[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#12682) AI Ignores Building Effects for Tech. Wants

["Per I. Mathisen" <per@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

<URL: http://bugs.freeciv.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=12682 >

On Mon, 28 Mar 2005, Benedict Adamson wrote:
> After examining the AI city improvement code, I can not find anywhere
> that the AI increases its want (pplayer->ai.tech_want[t]) for a
> technology because that technology allows improvements that have a
> particular desirable effect.

Correct.

> There is analogous code for increasing the desire for a technology
> because it allows useful military units (in process_defender_want and
> process_attacker_want), caravans (in ai_choose_help_wonder), diplomats
> (in ai_choose_diplomat_defensive), governments (in
> ai_manage_government), ferries for colonisation
> (find_best_city_placement) and units in general (ai_wants_role_unit).
> Have I missed something?

No.

> If a city desires a (future) improvement that has a particular effect,
> the AI should increase its desire for the technology (or technologies)
> that allow building that improvement.

Ideally, yes. However, that means we would have to iterate through _all_
buildings in the buildings evaluation code, and that would slow it down
considerably. It is already too slow.

I have some work going that may solve that problem (speed) but it is quite
experimental and may not in the end work.

> I believe this is a problem based on observation of the updated
> 'ancients' mod-pack, which I am working on. The AI does not build
> Temples, and consequently its cities often have excessive Elvi and fall
> into disorder. The technology tree for this mod-pack is different from
> default. In it, the technology to build Temples, Polytheism, is not on
> the path for producing any low-technology units or governments (contrast
> with Ceremonial Burial in the default ruleset, which is necessary for
> Monarchy and thus indriectly for Pikemen and Knights). What is more, for
> the ancients mod-pack, thetechnology that depends on Polytheism and
> that allows production of some military units, Dark Age, renders Temples
> obsolete, so by the time the AI bothers to research Polytheism, it soon
> after becomes unable to build Temples.

One solution may be to add AI hints in the techs.ruleset about which techs
the AI should research.

  - Per