyramids, then Great Wall, Leonardo's, whatever.
> 
> I believe the AI does this, although its choice of wonders is somewhat 
> questionable.

It priorizes settlers and military.

> >- use Caravans to build Wonders; this means it builds less
> >settlers and military units.
> 
> It sure does this too.

It does? Fine.

> >- put decent space between cities, and choose better the place
> >for them.
> 
> What would be a "decent space" for you?  You do realize that if you put them 
> too far apart, not only do you lose time for expansion (moving settlers are 
> slow and they cost upkeep), but all the trade will be eaten up by 
> corruption, especially at the beggining when you are under despotism.

I know. That's the point.

"Decent space" means no overlap if possible. And choosing the
space means avoiding bad terrain (tundra, desert, swamp) and
priorizing locations where you get a lot of specials.

I know this isn't a good strategy, but it's a common newbie
mistake (one I still make) and can be emulated to make the AI
more newbie-friendly.

> >- give minimal infrastructure to cities before moving on to
> >build the next one (irrigation on the city tile and the tile
> >where it draws most of its food, and if it's very close to some
> >other city, road).
> 
> Why do you need to irrigate the city tile when it already has "fake" 
> irrigation?

Aaaaaaaaaaargh I didn't know that :-((( so much wasted time!
hahahahahahahahahahaha

> >- build harbour and temple before anything else (if available).
> 
> You do need these to grow your cities.

But IIRC the AI builds as many settlers as it can before going
for anything else, no?

> >- worry a lot about happiness, and make sure all cities have
> >food surplus.
> 
> Only worry about these things when it's time to celebrate and grow.  :)  Of 
> course, first you have to grow to at least size 3 (rapture_size).

But the AI will be easier if it worries from the beginning.

> >And one additional limiting factor could be disallowing this AI
> >to attack huts.
> 
> The AI is only interested in exploring its own continent.  It never brings 
> its explorer across the sea, thus huts on other islands are often 
> unexplored.

IIUIC, this is no longer true.

-------------

Damn, how little I know about this game and strategy :-) Ok,
the invitation stays open; whoever wants to play me (and beat
me to hell of course) to see what I do wrong, just mail me. (Or
watch me be beaten by the AI, is "lurker mode" still enabled?)

[]s,
                                               |alo
                                               +----
--
      I am Lalo of deB-org. You will be freed.
                 Resistance is futile.

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