[Freeciv] Re: egregious cheating by AI

[Andrew Pimlott <andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Apr 27, 2000 at 10:52:13PM +0200, Thue Janus Kristensen wrote:
> On Thu, 27 Apr 2000, Andrew Pimlott wrote:
> > - AI units head straight for undefended and poorly defended cities.
> >   It's disheartening to see them thread in between defended cities
> >   to get to the one empty one.  (However, this can sometime be used
> >   to decoy AI units!)
> 
> This does not have to be cheat. note that once you have explored an area
> once you can allways see it.

I mean that the AI sees the absense of units inside the city.  Is
there a "legal" way to do this?  I thought it was only possible with
a diplomat or spy, and I'm sure that this is not the case (early in
the game).

> > - AI units sometimes get extra moves.  I didn't believe it the first
> >   time I saw it, so maybe there's someting I don't understand.  But
> >   I'm sure I've seen AI chariots move three spaces over normal land,
> >   killing the unit I thought was out of range.
> 
> What it does is actually to save a few moves to use them the next turn.
> We must fix this sometime. Again the guy who made most of the AI doesn't
> program any more, he forgot to comment his code (&!#¤&¤)

That sounds right--they only get the extra move occasionally (which
makes it extra frustrating, because one must guard against it
always!), so I'm guessing it's when they tried to use a fraction of
a move at the end of last turn, and failed.  Or something like that.
(I am correct that unused moves should never carry over, right?)  I
looked briefly at the AI code myself, but made no headway.

> > - AI units sometimes violate zones of control.  Similar to the
> >   above--I didn't believe it at first, but after several incidents,
> >   I'm sure.
> 
> That sounds like a bug. If you have a savegame where they do this
> consistently send it to this list and we will fix it in the next version.

Do you mean a save right before the claimed illegal move?  So I
should save just before hitting end turn, watch for illegal moves,
and if I see one, it should be repeatable by loading the game?  IOW,
the AI is deterministic and does not keep its own state?

Thanks to you and others for the responses,

Andrew