Jakcie A.I (Actual AI improvements)

I will be really interested in knowing that too! Btw I just played a game vs the vanilla hard AI, and boy oh boy, they improved like crazy, like the actual hard AI could easily beat the previous ridicolous AI imo

One big thing that I need to restart for in this ai is the “economy” file. It basically has all the values that the ai needs to know what to build and without it it just does not build or train anything. The one I made for this mod before the dlc had cool features but was kinda made out of really unorganized values in an attempt to avoid bugs. With the new civs there is obviously a ton changed so I need to restart and modify the new file instead.

Another kinda big thing is the “tuning” file which includes villager gathering priorities, how far dropoffs are, unit counters and a ton of other stuff. One main thing I had to restart is the unit counter values. This may make the ai not use counters as much or make them use bad units to counter other units (like using archers to counter camel riders) and making the new modded ai not make as many rams as before. I’ll get to that when I can

Other than that the files from the old one were changed to follow some new values the devs put into the ai. They changed a bit more about the ai than what the patch notes said (if you want to know what I backed up the old files, I can look into that more). There are still features that carried over such as usable abilities, fighting logic, pathing, retreating, building placement, etc.

The current changes go into some of the things I put into the ai when I first made it such as faster tc expansions, more of a focus on making units, limiting too many of certain buildings, and making their fighting better.

I don’t know if that is the case truthfully right now as I didn’t test the ai a lot (1 day into the dlc lol) but I do notice a few things that could be “wrong?” with my ai compared to before. (I dont know if its my ai or the vanilla ai but they never did this before)

They like to hard focus the tc

They dont follow the “build 2nd tc next to landmark tc” thing anymore (Although I do like their tc placements a lot better than before, not as far as before)

There are a lot of good things I see now though. I honestly don’t know much about the weaknesses of the new ai as some of the big/broken weaknesses (dropoff spam, terrible retreating and moving to objectives) are fixed/not as bad as before. I guess I just need to test more with the new ai to see what I can improve.

One thing I am trying to do right now is look at the byzantine cistern placements. I can’t influence it but I settled to place it right next to dropoffs. I’ll try to resume development of the mod further

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I was just about to write to you about the Byzantine cisterns. AI doesn’t build more than 4 cisterns :frowning:

Thank you for improving the AI and continuing to work on the mod .

@JakcieChan1178 Great job keeping this amazing mod updated!

Biggest issue I have seen so far is that the AI seems to have been instructed to leave 3-4 tile empty radius around their town centers to allow farms there later. This does not include mongol pastures so their economy late game is 50 pastures with no workers far away from all drop off points. Maybe pastures could be included in the farms allowed rule?

I also noticed that byz ai creates random triangels with the aqueducts without connecting cicterns to each other. Often times there is just empty spot where the aqueduct is broken with seemingly no reason

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Biggest issue I have seen so far is that the AI seems to have been instructed to leave 3-4 tile empty radius around their town centers to allow farms there later. This does not include mongol pastures so their economy late game is 50 pastures with no workers far away from all drop off points. Maybe pastures could be included in the farms allowed rule?

It may be a bug/the new update’s fault. In the files, there is certain structures that are forced to be placed next to certain structures, that is how in the old version of the ai I can have them build their tc right next to each other. In the update however, even though I ported over the file with the new civs in mind too, but they now build their tcs apart from their main. I don’t know what to do with that rn.

I also noticed that byz ai creates random triangels with the aqueducts without connecting cicterns to each other. Often times there is just empty spot where the aqueduct is broken with seemingly no reason

Sorry, I dont know how to change that if it is even possible with current tools.

dont be 100% impressed yet lol, its not a huge change and there is still a lot of bugs/logic inefficiency with the ai byzantine cistern and aqueducts that hamper them, not even going into the other complex mechanics that make the byzantines a low tier ai civ.

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When I played against the Ottoman hardest ai on the glade map in a 2v2 team game the they didn’t build any landmarks or units except for the few spearmen coming from military schools.

@JakcieChan1178 I was wondering . Can you make the AI use some abilities that it doesn’t use by default. For example Shield Wall ability in Limitanei and Triumph, Trample Cataphract or Berserk in Varangian Guard.

Or building abilities like Griot Bara in Malians or Guild Hall in French.

If you are interested I can give you a full list of abilities or things that the AI doesn’t use :slight_smile:

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When I played against the Ottoman hardest ai on the glade map in a 2v2 team game the they didn’t build any landmarks or units except for the few spearmen coming from military schools.

I think it may be a vanilla ai issue, I used to have a pretty botch fix for that so that they dont build as many military production, and dont hard focus feudal and opt for age ups but that got lost in the new update, since its still a problem ill try to remake the fix. This should be a ottoman only issue though.

@JakcieChan1178 I was wondering . Can you make the AI use some abilities that it doesn’t use by default. For example Shield Wall ability in Limitanei and Triumph, Trample Cataphract or Berserk in Varangian Guard.

I have files do try and enable some of the abilities that the ai wont use, some examples were rus golden gate, french guild hall, hre repairs, chinese spies. I dont know if they still work but im doubtful because I confirmed that the golden gate does not work anymore, it may be bugged. Just in case, I did add byzantine limitanei shields, cataphract trample and triumph and they should work under the right circumstances, again I just need to test more.

If you are interested I can give you a full list of abilities or things that the AI doesn’t use :slight_smile:

please do and thanks!

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@JakcieChan1178 That’s what you asked for :smiley:
By the way I can help test your AI
here’s my Discord (youmomcallme)
Steam (76561198399248341)

Rus
AI does not use the Gallop Horse Archer ability
AI does not rebuild Lodya into other species
The AI doesn’t use abilities in The Golden Gate

French
French AI doesn’t withdraw resource from guild hall. The AI’s resources are constantly piling up.
AI does not use Arbalétrier’s Deploy Pavise ability

China
AI that plays for China never builds Great Wall Gatehouse and thus does not go to Ming Dynasty. AI does not get bonuses from Ming Dynasty (health reserve of military units +10%) and does not get access to unique Grenadier units.
I think this is a very significant problem. I think we need to open access to Grenadier by default without entering the Ming Dynasty and give the bonus health reserve of military units +10% only for AI. Or how to make the AI to build a wall and then Great Wall Gatehouse or at least part of the wall (as it is done by humans for defense).

The AI does not use Imperial Official’s Supervise ability.
The AI also sends one or all Imperial Official to the Barbican of the Sun or TC garrison instead of him collecting taxes.
AI does not use Imperial Spies ability in Imperial Palace
AI doesn’t put Relics in Pagoda’s garrison

Ottomans
AI does not take advantage of Sultanhani Trade Network . The AI does not place additional traders in the garrison of a building. Thus the AI has only 2 traders instead of 6 at all times.

The AI doesn’t use the Fortitude ability Sipahi

Byzantium
Byzantium’s AI does not build the fifth water cistern and thus loses part of the bonus.
I also noticed that the AI builds 4 only when the AI has built Cistern of the First Hill .And when AI does not build Cistern of the First Hill, AI always has 3 cisterns by default.
Byzantine AI is not using the Triumph ability in Imperial Hippodrome. Also the AI does not use the Varangian Guard (Berserking) ability and the Cataphracts Charge ability the AI does not use either. Limitanei also does not put a wall of shields .
AI also doesn’t use Arkitoi Defense when enemies destroy villagers near Cistern.
Varangian Guard don’t use Transport Ship.

Ayyubids
AI does not use Trade Wing and Advisors ability and thus does not use Atabegs
AI sometimes doesn’t build the last wing (builds 3 but doesn’t build the fourth wing)
Desert Raider does not switch weapon mode (Bow - Blade)
AI also does not hire Bedouin Swordsman, but Bedouin Skirmisher AI hires on Bazaar.
AI doesn’t use Siege Carpentry ability although it makes an upgrade in Siege Workshop
AI does not switch firing mode (Kinetic - Incendiary) in Manjaniq

Abbasid Dynasty
Imams cant convert units even when Proselytization technology is investigated

AI sometimes does not build the last wing of House of Wisdom (three builds and the fourth does not build).
Even when the AI has been playing for over an hour it still may not explore the last wing .

Zhu Xi’s Legacy
AI does not use the Body of Iron Shaolin Monk ability.
The AI does not use Imperial Official’s Supervise ability.
AI improves the max number of Imperial Official but does not hire more than 5 of them
AI doesn’t put Relics in Pagoda’s garrison
AI doesn’t switch Temple of the Sun abilities

Please make the AI build Meditation Gardens always closer to gold :slight_smile:

Jeanne d’Arc
Jeanne d’Arc AI doesn’t withdraw resource from guild hall. The AI’s resources are constantly piling up.

AI does not use Arbalétrier’s Deploy Pavise ability

Jeanne d’Arc (Woman-at-Arms) does not use Holy Wrath, nor does Jeanne d’Arc use Valorous Inspiration or Strength of Heaven.

Order of the Dragon and Holy Roman Empire
The AI does not use the Emergency Repairs ability

Delhi Sultanate
The AI doesn’t use Man-at-Arms’, Spearman, Crossbowman, Archer and Handcannoneer (Forced March) ability.
The AI does not put Scholar in the garrison of the Palace of the Sultan building and thus the creation of elephants is very slowed down.

English
The AI does not use Longbowman’s Place Palings ability when cavalry approaches.
The AI also does not use the Setup Camp ability on Longbowman and Man-at-Arms.

Malians
The AI does not use Griot Bara and his abilities
AI does not use Musofadi Gunner and Musofadi Warrior’s Activate Stealth ability

Mongols
The AI does not use Khan’s Scouting Falcon ability
The AI doesn’t move Steppe Redoubt mostly and thus loses the bonuses from gold collection.

ALL CIV
All AI Civilizations do not use the Man The Sails ability

General AI problems
Some of the AI merchants are standing still for some reason
I also noticed that only new AI Civilizations build Lumber Camp normally, I mean that when the AI is running out of wood, the AI destroys the Lumber Camp and does not build more. And the AI of old civilizations still builds a huge number of Lumber Camp and does not remove them .

The AI is still the same as before but less likely to leave its villagers without action . In the late game.

AI chop wood less often in the beginning and thus takes longer to build houses and AI lacks villagers .

There are more older AI bugs you can find them here :slight_smile:

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Nice, thanks a lot Ill look into this.

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Thank you ! Jakcie :slight_smile:

@JakcieChan1178 By the way, have you noticed that the AI has stopped building walls?

I play with your AI all the time and I’ve noticed that the AI has started using abilities that it didn’t use before . For example Shield Wall in Limitanei or Longbowman Arrow Volley , Musofadi Warrior Activate Stealth. Thank you ! I will keep playing and testing :slight_smile:

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I never had anything for musofadi stealth but I do have volley and shield wall. If it works, it works I guess I never really knew how to test such a thing anyway.

The wall thing has been a thing since last season. In the files, ai walling is straight up turned off so I guess they know how much of a detriment walling is to the ai. hopefully one day they can turn it back on with better walling ai.

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@JakcieChan1178
It’s easy to check. You must first install the mod Mods Single - Age of Empires ( AI Battle) and then select the mode (where you select modes like Nomad) then set the command 1 if you want to be played by AI (AI takes control of the player, it is a cooperative mode with AI) or set the command 8 but then you disappear from the game at the beginning and only AI vs AI plays. This way you can check both directly AI script and observe from the side. I think you will find it useful :slight_smile:
By the way there is also a speed increase in the lower right corner of the screen (near the minicart) so that the testing process was much faster.
And if you want to play in co-op against the AI do not put cheater difficulty because the AI that will play in co-op with you will not have bonuses cheater difficulty and the enemy AI will have bonuses.

Coop

AI only

You can also use any AI mod remove and play with the original AI.

omg I never seen this before. Thanks! I only ever just afked in a team game or used advanced ai settings with diplomacy no vision but that broke.

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Hey Jakcie I wanted to ask a question… The updated version of the mod still the same? Like, if I put ridicolous setting, does your AI just have the age up advantage? It would be nice to have an update on the harder difficulties

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cheating ais have the same modded ai as the hardest ai. The only thing I changed specifically is that the cheating ai makes less villagers in exchange for military.

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@JakcieChan1178 By the way, have you already tried testing the AI with (AI Battle mod) ?

yea, it works very well compared to the other options I was using, thanks for it!

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