Weak AI. — General — HeroesWorld

Matysh

9 years ago

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Hello to all fans of the third installment of Heroes of Might and Magic. Several years ago, I encountered the problem of weak AI opponents. When I was just starting to play (a long time ago), in any version of the game, the AI was very strong. If you hesitated even a little, they would immediately come and tear you to shreds with creatures of level 7. For example, on the Champions of Gelu map, the AI would accumulate a huge army, many times larger than mine. But in recent years, the AI seems to have forgotten how to play. I create a map, or play on a standard one, and I'm already at level 7 with improved units, while the AI is running around with some pathetic armies that are easily defeated in one or two turns. I thought it depended on the game version, so I installed the original versions of The Restoration of Erathia, Armageddon's Blade, and The Shadow of Death – everywhere it's the same, the AI plays worse, or rather, it doesn't play at all. What could be the reason for this? Is it some kind of system glitch? A bug in the 64-bit Windows? A secret entry in the registry that causes the AI to become unresponsive? Has anyone else encountered something similar?

Marmot

9 years ago

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You know, there's a movie called "When Trees Were Big." The title means that in childhood, when we were little, trees seemed very big to us. But when we grew up, the trees no longer seem as big, even though they have grown too. The same goes for the game. I suspect that there is probably no secret, and simply your skill level has increased significantly since then, while the AI's skill level has remained the same.
If you are not satisfied with this explanation, let's look at a specific map and a specific save file, and we can analyze whether the AI is playing normally or not.
By the way, when I started playing (and, it seems, other beginners too), I always played on "normal" difficulty, or rather, I just didn't change the difficulty setting that the game provided. Later, I started choosing the difficulty myself, according to the difficulty set by the author of a specific map. You know that difficulty not only determines the amount of resources, but also the AI's skill level, right? If you try to play a difficult map on "easy," you will definitely see this in the battles.
In conclusion, here are two suggestions for you:
1) try playing not on standard maps, but on custom maps with really high difficulty;
2) if single-player maps still seem too easy, play against human opponents.

Ben80

9 years ago

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Matysh

Hello to all fans of the third Heroes game. A few years ago, I encountered the problem of weak AI opponents.
When I just started playing (a long time ago), in any version of the game, the AI opponents were very strong. If you hesitate even a little, they will come and tear you to shreds with creatures of level 7. For example, on the Champions map, the AI would accumulate a huge army for its Castle, many times larger than mine.

But in recent years, the AI seems to have forgotten how to play. I create a map, or play on a standard one - I already have a level 7 upgraded Castle, and the AI opponents are running around with some pathetic armies that are easily defeated in one or two turns. I thought it depended on the version of the game, so I installed the original versions of Era, Armageddon, and Breath, but everywhere it's the same: the AI plays worse, or rather, it doesn't play at all.

What could be the reason? Some kind of system glitch? A bug in the x64 version of Windows? A secret entry in the registry that causes the AI to become stupid? Has anyone encountered something similar?

Does the AI build a level 7 Castle by week 4-5? Does it have a level 6 Castle by week 2?
If so, then everything is normal. Are you playing on 160% or 200% difficulty?

Matysh

9 years ago

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Marmot
No, I'm actually playing worse now than I did back then, because I play very rarely. The problem definitely isn't that; it doesn't depend on how well I play in general. It's just that the AI doesn't have really strong heroes with decent troops, which is clearly some kind of bug.

Ben80
Always 200%.
Okay, I'll install a licensed version of Heroes of Might and Magic, just to be sure, and I'll send you save files and screenshots.

Added 4 minutes later
Update:
I just had an idea that I always play with the HD mod now. Maybe that's the problem.

Marmot

9 years ago

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Why specifically "Armageddon's Blade"? Almost everyone plays with "The Shadow of Death" or "Complete Collection".
Also, to save you the trouble of searching, I'll add to the first piece of advice: here are a couple of custom maps where the AI develops quite well. It's convenient that their walkthrough is practically linear, and you shouldn't have any difficulties with where to go and what to do.
The Lord of War - it has both English and Russian versions.
Longest Journey

AleksandrX

8 years ago

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Good afternoon! Computers have always been a problem for me, but after some time, I gained experience by playing with friends and watching streams of players who know how to play, and I seem to be managing okay. Although, in most cases, a friend uses diplomacy to build up my army, and we work together to defeat the computer. However, sometimes they surprise us! P.S. If it's easy with one, you can set up 2 against you in a team or even 3!

Lider1

8 years ago

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Well, the fact that the AI is terrible is no secret to anyone.
And even if you take complex maps, it can only pose a challenge with an absurd advantage.

Playing against a human is the only way to go.

antoca

8 years ago

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Skip the first week and start going from the second week onwards. Let’s see how you sing then.

Lider1

8 years ago

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Naive person. Do you really think this will help?

Why don't you watch some streams, at least to see how people play Heroes?

la reine pedauque

6 years ago

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you just need to play online, not against bots.

Izergaer

6 years ago

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I remember seeing a thread on some forum where they discussed the possibility that computer specs affect the AI's strength. In other words, if you have a computer with weak specs (components from around 2000-2005), the AI should be stronger, as the game works better with older PC configurations.

In reply to Lider1

-A-

6 years ago

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Lider1

Well, the fact that the AI is bad is no secret to anyone.
And even if you take complex maps, it can only pose a challenge with an absurd advantage.

Playing against a human is the only way.

Is there any discussion somewhere about improving the AI in HoMM3 (in future versions of HotA, for example)?