Does the AI have preknowledge of the map?

[The Condor]

To above poster (Noble).

Hi, I did both (as good as I could do) and neither are true. The first one I did as Psyringe instructed with Tokogawa (whatever sp) and had one city (the right) be the weakest (two warriors where as the others had a warrior and a archer) and he stayed holed up in his city (with his three axemen and spearman I gave him) till his borders expanded and then he cruised around up to the borders of every city (first capital then second city then doubled back to weak city) and when he found what was the weakest city he attacked.

For the second I used Roosevelt and plopped him down in a barren desert with four land points that shot out in four direction (right best but all were grassplains [right had horses and another resource]) with a spy I created (my settler and warrior I put in a remote island so they would not interfere) and against all previous guesses he plopped his city in the desert. He didn't explore (if he would of moved in any direction just a tad he would of been able to see much better land) or anything. He just created a nine square desert working city of stupidity. That is all and if you feel I am not correct feel free to do it yourself and post your results.

 

[The Condor]

Uh, sorry 'COndor, but this doesn't sound like the test Psyringe proposed ... those 'arms' of the island shouldn't have cities on them ... just 1 AI city in the middle of a 4 armed island, each arm with nothing at the end save for one that is resource laden (but not known to the AI).

Give the AI 1 settler and see where he goes ... but don't presettle the arms with cities.

That is another test (the second one) I did the military test first.

 

[CivScientist]

He just created a nine square desert working city of stupidity.

I thought you couldn't build cities in places where there is no possibility of getting food. Was the initial area he built the city that bad or where there some flood plains, oasises, etc. there to make it palpable?

 

[The Condor]

Nope. Just nine squares of desert I plopped him in to make him have to move to a better location and settle.

 

[Exavier]

I think you need to try that senerio again Condor...

Make a cross island (so he only has 4 choices) and give him a city + a settler dead center... then add resorces to one of the 4 edges and see if he moves and makes his 2nd city on that spot (also make sure there are no fish nearby)

 

[Psyringe]

Condor: Thanks a lot for doing the hard work. Based on your results, I agree that the AI probably has neither pre-knowledge of resources, nor knowledge of the map.

Can you upload the saves (before the tests start) in case others want to have a go at it? For example if someone wants to test higher difficulty levels?

Thanks again

 

[The Condor]

To Exavier: There were no fish and I had resources on the right side he could not see cuz they were to advanced. How about you try it. Just do a tiny pangaea map and go into world builder and make everything ocean and then make a little island with what you want. It won't take too long.

To Psyringe: Sorry I saved after hand but I will get some pictures soon enough and you are welcome.

Wait, if you tell me how to upload saves I could do it. Write it out very precise since I am absentminded.

 

[Exavier]

maybe later... I have an erran to run then i gotta come home and clean up my mod (finish the descriptions and zip it) so i can put it up here for comments

 

[Kolyana]

Understood Condor ... sorry, I didn't see the first proposed test.

 

[Psyringe]

Wait, if you tell me how to upload saves I could do it. Write it out very precise since I am absentminded.

1. Zip the files with WinZip or any other archiver (this is mainly to save space, also the forum doesn't accept every file extension, but I know that it will accept zip files)

2. Write a post

3. Click on the paperclip symbol on top of the box where you enter the text of your post. A popup labeled "Manage Attachments" will appear.

4. In this popup, find the box labeled "Upload File from your Computer". Inside there is a button labeled "Choose". Click it.

5. A file selector will appear. Select the file you want to upload and click on "Open"

6. Back in the "Manage Attachments" popup, click on the "Upload" button to the right of the "Choose" button.

7. Once the file has been uploaded, it will appear in a box labeled "Current Attachments"

8. Now go back to thepost you are writing, and click on the downwards-pointing arrow directly to the right of the paperclip. The name of the file you just uploaded should appear. Click on it, and the file will be attached to your post.

Hope that helps (And btw, you now probably know why no one who knows me ever tells me to be precise in anything.)

 

[The Condor]

Here are some pics:

First test beginning:

After three turns of hiding till his borders expand he heads to the capital:

Now to another city (nope, try again):

Double backs to third city and lucky for him it is the weak one:

As you can see even with the ability to see my cities he still could not tell which one was the weakest(took him three tries)automatically.

Second test:

Plop Roosevelt down with a spy I created:

Result of second test:

I think I am going to play against Roosevelt more often.

 

[Psyringe]

Thanks for he screenies.

Okay, for the "settling" test we probably need a setup where Roosevelt has a city like Washington, and has a settler in this city. The behavior observed in your test can be explained by an algorithm "If you have a settler and no cities yet, build a city at once", which is independent from the question whether the AI knows the resource placement or not.

The first test went very well, and is very well documented.

 

[The Condor]

Wait...? Who will do this? And what do you mean by the very well documented? And thanks.

 

[Harald]

I did the second test aswell. Similar island like the one The Condor used and I placed a oil resource on the right. As soon as the Ai had built an escort to his settler he went for the oil. I retried the test with the oil on another place, same thing. If I removed the oil while he was heading for it and placed it on the other side of the island he turned around and went for the oil.
This was on Noble difficulty.

 

[Psyringe]

Hmm, that doesn't sound good. Can you upload the savegame for further testing?

Very good idea to change the position of the oil while the settler was already en route.

 

[Kolyana]

I did the second test aswell. Similar island like the one The Condor used and I placed a oil resource on the right. As soon as the Ai had built an escort to his settler he went for the oil. I retried the test with the oil on another place, same thing. If I removed the oil while he was heading for it and placed it on the other side of the island he turned around and went for the oil.
This was on Noble difficulty.

NO WAY!

That settles it then ... the AI can see all 'hidden' resources.

 

[Harald]

Here is the saved game, I used winrar to zip it.

 

[The Condor]

Hi, I got a save of a new game with Isabella (I hope it works): By 3350 The Ai with settler will head in wrong direction on noble due to an error in test:

Taken down for error. The one above is better. Do not use please. Thank you.

Here is a few pics:
This is the location:

This is the settler with two warriors going the wrong way:

 

[Kolyana]

Shouldn't that be a settler?

 

[The Condor]

The spy isn't the two warriors have a settler with them. Sorry, I forgot to mention that.