[Freeciv] Re: egregious cheating by AI

[paulz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

On Fri, Apr 28, 2000 at 12:17:10AM -0400, Andrew Pimlott wrote:
> 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).

Yes, this is easy to do.  On the main map there is a flag or a shield
on the city when it is defended.  On the minimap it is a different color.

> > > - 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.

This is exactly what is happening.  

-- 
Paul Zastoupil