Playing against the computer

[czc]

I didn't want to say AI because these behaviours are usually hardcoded (AFAIK)

The computer opponents are quite aggressive in Offworld Trading Company. There is a mission I haven't passed yet because the computer opponents keep buying me out. Its forced me to play faster and be more aggressive than I usually am when I play a game like that. So really liking Offworld Trading Company.

Another thing I've noticed is that the computer opponents start with less resources than you, I think it might just be a starting difference though. I remember in Age of Empires the computer basically cheated.

So what are some games with computer opponents that aren't too bad? What do you think could be done better?

 

[HavocXphere]

I like the planetary annihilation AI. On the harder settings I end up losing a fair bit. The WC3 ones were pretty good as well. Haven't tried SC2 but I'd imagine should be decent too given the emphasis on MP.

FPS side not much. HL2 was interesting in that if you load a save multiple times they don't always behave the same.

I remember in Age of Empires the computer basically cheated.?

They pretty much all cheat in some shape or form.

Limited info kills the AI's ability to the point where it's broken. So if you think of fog of war. That makes sense in the context of the game, but stuff like path finding breaks down if you don't allow the computer full view of the map. So on many things you have to give the computer an advantage just to even the odds.

On the other end of the spectrum you need to restrain the AI in many cases. For example having now given the AI full view of the battlefield you can't put in behaviour that seems "unfair". For example if they build the exact correct counter units to yours each time since they could see what you're building. Another example would be a FPS bot with perfect aim. That's a good but no fun.

So extremely difficult for the programmer to get both the difficultly right yet also make it seem somewhat human like. Plus the AI usually gets a fairly limited allocation of processing power.

So really liking Offworld Trading Company.

Might just try that then. All the economic sims I've tried thus far has structural flaws / simplifications where ones you work them out it becomes too easy.

So what are some games with computer opponents that aren't too bad? What do you think could be done better?

Not technically a game, but on this topic - the starcraft AI competitions.

https://www.cs.mun.ca/~dchurchill/starcraftaicomp/

Basically they use SC1 as a platform for holding AI fights. Very cool. These are 90% of the way there to not cheating in any obvious sense.

I suspect we'll see a massive jump in the quality of AI in the next 3 years. All of this machine learning they're using for self-driving cars etc is going to be directly convertible. Plus a lot of it is being accelerated by GPU which obviously gamers have.

 

[beans100]

If they use AI in games and the AI is learning what you do on the computer. Will it allow you to uninstall the game and in the process, the AI? Will it learn how to retaliate..... or even replicate, so that it can't be removed? "whistling:

 

[mottamort]

I will never forget the feeling I got against the AI in the original F.E.A.R.

Maybe its nostalgia (although I did play it years later before playing fear 2/3 and it was still impressive), but man they really seemed organic and if you died and redid a room it was never the same. I think 80% of the fight was just the audio clips played out. "flank him" "no, you flank him!" just made it feel alot more real and better than the really crap AI in fear 2

 

[HavocXphere]

I will never forget the feeling I got against the AI in the original F.E.A.R.

HL1 also had very fast special ops ninja characters that were very good at flanking.

If they use AI in games and the AI is learning what you do on the computer. Will it allow you to uninstall the game and in the process, the AI? Will it learn how to retaliate..... or even replicate, so that it can't be removed? "whistling:

haha I like that.

It's kinda inevitable that at some point the big RTS game AIs start learning across games. i.e. remembering & learning from the last human they battled.

No Skynet in sight though...if you want to understand why google "strong AI versus weak AI". Weak AI is what's going to drive your car in 3 years time. Strong AI is going to power your Skynet in approximately 50 years / never.

 

[bradbear117]

I will never forget the feeling I got against the AI in the original F.E.A.R.

Maybe its nostalgia (although I did play it years later before playing fear 2/3 and it was still impressive), but man they really seemed organic and if you died and redid a room it was never the same. I think 80% of the fight was just the audio clips played out. "flank him" "no, you flank him!" just made it feel alot more real and better than the really crap AI in fear 2

FEAR instantly came to mind for me too.
It added to the creepyness how real the AI seemed.