AI stupidity

[boty]

Originally Posted by Stepsongrapes

What do you expect the AI to do though? A slower, lower initiative unit can never catch a faster, higher initiative unit in the situation you described.

I don't see how that's really an AI flaw.

Well, in this situation, the best for AI is to make me end the game prematurely. AI had no chance to win, but at that time all I wanted was to delay the game to have time to repair my droids and also to find more chests with the pet dragon. A clever AI would chase a slower unit. Playing this game I found situations when AI act cleverly. When I set a trap with the purpose to eliminate the entire unit of archers, they prefered hand to hand attack and got killed, so I failed with my trap. That was clever.

[Zhuangzi]

I don't believe there's anything in the AI behaviour to suggest that it will try to 'suicide' if it is losing the battle. I don't think unit behaviour changes at all.

[boty]

Well, they could make a step behind(in the trap!!) and shoot. Sometimes they did so.

[Sandsai]

I feel the AI cheats a bit when it comes to traps. Sometimes I lay a trap and the shortest distance is straight through that trap, the enemy has to walk only one tile to reach me, but the enemy goes around the trap tile to attack my unit. I have sometimes noticed similar behavior when the enemy starts walking from its starting position. I would replay the same battle and note that there are only two direction possibilities. I would place a trap on one of those to see which tile the unit would step on, making sure that everything else was identical, same stack on same arena, casting the same spells and giving otherwise identical battle orders, but the enemy would avoid the trap tile and opt to walk on the free tile no matter where I placed the trap. One battle I even remember which way the enemy would go and place the trap on that path and of course, everything else being equal, it decided to walk around the trap.

[Urbz]

It can be annoying but I'm not sure if it's really cheating, if you would play versus another player and he knew you had traps you would also at least try to avoid them
There's several ways to make sure the AI will end up on the traps though.

[Zhuangzi]

Originally Posted by Urbz

It can be annoying but I'm not sure if it's really cheating, if you would play versus another player and he knew you had traps you would also at least try to avoid them
There's several ways to make sure the AI will end up on the traps though.

Yep. As long as going through the trap is the ONLY way an enemy stack can reach and attack one of your units, it will go through it. Every time.

[Urbz]

Originally Posted by Zhuangzi

Yep. As long as going through the trap is the ONLY way an enemy stack can reach and attack one of your units, it will go through it. Every time.

Aye but also the dragon kick, archmage telekinesis and emerald dragon grab for example

[Kings Bounty Hunter]

I've seen a weak army sacrifice itself and spring my trap that I had intended for another unit just to piss me off!! lol That army had other options of where to move but headed straight for my trap.

The unit I actually wanted to hit the trap had the next turn and the AI knew this so sacrificed a shitty army to spoil my plan. By doing this the army died and the much larger unit did some big damage to my unit that was close to it, if that makes sense.

In any case, I thought it was quite clever of the AI

[Ryastar]

I've had a powerful stack of enemy griffins split themselves so that the new stack is two spaces directly away from my red dragons, and the the original stack goes and attacks my dragons. One counter-attack later, there are no griffins left. Thank you for reducing your damage dealt, and increasing your casualties, AI!

[Stepsongrapes]

Originally Posted by boty

Well, in this situation, the best for AI is to make me end the game prematurely. AI had no chance to win, but at that time all I wanted was to delay the game to have time to repair my droids and also to find more chests with the pet dragon. A clever AI would chase a slower unit. Playing this game I found situations when AI act cleverly. When I set a trap with the purpose to eliminate the entire unit of archers, they prefered hand to hand attack and got killed, so I failed with my trap. That was clever.

You're asking for a lot. Also, you're asking for something that is outside the context of the game. The mob you're fighting isn't supposed to be some unified meta-opponent for the whole game. It is supposed to be a random group of monsters out to kill you, not something willing to sacrifice itself for the benefit of the mob union.

As to traps, I'm pretty sure that's random behavior (I personal find that ranged units will actually step away from an adjacent unit most of the time). Trap as, as a concept, are supposed to be invisible to the movement AI (hence the ability to stick it in predictable places). If the movement AI knew where traps were, that wouldn't be "clever", that would simply be AI cheating (by knowing what it shouldn't know).