A question about AI Autoplay

[Tabriz]

First of all, I would like to say big thanks to the developers of this mod. I have just recently started to play this mod (latest SVN) and it has already became my favourite one! Before discovering RI my favourite mod was C2C and I would like to quickly mention things I like more at RI than in C2C:

1. Speed - RI runs much faster with same map size and number of civs (ofc there are much more components in C2C than in RI, but still...)
2. RI feels like a finished, balanced and "finetouched" game. While both mods are in development, unlike RI, C2C feels "beta" in each release. C2C has also gone some kind of "overstuffed" in my opinion.
3. RI totally deserves its name - it is really reallistic and detalized in almost every aspect - creators of this mod really know history very well (it can be seen both in game and in forum posts). For example, my favourite historical person is Stalin, but I have never played with him in any civ mod before. I started to play with Stalin only in RI, because only here his traits (Industrios + Politician) make him real Stalin
C2C instead, takes another approach - it doesn't try to describe civilizations exactly how they are. C2C takes "what if" approach regarding developing of each civilization. Specific cultures which can be build as wonders are the best example.
4. "AI plays to win" option! I haven't seen yet exactly how it works in practice, but its description makes me believe it is something which all other civ mods were missing! I always wanted to see impementation of something like this. Hope to see no more stupid AI's doing NOTHING when me or another AI is about to win domination victory!
5. Graphics. Although graphics have never been very important for me, graphics, especially unit designs look really awesome in this mod!

I know that it is already under development, but still I want to mention that the main important component which is currently missing from RI is Revolutions ofc. With Revolutions added to RI it will feel like not just a game, but a history simulator. I wouldn't mind if you implement Revolutions more challenging in RI than it is in C2C. I mean I would like to see even more starting civilizations to fall during early game and being replaced by new ones (just as in real history) and so on.

And lastly, regarding the title of this thread (I didn't mean to make this post so long ), in RevolutionDCM (or C2C) pressing Ctrl+Shift+M would give AI full control of your civilization (including right to declare war or sign peace) for a turn. However in RI it is different - for example I have never seen AIAutoplay to declare war or sign peace.
And there is also another minnor difference between AIAutoplay in RI and RevolutionDCM: lets say you are pressing Ctrl+Shift+M for several consecutive turns - in RevolutionDCM you would see no diplomatic pop up screen from other leaders between turns, while in RI you get them (you could still get diplomatic pop up screens in RevolutionDCM when you were playing scenarios where you are not Player1, but never when you are Player1).
Could you please fix these two bugs (I don't think they are intentional so I call them bugs) in next SVN update? I don't think it is a difficult thing to fix.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

Thanks for all the kind words! That's really nice to hear from time to time, and keeps us motivated.

As for AI Autoplay, we treat it more like a development and testing tool rather than a player feature. We even disable it in stable releases. But one recommendation for you that I have is try using Ctrl+Shift+X instead. That's the autoplay shortcut I use, and at least regarding popups I never saw any - and I think (though now that you've pointed out I'm not 100% sure anymore) it handles war/peace correctly.

 

[Tabriz]

Yes, I know about Ctrl+Shift+X combination, but I was using it for longer periods of Autoplay.
So, you are telling that if I want to see each turn of AI Autoplay, I can use Ctrl+Shift+X instead of Ctrl+Shift+M and give AI full control for just 1 turn each time? Should I still expect AI to conduct full diplomacy in this case, or do I have to give AI control for several turns (via Ctrl+Shift+X) in order to see this?

Anyway, if you are not sure about the answer I will test it myself, and share the answer.

And I have another 2 questions about AI Autoplay as well. I know that AI in your mod is improved in many ways (it is smarter). So which AI does control my civilization when I use AI Autoplay? Is it vanilla AI or is it a "smarter" one?
Also, if I use Aggressive AI game option, will my Autoplay AI also be Aggressive?

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

And I have another 2 questions about AI Autoplay as well. I know that AI in your mod is improved in many ways (it is smarter). So which AI does control my civilization when I use AI Autoplay? Is it vanilla AI or is it a "smarter" one?
Also, if I use Aggressive AI game option, will my Autoplay AI also be Aggressive?

Since AI Autoplay is a third-party component, I can only suspect things about it myself, without knowledge of its inner workings. I believe the civ is run by the same AI as other civs, and I think it also means that it basically reverts to the kinds of bonuses other AIs are set to get in your game (basically, the more the harder difficulty you chose) - but those are just my observations from running long AI Autoplay games.

 

[Tabriz]

Yes, indeed when using Ctrl+Shift+X (and not Ctrl+Shift+M) AI Autoplay declares wars and signs peace treaties
You may still get diplomatic pop up screen after last automated turn, but that is not so important for me. It only matters when you want to make a "perfect test" with 0 intervention from human side - but in that case you can still put Autoplay for a very long period in order to eliminate this.