Hello all,
Very first post! Longtime lurker though.
I am interested in whether anyone knows or can determine what the formula is for how AI civs will vote in the diplomatic UN election. By this I mean not just generalizations on how they tend to vote (though those could be helpful and interesting too) but preferably what the actual formula is in the code that determines this - including under what conditions they abstain.
I think there is a lot of promise for strategically interesting games that pursue this VC but not knowing with sufficient precision what determines their voting behavior is an unfortunate limitation for pursuing it. One doesn't want to have a lot of time invested in a game, call a vote in a close situation, and end up losing for the sake of not knowing exactly what determines what they will do. In close situations it's just too much of a gamble with the information currently unknown (unknown at least to me).
Natually there are cases where it's obvious. The VC can be used to shorten a domination win by voting oneself in for example. Or if there are three civs left, the deciding vote is +14 with you and furious at your opponent. The really strategically interesting games though will be cases where it isn't this obvious at all. Cases where one really needs more info on how they vote to figure out where things stand.
I currently haven't played beyond Prince (played that in GOTM); looking to try Monarch for the first time whenever I get the chance. My experience on the easy levels has been though that things become trivial. With enough of a tech lead one can always leverage it for a military victory with enough patience to sit through all the turns necessary to move the pieces around. I'd like to find a level where the AI can keep up reasonably with the tech situation, making DomV or ConV untrivial, with a realistic chance for them to win by SS. Then the need to chase them down in time for a diplo win (or maybe cultural win) before they manage it. Preferably on a large map with many civs to keep the diplomatic situation fluid and interesting. Strategically complex diplomatic situation, reasonable military parity, aiming for DiploV. Many difficult strategic diplo decisions = most excellent game. For something that close and challenging though, concrete info is needed regarding what (exactly) determines their voting choices in close situations. I don't know if a difficulty level can be found that makes something like this both feasible, interesting, and not-impossible. This most excellent game is versatile enough though that I think there is a very reasonable chance that it's there. The need for concrete information on the voting calculations though remains.
I think if this is discoverable I may ask one of the knowledgable modder folks in the other forum if they might be willing to write a utility mod to show what the vote would be if it were to occur on a given active turn, so as to eliminate the need for manual calculations. But first things first. Need to know what the hard formula is that determines the voting.
Many thanks in advance to anyone who knows, or shares the interest and has the technical knowledge to find it in the code. I myself just don't know how to do that.
Best - Tig
Very first post! Longtime lurker though.
I am interested in whether anyone knows or can determine what the formula is for how AI civs will vote in the diplomatic UN election. By this I mean not just generalizations on how they tend to vote (though those could be helpful and interesting too) but preferably what the actual formula is in the code that determines this - including under what conditions they abstain.
I think there is a lot of promise for strategically interesting games that pursue this VC but not knowing with sufficient precision what determines their voting behavior is an unfortunate limitation for pursuing it. One doesn't want to have a lot of time invested in a game, call a vote in a close situation, and end up losing for the sake of not knowing exactly what determines what they will do. In close situations it's just too much of a gamble with the information currently unknown (unknown at least to me).
Natually there are cases where it's obvious. The VC can be used to shorten a domination win by voting oneself in for example. Or if there are three civs left, the deciding vote is +14 with you and furious at your opponent. The really strategically interesting games though will be cases where it isn't this obvious at all. Cases where one really needs more info on how they vote to figure out where things stand.
I currently haven't played beyond Prince (played that in GOTM); looking to try Monarch for the first time whenever I get the chance. My experience on the easy levels has been though that things become trivial. With enough of a tech lead one can always leverage it for a military victory with enough patience to sit through all the turns necessary to move the pieces around. I'd like to find a level where the AI can keep up reasonably with the tech situation, making DomV or ConV untrivial, with a realistic chance for them to win by SS. Then the need to chase them down in time for a diplo win (or maybe cultural win) before they manage it. Preferably on a large map with many civs to keep the diplomatic situation fluid and interesting. Strategically complex diplomatic situation, reasonable military parity, aiming for DiploV. Many difficult strategic diplo decisions = most excellent game. For something that close and challenging though, concrete info is needed regarding what (exactly) determines their voting choices in close situations. I don't know if a difficulty level can be found that makes something like this both feasible, interesting, and not-impossible. This most excellent game is versatile enough though that I think there is a very reasonable chance that it's there. The need for concrete information on the voting calculations though remains.
I think if this is discoverable I may ask one of the knowledgable modder folks in the other forum if they might be willing to write a utility mod to show what the vote would be if it were to occur on a given active turn, so as to eliminate the need for manual calculations. But first things first. Need to know what the hard formula is that determines the voting.
Many thanks in advance to anyone who knows, or shares the interest and has the technical knowledge to find it in the code. I myself just don't know how to do that.
Best - Tig