Can you describe the difference between playing the AI and a human?

[Kenji03]

I've been working with the AI for AOEO, with some success (PM me if you want an example).

I want to make an AI that feels more like playing a human opponent.Keep in mind that it is not possible to make the AI play as a human would, that is a level of intelligence beyond the scope of what I am trying to do. What is possible, is to make the AI mimic what a human would.

For example: I cannot make the AI do anything but suicide units at a player (that is the only reliable way of attacking the AI can do). What I can do, is make the AI suicide much larger quantities of units (like an econ human spamming units) and suicide siege along with their troops (like a human who encounters fortresses).

So with that in mind...

The problem there is I do not play AOEO competitively at all. So I would like to know a few things about the AI in the opinion of PVP players.

1. What kinds of strategies do human players use that could be easy for a computer to mimic (ex. spamming one or two types of units and attacking with those).
2. What are some things the AI never does that most human players do? (ex. AI does not use Palins)
3. What are some things that exploit the AI in most quests? (Specifically, so I can see if I can stop the AI from making those mistakes -- PMing me these would be preferred).

 

[WiriWout]

Good idea. To get a good idea of what human pvp players tend to do, maybe it is useful to check some of the games played in the previous tournaments

 

[Ardeshir]

Get them to do a proper TC first (into stables harass, or a good 2-3 unit composition push), rax TC (getting and sending 3 spearmen in ASAP), and stables TC (and harassing with 4-8 cavalry) opening as a player would to shorten the economic lead people can build over them. If possible, make an ai willing to proxy/forward barracks (mid-map, or hidden near the player's) early on, or tower (at the edge of LoS to the player's resources) in the midgame. Make it make use of Norse wardogs for scouting and throwaway harass, and infantry/scout building, and with Celts ease up on taking the macro grove so early (but make it take more than 1 later on). Have some way to stop the ais taking the market right next to the player. Any way of determining what the units of the AI actually focus on? How early does it actually take eco upgrades? Stop it from crapping itself and garrisoning villagers until the TC falls when rushed. A mix between microing some of the villagers in and out of the town centre and onto the units fighting off the rush, and trying to scrounge a couple extra resources to throw up a barracks/range with others is what players *have* to do to survive, and the ai chickens out.

Of course, I understand some/most of these fixes would be tons of work each to get right.

 

[Kenji03]

Get them to do a proper TC first (into stables harass, or a good 2-3 unit composition push), rax TC (getting and sending 3 spearmen in ASAP), and stables TC (and harassing with 4-8 cavalry) opening as a player would to shorten the economic lead people can build over them. If possible, make an ai willing to proxy/forward barracks (mid-map, or hidden near the player's) early on, or tower (at the edge of LoS to the player's resources) in the midgame. Make it make use of Norse wardogs for scouting and throwaway harass, and infantry/scout building, and with Celts ease up on taking the macro grove so early (but make it take more than 1 later on). Have some way to stop the ais taking the market right next to the player. Any way of determining what the units of the AI actually focus on? How early does it actually take eco upgrades? Stop it from crapping itself and garrisoning villagers until the TC falls when rushed. A mix between microing some of the villagers in and out of the town centre and onto the units fighting off the rush, and trying to scrounge a couple extra resources to throw up a barracks/range with others is what players *have* to do to survive, and the ai chickens out.

Of course, I understand some/most of these fixes would be tons of work each to get right.

While these are nice suggestions, most of them are "play like a human" not "mimic a human".

In my tests the AI does build all the town centers and does get a decent economy, but as you said the AI tends to build a market super close to itself.

I doubt I can stop it from building a market in the players base, because if they are allies it will treat that area as "safe to build".

A good point is I am unsure if the AI by default does ECO upgrades, so I can look into that.

Also of note is as you said with the amount of production buildings it makes: it makes too few. So I will look into that as well.

 

[Ardeshir]

In my tests the AI does build all the town centers and does get a decent economy, but as you said the AI tends to build a market super close to itself.

I doubt I can stop it from building a market in the players base, because if they are allies it will treat that area as "safe to build".

When it's not building too close a market line, it's building them in the player's base, and I'm not talking just about when it's a teammate lol