Chill AI - my version of good old Petersen

[Leif Ericson]

Petersen is the AI released with the original Conquerors expansion in 2000. It's the basis for the CD AI in DE. I think it should work in HD as long as you don't use any of the HD expansions.

[n33k33]

Would making a version playable on Voobly be a lot of work ? Sounds perfect for me and the kiddies to play ^^

(we play together on Voobly since DE is too much for my old laptops and HD got this nasty multiplayer save bug)

[KimberlyAzula]

Would making a version playable on Voobly be a lot of work ? Sounds perfect for me and the kiddies to play ^^

(we play together on Voobly since DE is too much for my old laptops and HD got this nasty multiplayer save bug)

I have no idea about scripting for the voobly version or what differences there are and stuff - and I don't have the time currently to look into it.

[n33k33]

Wattle was nice enough to spend time on a Chill AI UP compatible version <3

Gave it a try yesterday. 1v1. Moderate. Britons (me) vs Turks (Chill) on the Pine Clearing custom random map.

The Petersen feel was real and AI was indeed really chill. It felt logically a lot less agressive than other AIs and kept attacking a couple points of my defenses with mixed battalions in a very Petersen fashion. Unlike Petersen though it never once created Trebuchets but sent a few rams. His town was walled but he only had one Castle. His ressources post game seemed decent. Also enjoyed the AI dialogues. ^^

I hadn't paid attention to this in the OP though: "Has a very small strategy variance, which in 1 vs 1 consists of no more than two different strategies, but in teamgames the variance is greater"

So I kinda regret testing it 1v1. Will for sure play against it again with the kids as soon as we can.

Thanks Kimberly for a very unusual and interesting AI concept and Wattle for the conversion ! Will post again after more games.

[KimberlyAzula]

Wattle was nice enough to spend time on a Chill AI UP compatible version <3

Gave it a try yesterday. 1v1. Moderate. Britons (me) vs Turks (Chill) on the Pine Clearing custom random map.

The Petersen feel was real and AI was indeed really chill. It felt logically a lot less agressive than other AIs and kept attacking a couple points of my defenses with mixed battalions in a very Petersen fashion. Unlike Petersen though it never once created Trebuchets but sent a few rams. His town was walled but he only had one Castle. His ressources post game seemed decent. Also enjoyed the AI dialogues. ^^

I hadn't paid attention to this in the OP though: "Has a very small strategy variance, which in 1 vs 1 consists of no more than two different strategies, but in teamgames the variance is greater"

So I kinda regret testing it 1v1. Will for sure play against it again with the kids as soon as we can.

Thanks Kimberly for a very unusual and interesting AI concept and Wattle for the conversion ! Will post again after more games.

Thank you to wattle for his work and you for trying out my AI!

I wanna reply to some of your comments on my AI.
1. Only one castle:
The Chill AI spends a lot of stone on walls and technologies and also sometimes sells it if in dire need of gold. She will not start building a wall unless she has finished a castle. She won't build a second castle unless the wall has been completed.
2. Never once created a trebuchet but rams instead:
Weird. She usally loves training trebuchets in imperial age. She actually prefers them over rams in most cases, especially with a civ like Britons. Maybe the UP conversion messed that up or she was just out of resources in that particular game.
3. Mixed armies:
She actually mixes up units even more than Petersen does. She trains all units the civ is not particular bad with (e.g. no Spanish archers).
4. Resources:
Compared to Petersen Chill AI trains more villagers in the long run, but after she has about a fourth of the pop cap (default 200) she will train military units preferably instead of villagers, so they will come in slower.
5. "His":
Chill AI is a female AI, all her names are female too.
6. Enjoyed the AI dialogues:
Thank you very much, but compared to the Morrígan this AI lacks some dialogue. I want to add more in the future.
7. Teamgames vs 1vs1s:
I said that the AI has two different strategies for teamgames. That's not quite true. She plays almost the same, only on standard victory will she play different. But she will play more intelligently overall in teamgames since the queens interact with each other quite a lot.

I wish you could test out my The United Queendoms AI as well, it is far more complex and thought through but also still very oldstyle. Problem is this has way too many rules that are too long for UP so converting that one would probably be too much work for wattle.
Again, big thanks!

[n33k33]

Gave Chill AI another try tonight, this time with the kiddies.

Random map, Moderate, 3 (me and both kids) vs 2 (Chill AI both)

Was a lot of fun ! Feodal rushed me since I was leading in score but nothing too bad and then also harassed the boys. Me and boy#1 (11yo) could wall up and develop defenses before they came back in force but boy#2 (8yo) was lagging behind and got overwhelmed before my troops reached him. He then relocated inside my walls (I fortunately had a wide area secured). Blue Chill then concentrated on boy#1 while Yellow Chill concentrated on me and boy#2. They sent contingents of troops in formations crash our gates again in a really Petersen fashion, allowing us to breathe between each waves. Had to rescue boy#1 several times but he held pretty well on his own. Had to concentrate on my wide base and multiple attacks on multiple spots this time from Yellow Chill who had now built a myriad of castles around my base and had also created a navy bombarding my walls from a nearby pool of water. Yellow Chill was now sending trebuchets from the castles and doing a decent job at protecting them from my cavalry. Taken in my own Trebuchet counter-attack against the castles I wasn't in time to help boy#1 against Blue Chill and his fortress fell, but he successfully escaped to my base.

We sadly had to go for dinner at that point ...

We might pick up the game again tomorrow. Situation was far from lost as boy#2 was starting to recover and I had a great eco going to support our defenses while boys built up an army to go on the offense.

All in all, was a lot of fun ! I can confidently say Chill AI delivers on the Petersen with a twist experience. The major difference with other AIs is the way the flood doesn't turn into a neverending stream of units. It keeps the Petersen cadence that allows you to breathe inbetween waves. It is smarter than Petersen in some aspects and will retreat from TC fire and the likes, but will sometimes stubbornly attack defenses even if it stands no chance surviving the arrows raining on it just like it's ancestor.

Great balance for us and fits our games nicely.

[KimberlyAzula]

Updated for the latest patch

[KimberlyAzula]

Updated to include the roman civ and the new dromon ship.

[KimberlyAzula]

Enabled land nomand play.

[KimberlyAzula]

Updated for the latest patch and new civs.