AI Improvement Project

[Chaingun]

Anyone interested in an AI improvement project since the EU2 source code has been released? The goal would be to make an AI that plays more competently according to the game's rules, rather than a historical AI. This in order to make it offer more of a challenge, making it more comparable to a multiplayer opponent (to the extent that's possible - it won't ever be as good as a [competent] human).

 

[Chaingun]

I can work on AI in a more general project too. Putting this in a more general project probably has the advantage of more easily getting approved by Paradox, as I don't think they can sell an "AI improvement expansion".

AI is just something I'd be very interested to work with, because I've thought of how stupid EU2 AI is for years, and what could happen if it was smarter. I used to play a lot of EU2 MP and the AI is making some really basic mistakes that ruin it. Example: Piling up 100k soldiers in a province with 10k supply limit, spending its money in odd ways, etc.

And yeah, there is a mod (Daywalker's) which basically maximizes the capability of the AI from the modding side already. However, there are a lot of things he couldn't change because they are in the source code.

 

[Chaingun]

Isn't AI some of the hardest stuff to work with, though?

That's exactly why I'd like to work with it. I've basically done everything else (though admittedly I never finished anything). I believe developing oneself should be a key objective in whatever personal project one persues (since it's such a lot of invested effort). I wouldn't exactly do this to make money; in fact if I tried to make money I wouldn't be involved in game development at all.

 

[Chaingun]

I believe best chance for this is if I join someone else's team and work on AI there. Anyone interested? I could probably help with a few other things too if required.

Well I would definately love to see an improved AI, if someone is able to pull it off. I sincerely doubt I myself can.

I do think it's very possible to improve the AI by a huge amount by the fixing its worst shortcomings.

For example the AI tends to lose 90% of its soldiers in a war against me due to attrition. Consider that again; 90% is totally HUGE. It means only 10% of AI troops actually inflict combat losses on me. The corresponding attrition/total loss ratio for a human player averages at 30-50% (some of it is unavoidable). If the AI can be improved in this respect, Very Hard will become Very Utterly Insanely Impossible difficulty (for minors), because the AIs damage output on me in battles may rise by a factor 5.

The problem is because the AI is absolutely terrible at taking province supply limits into aspect when sieging (especially with multiple allies). Of course, nothing is as simple as it seems, since the AI is easier to attack if it puts 6k to siege a minimal fort. However, putting 30k in a 5 supply province just makes the human wait until AI army goes down to attrition. AI should station troops in neighbouring friendly provinces instead to be ready to rush to the defence when human attacks.

I also think the economic AI can be improved a bit, very easily, by simply assigning better build priorities for troops/colonies/manufactories etc. AI needs for instance consider how costly a war is, and act thereafter when negotiating peace/deciding whether to continue. (Some humans don't do this rationally admittedly, which leads to some hilarious disasters. :rofl: )

Another thing I would love to work on is the diplomatic model. I'd completely remove influence of -200/200 relation scale on AI decisions (except for things that have direct influence on gameplay such as good relations for diplo-annexation etc.), and replace with true geopolitical diplomacy. France too big? Attack them because they're big, not because they have -200 with you.

 

[Chaingun]

Well, that project is more for AGCEEP players than for vanilla players (there still are some, right?). A lot of the changes proposed in that thread are adding abilities for modders to use, rather than enhancing core game play. Is an all-in-one project really good for EU2?

That is a good question. My idea of "AI improvement" might not correspond to 100% historically accurate, as I just want it to play as efficiently as possible without cheating. Though I suppose one could develop a configurable AI to have an on/off setting to respect historical boundaries.

On the other hand I don't really think the playerbase is big enough for too many ambitious projects.

 

[Chaingun]

Don't think you'll find an AI which works perfectly underneath, even with optimal modifiers.