Somnium discussion

[Sto]

dont stack the deck. Death won't factor into some games and will into others thats the way it should be.

That's right, I also think it's better this way.

In my multiplayer game with a friend earlier this day, we often had to tell each other "man, stop playing cards and finish your damn turn!" or "Hm... are you playing again? Why didn't you tell me, so I could play a game too?!".

When waiting for another player in MP game. You can pass your turn and start a Somnium game. You'll just have to finish it at the beginning of the next turn. That may perhaps help a little to speed up the game ^^.
The only thing not tested is when an AI player will contact you. But i think this will not cause problems like when you have an advisor screen at the beginning of your turn.

Tcho !

 

[Zechnophobe]

AI seems to get less intelligent as the game goes on.

When you factor in how many cards it takes, do you consider the total points of the cards shown, or how much of an upgrade those cards give you?

Thing is, later on in the game, the value of each hand starts degrading. Getting just 5 or 8 points a draw can be pretty good when there are only 20 cards left.

 

[rusty217]

AI seems to get less intelligent as the game goes on.

When you factor in how many cards it takes, do you consider the total points of the cards shown, or how much of an upgrade those cards give you?

Thing is, later on in the game, the value of each hand starts degrading. Getting just 5 or 8 points a draw can be pretty good when there are only 20 cards left.

I think that the AI intelligence in the late game depends on who your playing, and at what difficulty, and of course a bit of luck. I was playing against Jonas who started poorly but was then getting 16-19 points a hand for the last couple of hands. And needless to say, he won

 

[Sto]

AI seems to get less intelligent as the game goes on.

That's right. Depending on the difficulty and aggressiveness of the AI, AI players don't change its style of play at the end of the game.

When you factor in how many cards it takes, do you consider the total points of the cards shown, or how much of an upgrade those cards give you?

The AI consider the upgrade the cards give you. And a conservative AI will consider a second card of a color as a bonus if there is some joker left in the deck.

Thing is, later on in the game, the value of each hand starts degrading. Getting just 5 or 8 points a draw can be pretty good when there are only 20 cards left.

That's a good point for upgrading the late game AI. I've made a first implementation that don't take in count the end of game for less intelligent, more aggressive leaders. Since i didn't have a good overview of the game(not played that much while implementing), i've made the implementation as simple as possible. I wanted to wait having played more games and some feed backs to improve the AI choices.

Tcho !

 

[marioflag]

Just a question does AI know if Death Card has been drawn or not?
Because during a game i noticed a smart behaviour by AI, when the last card was Death and it just decided to pass the turn...
Fate or smart choice?

 

[xienwolf]

If you do adjust the money while playing deal, you really should make it a "Per Point" wager. So you can bet your friend 5 Gold per point, lost by 4 points and be out 20 gold. If that just sent you negative, you better suck the science slider down or risk units on strike next turn!

 

[ShadowDrgn]

I honestly think the AI plays the game competently. They certainly beat me at Somnium more than they beat me at FFH.

I got 69 points in my 4th game; has anyone gotten the perfect score yet?

 

[Kael]

I honestly think the AI plays the game competently. They certainly beat me at Somnium more than they beat me at FFH.

I got 69 points in my 4th game; has anyone gotten the perfect score yet?

Thats impressive, my high score is 61.

 

[Vanion]

69 points? Not bad, not bad at all!

I still have problems restraining myself and find myself drawing too many cards very often. But I have to agree, the AI handles Somnium very well so far, and I certainly observed different playstyles for different opponents.

 

[countjackula]

You did a GREAT job on Somnium! It's fun, addictive, and the AI seems to play it well too. It is good enough to be a stand alone card game. If more people knew about it, I could see it becoming a big time waster at the office like Solitaire, etc. Take that as a compliment.

My player name is short, just three letters. This means my score doesn't get pushed as far to the right as it would if I used a longer player name. On some backgrounds this makes the score hard to see.

My only suggestion is to perhaps make the score boxes more opaque so less background image shows through. It would make it easier to see the score. That's the only critical feedback I can give.

Other than that, c'est magnifique!

Example:

Spoiler :

 

[Sto]

Just a question does AI know if Death Card has been drawn or not?
Because during a game i noticed a smart behaviour by AI, when the last card was Death and it just decided to pass the turn...
Fate or smart choice?

All AI players remember the jokers left and the death like every player that play this game. With the memory (depending on difficulty and aggressiveness), the AI can remember all 7,6,5,4 or 3 when calculating chance for the next draw.

If you do adjust the money while playing deal, you really should make it a "Per Point" wager. So you can bet your friend 5 Gold per point, lost by 4 points and be out 20 gold. If that just sent you negative, you better suck the science slider down or risk units on strike next turn!

At the beginning the 1 gold play against AI was to play as much as you want Somnium (the AI gold weren't affected by the result). But with the patch a, the Extra Somnium games will be played for free. That's a good idea for MP games anyway. I'll add it probably.

My only suggestion is to perhaps make the score boxes more opaque so less background image shows through. It would make it easier to see the score.

This part of the screen will be reworked for the v2. I will see what to do when rewriting it. A button need to be added.

Tcho !

 

[marioflag]

Since what difficulty AI will play Somnium at the best of its capabilities?

Wouldn't be a better solution if AI will play at the best of its capabilities at all difficulty levels, or at least make AI "dumber" only for difficulty levels below Noble?

For example i like to play Somnium as a minigame without any connection to the game i'm actually playing, and would enjoy to play against an AI which uses all algorythms.

Linking AI capabilities to game difficulty could introduce restrictions which are not necessarily needed.

One of the thing which could be also added (it's really minor though), considered that all the leaders have a different way to play it,is the possibility to play Somnium directly from the main menu so that you choose the leader you want to play against instead of choosing among the leaders you are playing against in your FfH game.

 

[ShadowDrgn]

The perfect game is hard.

Took a screenshot of a 68.

Spoiler :

 

[Avahz Darkwood]

Ouch those pastel colors all of a sudden after playing a few turns of FFH can blind someone

 

[TheGreatSteve]

I'd love to see more special cards like Death and the fools. The game as a whole is fun, but I don't seem to really alter my strategy based on my score, their score, or which cards have already shown.

Basically, there's not enough pushing you to play conservatively when ahead or to take chances when behind. Just take the middle path and see if the AI can beat 58-63.



Actually, thinking about it now, I feel pressed to play MORE aggressively when I'm ahead, because I care less about improving my own lot and more about burning through the deck before the AI can match me.

 

[cephalo]

Impressive work on the interface Sto!

I wonder if the jokers are a bit too powerful. I just got crushed by two of them plus I got the death card. Is it possible to win when that happens? 30 turns til rematch arrrg.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

I saw a quite stupid ai move. They drew fool second or third in a draw and stole a good card but it matched a previous draw so the forfeited the cards. It cost me the card, but I can't imagine that was better than stealing one they could have kept.

 

[TheGreatSteve]

That could be a very good move though. Destroying your high card is great if he has a good one and the suit is exhausted. Better than taking a 7 in a suit that still has the 6, 5, and 4, lurking about.

 

[MiKa523]

Nice game for a change.

I got +2 Diplomacy on Perpentach after playing him the first time, although the log-message said "+1"

 

[Sto]

Wouldn't be a better solution if AI will play at the best of its capabilities at all difficulty levels, or at least make AI "dumber" only for difficulty levels below Noble?

For example i like to play Somnium as a minigame without any connection to the game i'm actually playing, and would enjoy to play against an AI which uses all algorythms.

Linking AI capabilities to game difficulty could introduce restrictions which are not necessarily needed.

One of the thing which could be also added (it's really minor though), considered that all the leaders have a different way to play it,is the possibility to play Somnium directly from the main menu so that you choose the leader you want to play against instead of choosing among the leaders you are playing against in your FfH game.

Making a stand alone might be a huge work. Perhaps you should create a scenario an deity level with all leaders in. So you can load it and play only Somnium.
About the difficulty that affect the player game, I will think and discuss about that. I've in mind some little tweaks that will make globally the AI choices better. But will still be waiting about 2 weeks to try to improve it.

I saw a quite stupid ai move. They drew fool second or third in a draw and stole a good card but it matched a previous draw so the forfeited the cards. It cost me the card, but I can't imagine that was better than stealing one they could have kept.

In fact, you were playing at a good difficulty. The AI calculate that stealing this card make the best difference in points, so choose it. Less intelligent AI never take this decision if another card is available.

Nice game for a change.

I got +2 Diplomacy on Perpentach after playing him the first time, although the log-message said "+1"

That's strange. I've checked that and see nothing that can do that for the moment. Do you have a saved game at this moment (probably not )

Tcho !