Handicapping individual AI.

[lindsay40k]

I love making Earth type maps. I like to have a Terra theme of the factions of the Old World finding less developed New World civs to trade with for new resources or to conquer. Thing is, it's tricky to set things up so the colonists aren't massacred by a runaway Montezuma or Huayna.

If the playable factions are New World civs it's easy - give all the Eurasian and African civs three settlers and workers at the start. Wham, they've got a thousand year lead on you - smack up Sitting Bull and Pacal then rumble with the Redcoats. But what about a Terra situation where the indigenous New Worlders aren't generic barbarians but full civilisations? How to make sure the New World primarily serves as a battlefield between the Old Worlders who win the naval war?

One possibility is to give all the New Worlders rubbish starts. Interesting, but it means that Tenochtitlan and Cuzco are boring prizes for conquistadors. Is it possible to edit individual AI settings in a scenario, so some are always playing as Settler? Alternatively, what about total saturation of the Old World with Bears? The animal units evaporate after a while, so that should put a muffler on things for a while, hopefully long enough to give an end result of a historically flavourful military gap.

 

[TheSunIsDark]

To put some on Settler, play the scenario on Settler with the civ you want and re-save the WB file. Repeat with the others. Some can go on Chieftain, some on Emperor etc. as well. Make sure it is the World Builder file that is saved!

 

[lindsay40k]

To put some on Settler, play the scenario on Settler with the civ you want and re-save the WB file. Repeat with the others. Some can go on Chieftain, some on Emperor etc. as well. Make sure it is the World Builder file that is saved!

Interesting. Won't this necessarily mean going through turn 1 with pretty much everyone?

 

[TheSunIsDark]

Interesting. Won't this necessarily mean going through turn 1 with pretty much everyone?

Just load it once, on the chosen difficulty, with each civ that you don't want on Noble. Don't play turn one, just go into WB straight away and save that. Then, when you play it, you only play as one civ but the AIs aren't all on Noble.

 

[topsecret]

I'm not sure if changing the difficulty makes AI different, but there is an easier way to change each AI's difficulty than opening and changing at the start over and over:

First, find your WorldBuilder Save file. It's likely in C:\Documents and Settings\YOURNAME\My Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\Saves\WorldBuilder

Right-click it and press Open With, then choose Notepad.

Scroll down and find the following code:

BeginPlayer
	Team=0
	LeaderType=LEADER_ASOKA
	LeaderName=Asoka
	CivDesc=Indian Empire
	CivShortDesc=India
	CivAdjective=Indian
	FlagDecal=Art/Interface/TeamColor/FlagDECAL_WheelOfLaw.dds
	WhiteFlag=0
	[U]CivType=CIVILIZATION_INDIA[/U]
	Color=PLAYERCOLOR_PURPLE
	ArtStyle=ARTSTYLE_ASIAN
	PlayableCiv=1
	MinorNationStatus=0
	StartingGold=100
	StartingX=90, StartingY=40
	StateReligion=
	StartingEra=ERA_ANCIENT
	RandomStartLocation=false
	CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_GOVERNMENT, Civic=CIVIC_DESPOTISM
	CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_LEGAL, Civic=CIVIC_BARBARISM
	CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_LABOR, Civic=CIVIC_TRIBALISM
	CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_ECONOMY, Civic=CIVIC_DECENTRALIZATION
	CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_RELIGION, Civic=CIVIC_PAGANISM
	[B]Handicap=HANDICAP_NOBLE[/B]
EndPlayer

When you find the correct civilization (underlined above is India) then change the Handicap. (In bold.)

Repeat for all civs you want to change.
Then just hit Ctrl-S, and the difficulties are changed!

I don't know if it gives AI bonuses though... it might just work on humans.

 

[lindsay40k]

Now, that looks interesting. Anyone got ideas on how we might be able to prove the effect this has (if any) on the AI's performance? A New World full of Settler AIs would definitely fit the bill for this project.

 

[platyping]

Use epionage spy on their cities

 

[lindsay40k]

Hmm. So... set up two AIs with a featureless green plain, edit the scenario so one is Settler and one is Deity, WB a legion of Great Spies into the player's capital and spies into their cities, and watch their build times? I'll have a crack at this between NES Remix 2 over the coming days.