Improved AI ?

I hope the improve it. this will let us make better maps... perhaps have very specific AI options to choose from.

Also, the enemy player needs to be smarter. For example the computer should take down a pylon if it is the only thing powering 10 cannons.... In starcraft 1, they just shoot at the cannons. I hope they make them smarter this time!

 

Exactly! the AI are so dumb..

Everytime i send a mass amount of hydralisks into their base and destroyed most of their structures, they became stagnated with their economy. I pull my army out of their base and left them with just 6 SCVs and a barrack. They don't produce more SCVs, nor do they build more supply depots. They just pump out 4 marins at a time....

And i want the AI to be smarter so i can actually train to improve myself. in SC1 i always win too easily against the comp but i usually lose playing online so i'm stuck in the middle

 

Yes, sadly it's true... The Warcraft 3 AI and AI editor were pretty good though, so it can only get better from there. I can't wait to see a comp do a DT drop right next to my mineral fields. ;D

 

Dude, the AI is 10 years old along with SC1.. They AI follows exactly the build order not altering anything from game to game, which sux big time. IMO, warcraft III insane AI is quite challenging and I speculate that SC2 AI will be even better. Hopefully, SC2 AI will adopt the "learn from player" ability, then it would be cool :

 

A better idea should be that the AI is updatable... they should make it watch games on battle.net then use the same strategies people use online. Then they can release updates for sc2 that update the ai. that would be the sweetest thing ever! You could train offline because you'd be playing current real time battl.net strategies off other peopl ;D

 

But what about the casual, not-so-good players who like not being beaten to a pulp by Vultures because the AI stayed up all night watching games between Koreans and their Spider Mine fetish...

 

An "adjustable AI difficulty" option would be the answer

- First Timer
- Beginner
- Normal
- Difficult
- Veteran
- Champion

 

Afterall, AI is still scripted and written by human right? They are still bunch of codes, with some variables...I think there would be a "limitation" on how smart the AI is... I just hope that the AI will learn how to counter player's build, it's not fun pwning AI everytimes, in the same old fashion.. (massing carries, massing battlecruisers..etc) :-[

mc2, that is exactly what I am thinking (more AI options rather than easy, normal, insane). Champion AI would be near human like that would adopt different strategies to counter player style. This would provide a good platform to prepare players to enter into a more competitive level.

 

Have you ever seen someone "milk" (as i call it) a computer? They send a worker to the enemy base before combat units are built, then attack a building. Without failure, all of the enemy workers swarm out and try to attack the pest. But then the player orders their worker to just run away, and the computer's workers follow, leaving them with maybe 1 unit mining. Then the player can draw the computer's workers into their own defenses and tear them up, or just lead them on a wild goose chase until they get bored and head home, with a significant mineral disadvantage.

Computers like to murder their Lurkers by not allowing them to "lurk." Whenever they aren't in the range of a unit they want to attack, they unburrow, run up to it, and try to burrow again, opening them up to fire if the player was luring them into a trap.

 

The A.I. in SC1 was so bad that you could still easily win against 7 comps on melee without tricks like that. Even for 1998 A.I., I've always thought it to be quite bad.

 

^7 comps on MELEE would tear you apart in the first 5 minutes from all the Zealot + Zergling + Hydra + Marine + MEDIC attacks that they always perform early on, before you could have time to train enough units. Only if you miraculously survived till late-game, you could mass Carriers and BCs and Mutas/Guardians to win.

 

Against 7 comp in melee mode ? You must be kidding... I thought the most number of comps that can be beaten in melee is around 4-5? Unless you are talking about island map...Or is it because I sux ? :-X

 

I've seen someone take 7 comps on melee, on an open random map, but that someone was a freakishly good player. I think can only do it on specific weird maps. On average, I can only handle 2-3 at a time.

 

I'm talking about on money maps, your standard Ice Hunter variations. It's really easy with Toss or Terran, I achieved this early on before I even got really good at the multi-player aspect of the game. I think i've only gotten Zerg up to 4 or 5 comps, then I got really heavy into multi-player and moved on.

That's how bad the A.I. was. Can't wait to see how the A.I. will be in SC2.

 

You've sure been into this game for a long time! Back in 1998, when it came out I played the campaign, told my friends how cool it was, and we've been occasionally gathering up to play on LAN ever since. I've never tried battle.net except on Diablo and Warcraft 3.

 

LOL yea, I guess so. I enjoy playing games competitively. All of my friends around me enjoy competitive play and we like to milk games to the last drop. We used to play losing team buys drinks/snacks a lot back then. Losers doing push-ups based on kills multiplied in Smash Bros was fun too. Ah~ the memories. I am blessed with game crazy friends.

But I thought everyone played SC for multiplayer. I seriously never imagined the possiblity of people out there never having played SC on b-net. You've been missing out man

 

LAN IS multiplayer. It's just like Battle.net except that it's not the internet connection that is used to connect with the other players, but a more direct connection between a few local computers. That's what LAN stands for: Local Area Network. I have a network with 6 other guys in my apartment building, so we can play from our own homes whenever we want, and there's always at least one guy there for me to play with. Multiplayer is ALL I play Starcraft for too, so you better get your facts straight before you say I play alone. B.net isn't everything, you know?

 

Thanks for the big explanation on what LAN stands for. I played hella LAN too. I hope you didn't think I was betting drinks against people on battle.net...

Playing with the same people on LAN only, is kinda limited IMO. You can only improve so much then you stop growing. It's a much different playground when you're going against all kinds of different opponents from all over the world. When you play against someone enough times you learn their style after a while, everyone has their distinct style of play. While this is what's bad about playing only on LAN, it's also the best thing about it I think. Sometimes the mindgames are more intense because of it.

Still, battle.net is a good place to find different flavors of competition. After all it's free, why not take advantage of it is what I'm saying. Even while playing a lot of LAN, we still took time to team up on battle.net often. But nothing like picking up a game on LAN against people you don't know at internet cafes and betting drinks for it, it's the best.

 

Well we play varied, and I also go to internet cafes all around the city, so I see your point, but I never actually get 100% certain that my friend's gonna use the specific tactic I'm thinking about. And we played a lot of experimental UMS maps that you'd have to wait for hours on b.net for people to agree to. Anyway, I love LAN! :-*

 

Battle.net is an absolute wasteland for melee games unless you want to play on money maps or LT. I was only able to get any use out of it (outside of UMS) by finding a group of normal/random map players, and even among them I have weird tastes.

I've only played a few LAN games, because I only know a few people IRL that play SC.