Goodie Hut AI Cheat

[SunZsu]

can somebody explain this? .... playing vanilla Civ 3 at Emperor level ... in ancient times my exploring warrior taps a goodie hut and "surprise" - "you have disturbed an angry band of whatever" barbarians ... I also noticed that I had just beaten a French warrior to the hut by one turn, so ok, out of curiosity I save the turn, re-played it, but only this time I did NOT tap the hut ... but the French warrior did, and "nothing" happened to him i.e. either deserted or he got a free Tech
so why the discrepancy? .... is there some randomizer in the code which varies the outcome of what's under a goodie hut from turn to turn? .... I also re-played the turn a second time, and once again, when my warrior tapped the hut, he got killed by barbs ...
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the Great Khan does not mind discrimination, as long as it is HE who is the one doing the discriminating

 

[Peebo]

certain civs get better results from huts i think

 

[zorven]

I believe the AI "plays" at Regent as far as hut outcomes. Thus they will get better results than you if you are playing at a level higher than Regent. Although this does not apply to the French, Expansionist civs will never get barbs. I am not sure if Expansionists get any other better results from huts.

 

[Moonsinger]

At certain level, the AIs get better results from huts, I guess. For example, at the Chietain level, you have better chance of getting goodie from the huts while the AIs have very little chance of getting good stuffs fromt he hut. My guess is that the opposite may be true at higher level - that mean they have better chance of getting goodie at Emperor and Deity level than the human player. I'm not sure...I'm just guessing.

 

[Grille]

For a human player, hut results get worse on higher levels.
For the ai, I would *guess* the luck is fixed to 'regent level'; ai barb fighting bonus at least is fixed in such a way (though Moonsinger may be just right, because it would be logícal ).

Stuff hidden in a hut can never be fixed, because some goodies only appear if you aplly to specific rules, e.g. you can only get a settler when you haven't one running around or under construction and have only an average number of cities.
I could imagine situations where I could get a settler but the ai wouldn't. Same goes with getting certain techs and barbs.
From this point of view, it makes sense that goody hut outcome could be different for each civ.

 

[Herse]

This is in no way a systematic explanation of anything; merely an observation. It seems that sometimes there will be unpopped huts extremely close to other civilizations in what is clearly territory they have explored. Whenever I pop them it is "always" (remember, just an observation) barbarians. This is from games on Regent and Monarch level (obviously non-expansionist civs). It seems as though the AI knows what the hut has in store for it and just leaves it alone. Has anyone experienced anything like this, or is it simply my imagination?

Herse

 

[Nad]

The seeds may have been different too, since many things will hppen before France's turn.

Another "AI cheat" that is no such thing

When will people learn?

 

[a space oddity]

Yes, I think I saw that happen a few times, where the AI would just ignore the hut. But this could be a part of the map that I am not really seeing but has still the 'old' situation. When you walk there, the hut could actually already be gone. So I guess I'm saying I'm not sure either.

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by Herse
This is in no way a systematic explanation of anything; merely an observation. It seems that sometimes there will be unpopped huts extremely close to other civilizations in what is clearly territory they have explored. Whenever I pop them it is "always" (remember, just an observation) barbarians. This is from games on Regent and Monarch level (obviously non-expansionist civs). It seems as though the AI knows what the hut has in store for it and just leaves it alone. Has anyone experienced anything like this, or is it simply my imagination?

Yes, I have seen that many times in my game too. However, that isn't enough proof to brand them as cheater. May be the AI civ was just simply weak and didn't want to take a chance on the goodie hut.

 

[a space oddity]

@Nad: It could be true that an AI 'knows' what's in store. The same way it knows how many units you have in a city, for instance.

 

[Nad]

Originally posted by a space oddity
@Nad: It could be true that an AI 'knows' what's in store. The same way it knows how many units you have in a city, for instance.

Remotely possible but I think very unlikely because I've seen AIs pop barbs from huts loads of times. If they knew what was in store, why would they pop the hut?

 

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by a space oddity
@Nad: It could be true that an AI 'knows' what's in store. The same way it knows how many units you have in a city, for instance.

Yes, but that has never stoped them from attacking your city when they know that they will lose. Moreover, I'm sure everyone here have seen AI popping a hut full of barbs too. If they are programmed to cheat, why on earth would they pop a hut full of barbs?

//Edit: Nad, you are typing too fast. We are thinking the same, but you beat me to it.

 

[Padma]

Herse: I think it's "selective memory".

I know I have gotten maps/gold/tech out of huts that the AI *should have* popped.

 

[a space oddity]

Originally posted by Moonsinger

If they are programmed to cheat, why on earth would they pop a hut full of barbs?

Oh, I totally agree the AI does not cheat in any way. But they *do* know where the resources are and they *do* know which city is the least defended. Like is mentioned in other threads, it usually the human who makes the best use of that knowledge...

They just attack anyway because.... because... errrm, they are the AI!

 

[meltone1]

u mean they know where like, strategic resources are even before they discover them??

 

[a space oddity]

That's right. I don't think they know what *kind* of resource just that it is one. You can leave the tundra empty and wait 'till some AI comes to settle there. 99% chance the oil is right there. Smae thing for desert. If they *don't* try to settle, there'll be no oil or saltpeter...

 

[morkaphi]

The RNG plays its role in hut results. The human player has his/her own RNG, so do the AI civs. If you have the RNG on, you get the same result from a hut, but that doesn't mean the AI civ will have the same result. In addition, hut results are limited by some factors (expansion trait, number of cities, settler in production, etc).

 

[Herse]

Originally posted by Padma
Herse: I think it's "selective memory".

I know I have gotten maps/gold/tech out of huts that the AI *should have* popped.

Yeah I think you are right Padma. It would go along with my husbandly "selective hearing." You know what I'm talking about.

Herse

 

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by morkaphi
The RNG plays its role in hut results. The human player has his/her own RNG, so do the AI civs. If you have the RNG on, you get the same result from a hut, but that doesn't mean the AI civ will have the same result. In addition, hut results are limited by some factors (expansion trait, number of cities, settler in production, etc).

Hadn't heard of the "each civ has their own counter in the RNG list" theory before.

Even if there were no other hut-popping matters, an interceding RNG usage would have changed the result, since the hut didn't have its own result pre-ordained.
Duh, what I'm trying to say is: The result of popping a hut is determined at that time via the RNG and the state of the popping civ.

 

[Atotarho]

Originally posted by Herse
It seems that sometimes there will be unpopped huts extremely close to other civilizations in what is clearly territory they have explored.
Herse

Ive seen this loads of times and I think the key words here are 'extremely close to other civilizations'. If the ai has a city close to the hut that may be lightly defended it might leave the hut rather than take a chance on poping barbs and getting ransacked. But thats Ok cause I can pop the hut and run, leave the ai to fight the barbs.