What's wrong with 99% of Diplomacy (IMO)

[dearmad]

After playing CTPII for a significant amount of time and thinking about this latest addition to the area of CIV type games (MOO, CIV, etc.), I'm tired of an AI diplomacy that tries to mimic memory and attitude.

This is what I think would be better and would make the game of CIV III more fun: an AI that simply uses the diplomacy for its own ends, in much the same way we do. Why on earth should the AI be handicapped with a positive attitude toward me (which I've manipulated it in to) that makes it give me advances and gold when it should be clear this is *NOT* in its best interst unless we have an alliance-victory we're going for.

Instead the AI should do such tricks as ally with my own allies and work on them to turn on me while it bulds up military and secretely attacks me, cashing in on its stonger alliances, etc.- much the way I do it in MOOII and CIV and CTP. USE the tool of diplomacy don't be a victim to it!

The AI should sign peace pacts with me that it has no intention of keeping- in other words it should be just as likely to sign a peace pact with me when it hates me as when it likes me because the real POINT of a peace pact is to get someone off your back, not go out and have a beer with them because you LIKE them- so then when I've got peace pacts offered to me by some Civ it would make me stop and wonder WHY they want it and is it just so they get brathing room to rebuild or what?

The AI should trade its tech to mulitple parties the way WE ALL DO so it ups it tech. The AI should get me to agree to go to war with someone and then pull out of the war- in other words the diplmoacy game should be jsut that, a GAME, not some sort of *simulation* (and a poor one) of attitude based on my past behaviour- because my guaranteed bahaviour is that I will betray my allies when it best serves me in the game, so they should too!

In other words, the AI neds to be more treacherous and self-serving, not "realistic" as if to simulate changing attitudes.

At any rate sorry if these ideas are covered elsewhere there are a LOT of posts in this site.

[dearmad]

one addition:

The underlying *attitude* that the AI should simulate is "to win!" Sure, be my friend... *iff* it suits the AI's situation.

[Zer0_T0lerance]

dearmad, for related information, check out the following threads:


opponent attitudes

A newer more greedier Civ...

Tribes 0.1

You can also check out the thread, "related threads," at the top of this forum for help on finding related threads.

Good luck!



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Zero (formerly jrhughes98)
[This message has been edited by Zero_Tolerance (edited November 26, 2000).]

[dearmad]

Thanks for the links! Biga$$ site and loads of stuff to read and get excited about!

[Dom Pedro II]

Boy, dearmad, you make it sound even more dog-eat-dog than me. I agree to an extent. If by self-serving, they make alliances and treaties that are intelligent, I agree. The AI can be incredibly stupid sometimes. I'm playing CtPII right now, and the Scots WILL NOT make peace with me even though its clearly in their best interest. I'm the most powerful civilization in the world, and they won't get with the program. I even want to Ally with them (Diplomatic Victory), and they would just rather be wiped off the face of the earth.

Unfortunately though, the more important issue at hand is improvement of the AI. I don't think that you can improve the AI to be as cunning as that. The AI is already looking out for itself, but its just not that bright. To expect it to understand when to break treaties and when to milk some alliances and not others, and all of the other little nuances that we take for granted, is ridiculous. Hopefully, it will at least be BETTER in Civ III.

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"...The highest realization of warfare is to attack the enemy's plans; next is to attack their alliances; next to attack their army; and the lowest is to attack their fortified cities." - Sun Tzu

"I think anybody who doesn't think I'm smart enough to handle this job is under-estimating" - George "Dubya" Bush

Dom Pedro II - 2nd and last Emperor of the Empire of Brazil (1831 - 1889). :Hannibal3