AI's

mikeyc · Post by **mikeyc** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:28 am

I am posting this out of frustration with the AI. I get a little peeved when I buy an industry and have the resources coming in and going out as finished product in a balanced way then one of the mongrels arrives and ruins everything or as I was playing Amerigonia the other night and was sweating on Twin Springs to accept textiles. Next thing this huge tressle bridge set up arrived and creamed 8 cars of production.
I seem to remember somewhere in a thread a comment about the actions of the AI couldnt be altered. Could it be possible to alter the way goods are taken from an industry. Say, If no one owns the industry then anyone could take what they want, however if an industry was owned by one of the players then only they could take the product of that industry.
This would also encourage the AI to buy industries not just run you up.
Could such a condition be incorporated into modded maps,
Any thoughts?

Post by **Warll** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:19 pm

What were you doing leaving 8 cars of goods free for the taking?

molten · Post by **molten** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 4:24 pm

leaving the cars is not too smart. roger that.

but that's not the point here

the point is:

is there a way to alter the way goods are taken

good question, but i guess it's not possible.

would be nice though, since it would make factories more powerful and will make you (and possibly the AI) think about buying factories.
so far having factories is a nice, but not essentially important to compete.

would be nice to own an industrie that nobody else can use. would be common sense as well

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:10 pm

There are two points you miss here when beating up AIs. 'Turn about is fair play', meaning that if you take this away from the AI, what happens if you own the Auto factory and the AI buys the only steel mill before you can? Do you shut down your Auto factory until you can build up a City large enough to accept a new Factory (at which time the AI can grab it before you!

) ?
The second point is that you do not entirely loose. When the AI takes from your Factory, you make money and he pays for train maintinance.
If he doesn't own the place he is taking the goods to, you can buy it and it may stop him.

but hey, it's all part of the game.

As far as leaving goods for an AI to pick up, you can only see part of the board at a time.

mikeyc · Post by **mikeyc** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:43 pm

Warll, at that point in the game there was no choice as no town was advanced enough to accept textiles and where I was positioned on the board, textiles were my only production. If there had been a way to sell the stuff they would have been gone.
Snoopy, If I owned the Auto factory the AI could ship the steel there but I would ship out the cars or the AI could buy or build his own auto factory. Your points not relevant. How do I make money when the AI takes from my factory? Sure its part of the game but it would be nice to have a bit more control over what you own especially if you are into vertical intergration.

Post by **Warll** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:44 pm

Let me refer to Redknight's work on the wiki for another reason why not to leave goods at stations. http://www.hookedgamers.com/wiki/Sid_Me ... :Resources

molten · Post by **molten** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 4:42 pm

mikeyc wrote:How do I make money when the AI takes from my factory?

the factory itselt does give you money if supplied properly. so you'll get some oney even if the AI takes away "your" goods (cars, whatever...)

snoopy got a point i didn't actually think about when i posted. but it would still be kinda nice to have a factory that only produces for you (or whoever owns it) *g*

Kroguys · Post by **Kroguys** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:45 pm

As far as I can tell, I don't get any money if someone takes goods from a factory I own. You only get money when resources are delivered to that factory. Lets not confuse the new players.

Star Ranger4 · Post by **Star Ranger4** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:34 am

Well, given that supposedly each of these competitors have their own 'play style' you WOULD think there is an xml file somewhere that would control that. However, I'm all but willing to bet that your competitors AI is every bit as twonky as the darn train routing AI, and its hard coded to boot to keep us from messing with it.

Not that I'm that knowlegeable any more. My days of coding are like 20 some years in the past.

Post by **Warll** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:46 am

They do sort of have personalities, not really but they do. You see there are diffrent AI skills, some AI have their "skills" set at different levels, thereby making them act almost human in that they are "unique".

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:13 am

Star Ranger4 - if you go into \Program Files\2K Games\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Railroads!\Assets\XML\RRT_Characters.xml, you can see how each AI is coded and how you can change each one, or put the ones you want playing in a map.

mikeyc · Post by **mikeyc** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:55 pm

My point in this thread is that I would like to be able to control and sell the product of my industries for my own benefit.
Example: In playing Utah I could deliver raw materials to the Grand Junction transfer station, manufacture goods then ship them out. All this is fine. Because of the way this particular game panned out to sell my products from Grand Junction I had to ship them to Logan. Even using big diesels the cost of moving these products was excessive because of the distance and game time.( refr to Red Knights work in the Wiki).I made moderate money but not as efficiently as I should have.
I replayed the senario and established my own steel mill and auto factories at a cost of $1.5m each in Provo and Salt Lake and delivered the autos to Ogden. Shorter runs more efficient make more money. Even then one of the AI's ran a train in to pick up autos.The cost to the AI would have been excessive but thats his problem.
Having spent $3m on industries I want to control them.
An option in the game where by default the owner of an industry takes the produce of that industry and conversly if no one owns it then anyone could take it. The AI wouldn't have to be modified only the industry globals. Possible? Or perhaps an option at the start of the senario or the start of the game like investor,tycoon etc.

Tijer · Post by **Tijer** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:55 pm

From what I am reading it sounds to me that you are looking for to much of advantage. To have full exclusive control of the production chain is against the the concept of competition. in the real world there is always someone to rain on your parade, and that is what the IA(s) are suppose to do. One of my favorite stunts to do is to buy the steel mill and connect track from the coal mine. Then start an auction for a distant steel mill. I let the IA win the steel mill at a moderate price and then build a steel mill in the nearest location possible. In the end the IA has paid for a useless mill, and mine is making the money. Then I just fight it out with the IA for who can deliver the most faster. In many cases the IA does not upgrade their trains or does not pick the one that is fastest since not all locos where not an improvement over the last one. Like when electrics where first introduced, steam still pulled more weight.