List of AI flaws so far

[Asjo]

When I played the campaigns, the heavy scripting of missions seemed like a convenient excuse for the AI playing stupidly at time. Then I played my first multiplayer map (hot seat, one player), and it seemed that the AI was just plain retarded, even if nonetheless slightly more aggressive than in Heroes IV (so no nightmares about that). I also thought that the auto-combat was well done. That's until I played with a dungeon army.

We cannot be sure which ambitions Nival and Ubisoft have, how many bugs they will actually fix. They say they will fix the things that are found after the release as times goes by, but by now it seems like a lot. The fact that they have cheated heavily to give the AI a chance doesn't show that they have plans for it to be adequate. I thought an overview of all current AI flaws (not the obvious bugs) would provice a powerful image and perhaps a help for the developers to see what's ahead of them.

Add your points in this topic and I will add them to the list.

AI flaws in Heroes of Might and Magic V

- Game mechanics: If there are units both inside the town and all hero unit spots are taken, the AI does not mix the strongest army when defending its town.

- Adventure: When chasing an inferior enemy hero, the AI priorities are screwed. The AI will stop to pick up mines and do other thins before attacking the enemy hero. This leads to the enemy hero getting away, a tactical defeat for the AI.

- Adventure: The AI very infrequently supplies its main heroes with new recruits, at least in bigger maps. Though being at a economical disadvantage, you will often find that you have the biggest army by far throughout the entire game.

- Adventure: Inferior AI heroes will not always run away from you as well as they can. Apparantly, if they have other things in mind, they get higher priority. So, basically the AI wastes valuable heroes for nothing. An example is that the AI will almost without exeption chase after a weak enemy hero close to if, even if the means running right next to an enemy army twice as big as its own.

- Adventure: The AI will in some cases attack the neutral armies guarding, but not pick up the resources or mines behind them, even if given every opportunity. Refer to the middle of the map in "Heritage", normal difficulty.

- Adventure: When you close up on an AI castle, it will usually hole up to defend and then recruit another hero to throw at your outside the castle. However, sometimes the level one hero gets the main army inside the castle, while the good hero attacks with limited troops.

- Adventure: The AI does not agressively try to steal your mines with smaller armies. It seems to randomly take mines as it comes by, and not always all mines in the area it's in.

- Combat: The AI will often have its casters unit their turn casting spells instead of attack, even despite the fact that all their spells are resisted time upon time.

- Combat: the AI will rush enemy monsters with weak units, getting them killed even if the monsters could be killed before reaching any creature stack of the AI's. In some situations it is the other way around: the AI will stay and defend its shooters even if the shooters of the other army are just as powerful but could easily be taken down by AI's melee units.

- Combat: Even if the AI should know that it is not necessary in order to win the combat (which it might if there were many creatures left, if the summons were too powerful or attacked shooters), it will attack summoned/gated creates almost as much as it will attacked other creatures. This applies to other situations where the AI has one last attack. This way, the AI does not kill as many creatures as possible as the killed summoned creates won't matter after combat is over.

- Combat: The AI does not retreat from battle/surrender, even to save its main heroes or important artifacts.

- Combat: The AI does not think ahead in If one enemy unit stack is left, and that unit stack does not get to attack any time soon, the AI should just make sure to get a safe kill. Instead, the AI might attack with the wrong unit and lose creatures unecessarily. Also, if the AI can see that combat will end before the enemy even gets to move, it should not waste mana in auto-combat (this is a tough one to implement, though). An AI inferno army should not use gating if it knows that the combat will be ended before the summened creatures arrive. Instead, it would want to kill shooter units before the get to cause unecessary casualities.

- Combat: the AI often misses out on the chance to attack an enemy stack that is unable to retaliate due to previous retaliation. It only uses certain units. For instance, in autocombat with a dungeon army, the AI always uses dark raiders aggressively. However, even if it has large stacks of hydras and minotaurs in a large army, it will not use them to attack the enemies right beside them. It should use blood furies any time possible as they will never receive retaliation and will return to the spot they attacked from.

- Combat: AI will sometimes cast area effect spells that kill more of its army than the enemy army.

- Combat: The AI will have its units cast a spell, even if that same unit could have attacked and ended the combat (with certainty) instead.

- Combat, siege: The AI runs its troops into the moat unecessarily. It does this even when going another way around it would be quicker as the moat stop you or when it will win the combat next turn regardless.

[Campaigner]

Siege: The A.I run their troops into the moat unnecessarily.

Combat: The A.I doens't place its creatures in optimum positions (such as with Sylvan heroled armies. They put Unicorns up or down and doesn't place them as a human would)

[Ethric]

When you close up on their castles they'll usually hole up to defend, and then rent another hero just to throw at you outside the castle. But I've seen it place the good hero outside with some riffraff troops, and then the new level 1 hero inside with the main army. Which is a not to clever decision.

[Psychobabble]

In combat, I have seen the AI attack gated creatures when presented with two stacks of familiars, a large one and a smaller gated one. This is almost always a bad idea, the aim of the AI neutral creatures should be to cause casualties as it's rarely going to win a battle.

[DaemianLucifer]

Combat:AI will sometimes cast area effect spells that kill more of his army then yours.

Combat:Although Ive seen AI in demo using overseer implosion on his own stack,I though the full game wont have such stupidities,but Ive witnessed it casting frenzy on his own stack(hard dificulty).Its like it missed the spell it wanted

Combat:The AI doesnt retreat often as it should.

[Asjo]

DaemianLucifer, I would classify your second mention as a bug rather than an AI flaw. Obviously bugs I would expect Nival to fix no matter what, but AI shortcomings might not seem to obvious and therefore perhaps not necessary to fix.

[JamaY]

On some maps (especially Warlords), some AI players will stay in their castle without even capturing their ore/wood mines...just recruiting creatures. After a while, they run out of ressources to build any buildings, and become easy targets for anyone needing an extra town.

[Phobos]

Frenzied A.I. troops can defend, which causes the spell to be completely useless against them.

[Asjo]

Once again, I would classify what Phobos mentions as a bug, but it seems that it has been fixed as the only thing mentioned in here.

[juventas]

This may be a bug, but a titan's call lightning has no effect on the ballista, and the titan will attempt to use call lightning on it over and over again.

[Asjo]

When AI uses area of effect on its own units it could be said to be a bug, because it doesn't act wrongly on precise information, but is told that the area of effect spell is a single-unit damage spell. Still, the behaviour of the AI is wrong, so it is listed as a flaw.

However, juventas, in your example the behaviour of the AI is correct, the effect is just bugged somehow. So, unless I'm wrong and the call lightning is not supposed to effect the ballista, it's a bug.

It makes me thing of something else, though. The fact that the AI will often have caster units use their spells repetitively even though the enemy has very high magic resistance, and using the units to attack would be much more useful.

[DaemianLucifer]

When AI uses area of effect on its own units it could be said to be a bug, because it doesn't act wrongly on precise information, but is told that the area of effect spell is a single-unit damage spell. Still, the behaviour of the AI is wrong, so it is listed as a flaw.

Yet he knows how to use them properly at times.Oh how much I feared the pit lord slaying my units with their fireball and meteor shower.Either I could group units and receive fireball on three weaker ones,or spread them and receive meteor shower on two stronger ones.Ughh!

However, juventas, in your example the behaviour of the AI is correct, the effect is just bugged somehow. So, unless I'm wrong and the call lightning is supposed to effect the ballista, it's a bug.

I dont see any reason why balista would be immune to the call lightning,and even if it is,why would it be targeted by lightning then?

[Asjo]

"unless I'm wrong and the call lightning is NOT supposed to effect the ballista" ... forgot a wee word in there :p