• It's possible to cheese Mom by putting Impenetrable Nimbus on someone and walking them up to Mom's minis. • According to people who are testing the new Cardotron2000 AI on the test server, this is also the best way to have a chance against Cardotron. It's cool that the devs are working on higher-level AI opponents, but it's sad to me that the focus is on making stronger decks for them and not on making the AI better. Would it be really hard to just tell the AI not to attack minis that have a nimbus attached? This would be a step in the right direction I think. Sorry if this has been discussed before, I did a cursory search and found nothing.
But... but... then the Mom would be unbeatable! (Actually, I don't care about Mom/Cardtron because I turn off MP AI, but for some of the SP quests, Nimbus-baiting is just about the only way to push through.)
This might just be my preference, but I'd rather the strategy not boil down to "cheese the AI." Also, I've beaten every SP quest without nimbus except the 1 HP ones (lol).
Well, we could make this a "silly things the AI does" thread. But do we really want the AI to be stronger? - As Flaxative already said, the AI attacks even if you have Nimbus on - Related: The AI keeps attacking with lightning spells even if you have a Resistant Hide that is visible to the opponent - For opponents that try to keep a distance from you, the AI runs away even if the opponent you moved next to it doesn't have enough cards left to attack it. So you can move someone up to the enemy, draw his move, then move in with the guy you wanted to attack with - The AI does not use terrain spells on you if you already stand on magic terrain, even if the spell would be more harmful (lava vs. mud pit) - The AI bullrushes into their own allies. - The AI tends to use move cards to spin monsters even if that monster has no blocks (?) - When using push/slide/teleport other, the AI doesn't always check whether it would move an opponent off hazardous terrain like lava. This once saved the life of one of my PCs. - Dogs and monkeys with backstabs don't try to move around you to attack in the back.
I have to disagree with this, as in my experience dogs and monkeys both strive to get behind you the vast majority of the time, using all of their moves to do so...and moving more than once in the squares behind you EVEN IF THEY'RE ALREADY BEHIND YOU. (I've seen one of the dogs on Shieldhaven Prison level three dance behind my moveless wizard four consecutive moves on the same turn because it had drawn that many move cards, ending in all three squares behind him at different points before the end of the turn. None of them were step attacks, thankfully!) It's just that they occasionally use their attacks before they get behind their target. Whoops... I don't mind the AI making the occasional mistake, but the really glaring blunders could be cut back on a bit. Gary having three zombies start the turn standing in lava with 5/13 HP, having the first move, and passing leaps to mind...
While some monsters like the Ogres and Zombies seem as though they would attack mindlessly no matter what (and indeed that is part of their strategy), I am in agreement that the MP AI should really be programmed to not attack characters with Nimbus attached to them.
Apparently the AI sometimes passes at random. Passing even though you still have cards to play is a tactical option, for example if you believe that your current hand is worse than the opponent's and you hope for a better draw next turn. Or if you want the enemy to move first. I like to pass the first turn sometimes to see where the monsters are moving. However, with the AI randomly passing, it's usually better to play buffs or small healing spells, or attack an ally with Demonic Miasma to avoid an early round end because Gary felt like passing. It's a bit annoying. Another AI habit. It seems to me as if the AI likes to take turns with its monster groups. Each group seems to act in order without regard for what is the best tactics? For example, in the mine shaft, the AI would move goblins that are still far away from the fight even though another group is in melee with the party right now.
Overall the AI is not so bad, I like it that is sometimes does unexpected things like random passing. Some things I'd like to see implemented that might not be too complicated, though: Stuff that makes certain cards overpowered: - Do not attack enemies you cannot hurt (nimbus, resistable hide visible) - granted that this makes 1hp quest A LOT harder. Might still be left on for some mindless things like zombies. - Do not self kill units that have Path of Knives on Stuff that helps players too much in general: - Always attack if you can kill an enemy (have higher damage attack than they have hp left) - Do not use moves and then not move (except spin around) - Do not use heals if target is not wounded (like starting off with team heal) - Apply harmful attachments before damaging spells (unless you have a killshot like mentioned before) - Activate units that can attack before units that cannot - Do use terrain attachments over non-damaging terrain attachments Then there are many cards and conditions that the AI just can't handle properly, but would need do be tweaked individually so maybe too much effort.
With nimbus, it would definitely depend on the enemy that Gary was simulating. One of the hard parts of being a GM is that you sometimes have to make the guys you're controlling do stupid things because you're playing the role of characters that are stupid. I think Gary does a better job of this than I would have expected, some of the time. Dumb or enraged monsters should just bash away at you, even if it's obvious to the GM and the players that doing so might be a bad idea. Thing is, we're not talking about a monster adventure. I'm pretty sure Flaxative is mostly just talking about the AI's behavior when it's controlling it's own personal party, and the AI is expected to behave as an equal, and not the GM. Gary doesn't need to roleplay his dwarf being stupid for PvP. He can save that kind of goofiness for when he's a GM and not a competitive player. I see no reason why AI can't have special enhancements added to their behavior, just for PvP. This would help the AI feel more like players, and less like a special kind of PvE adventure.
Yes this is exactly how it should be. Dumb AI in SP is fine because you are usually outnumbered and it's cool to outsmart AI. But in MP the AI should be as smart as possible. And one thing I would like to see is a little bit of random moves. For example 90% of time the AI would make the "perfect" move, but 10% of time it would do something else, like the 2nd or 3rd best move (which might later turn out to be the best move). This way AI would be less predictable and would better simulate the errors and occasional epic moves that human players make.
Yes, it's fine that the AI has good cards but is not so bright, that just makes us feel good about our superior human intelligence. But the bit where AI randomly passes is put in to make the AI tougher, so it needs to be modulated to actually do that. When the RNG calls for random pass there should be a test whether random pass is mega-fail, and if that is the case there should be (90% in case humans figure out the test) no random pass.
One more weird AI behavior that I noticed when playing CardStock II: The AI likes to put Unholy Frenzy on Wizards. Both the first and the second team did this. Kind of weird. I have no idea how the AI handles buffs, but as a general idea I think the AI should differentiate between melee and ranged allies (maybe with some sort of flag or variable) and use buffs accordingly. The team 2 AI also put Unholy Wellspring on the Wizard, which on the other hand is smart
