how's the AI?

[reap]

How is the single-player AI for those that played against it? Is it challenging? Are any people new to the game beating the Hard-AI's on the first try?

Any insights would be appreciated.

As reference for anyone that can compare it to other digital board games, I'd rank the AI in others as follows:

Blood Rage - Poor
Warhammer Underworlds - Poor
Twilight Struggle - mediocre (decent for learning the rules)
Race For The Galaxy - Great / challenging
Through the Ages - Great / challenging

[DukeOfLight]

decent on easy...my first victory after 2 games, ive played with stark

[darthradoif]

Decent player that last played 3 years ago here - I have yet to lose to the Medium AI and usually get to 7 castles on turn 4-6. I have yet to try the Hard AI.
The medium AI is not terrible but makes some pretty big mistakes. Also for some reason I'm rarely attacked if ever. And none of the opponents do any actions to prevent me from going for castle 6 and 7. I have yet to be backstabbed by a AI ally.

[Shambo]

The AI is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrorbad. Played with buddies and set three AI houses to hard. It was the worst AI i've ever played against. It actively went against itself and made completely irrational decisions. Its not even capable of picking the best house card for combat.

As Lannister, I managed to take Pyke from the AI within three turns. If you've ever played the boardgame for any length of time you know how the Greyjoys can decimate the Lannisters because of house card inbalance. Like you can literally take Lannisport on turn one and its mathematically impossible for the Lannisters to counter.

My buddy who got assigned Baratheon just swept over Martell and Tyrell because the AI was incapable of using the sea support system to block out areas of the map. Its just not fun with such herpaderp AI.

Will play with vassals next time and will never play single player unless they improve the AI.

[Baron Porkface]

Originally posted by Shambo:

Like you can literally take Lannisport on turn one and its mathematically impossible for the Lannisters to counter.

How does this work?

[darthradoif]

Originally posted by Baron Porkface:

Originally posted by Shambo:

Like you can literally take Lannisport on turn one and its mathematically impossible for the Lannisters to counter.

How does this work?

My guess is he meant Riverrun, not Lanisport. I've forgotten the math part of it, but it was either undeffendable turn 1, or it came down to coin flip between house cards.

If Greyjoy ends turn one with Pike, Riverrun and Seaguard, and muster comes, but Clash doesn't (and Stark honors the peace with GJ) it's basically game over.

[mmx]

I've never played GoT bg before and I've managed to defeat all medium AIs.

[Mithrandir]

I've played the bg a few times (know the rules, but not a pro). Currently playing 1 (random) vs 5 medium AI.

So far, medium AI is ... medium. Competent on defense (very good with support and raids), take his time to attack and not fast to backstab indeed. Had some difficult wins as Stark and some easy wins as Greyjoy.

But I've lost my 2 tries as Tyrrel, so it seems ok to me for a medium experience.

[krealina24]

Originally posted by Shambo:

The AI is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrorbad. Played with buddies and set three AI houses to hard. It was the worst AI i've ever played against. It actively went against itself and made completely irrational decisions. Its not even capable of picking the best house card for combat.

As Lannister, I managed to take Pyke from the AI within three turns. If you've ever played the boardgame for any length of time you know how the Greyjoys can decimate the Lannisters because of house card inbalance. Like you can literally take Lannisport on turn one and its mathematically impossible for the Lannisters to counter.

My buddy who got assigned Baratheon just swept over Martell and Tyrell because the AI was incapable of using the sea support system to block out areas of the map. Its just not fun with such herpaderp AI.

Will play with vassals next time and will never play single player unless they improve the AI.

Totally agree xDD this IA in hard mode is horrible decision maker. It can´t pick an optimal card based on enemy active deck and next possible combats... It´s nice try, but i prefer to play with bad random people who still at least, can use their brains to make a 2 phases strategy consistency.

I hope IA will be improved because it´s not bad but it´s not challenging at all at the moment.

[Gut]

Originally posted by Shambo:

The AI is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrorbad. Played with buddies and set three AI houses to hard. It was the worst AI i've ever played against. It actively went against itself and made completely irrational decisions. Its not even capable of picking the best house card for combat.

As Lannister, I managed to take Pyke from the AI within three turns. If you've ever played the boardgame for any length of time you know how the Greyjoys can decimate the Lannisters because of house card inbalance. Like you can literally take Lannisport on turn one and its mathematically impossible for the Lannisters to counter.

My buddy who got assigned Baratheon just swept over Martell and Tyrell because the AI was incapable of using the sea support system to block out areas of the map. Its just not fun with such herpaderp AI.

Will play with vassals next time and will never play single player unless they improve the AI.

FYI, the game support the FAQ v2 from 2019, which rebalance the Lannister start to fix the Greyjoy advantage. So no, it is no longer a Lannister decimation, for the better. :)

[Shambo]

Originally posted by Gut:

Originally posted by Shambo:

The AI is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrorbad. Played with buddies and set three AI houses to hard. It was the worst AI i've ever played against. It actively went against itself and made completely irrational decisions. Its not even capable of picking the best house card for combat.

As Lannister, I managed to take Pyke from the AI within three turns. If you've ever played the boardgame for any length of time you know how the Greyjoys can decimate the Lannisters because of house card inbalance. Like you can literally take Lannisport on turn one and its mathematically impossible for the Lannisters to counter.

My buddy who got assigned Baratheon just swept over Martell and Tyrell because the AI was incapable of using the sea support system to block out areas of the map. Its just not fun with such herpaderp AI.

Will play with vassals next time and will never play single player unless they improve the AI.

FYI, the game support the FAQ v2 from 2019, which rebalance the Lannister start to fix the Greyjoy advantage. So no, it is no longer a Lannister decimation, for the better. :)

Ah good to know! The AI is still a complete shambles though.

[Cuthalion]

AI is terrible, even the strongest - as expected. This game has its openings theory, midgame theory, endgame theory - pretty much like chess, though not as deep. To make AI be valid to at least certain extend would be too difficult a task for such a minor project.

However AI is helpful in a variety of things as I see (though I played only 1 game so far):
1) To train newbies - to help them get acquainted with the rules, feel the game etc..
2) If you have a 6 player game that lasts for hours, it is a usual practice that one player loses link, or if a player is almost defeated and loses interest, they may just leave. In such cases, it would be good to let AI finish the game: no agression, just defend what is left of the lands and troops.

[lepa_cica123]

Originally posted by darthradoif:

Originally posted by Baron Porkface:

How does this work?

My guess is he meant Riverrun, not Lanisport. I've forgotten the math part of it, but it was either undeffendable turn 1, or it came down to coin flip between house cards.

If Greyjoy ends turn one with Pike, Riverrun and Seaguard, and muster comes, but Clash doesn't (and Stark honors the peace with GJ) it's basically game over.

This is the reason they added +1 ship for Lannister.
If Lanni set up right - GJ can't take RR and Golden Sound at same turn so it's better for him to make pact with Lanni instead.

[Gut]

Originally posted by Shambo:

Originally posted by Gut:

FYI, the game support the FAQ v2 from 2019, which rebalance the Lannister start to fix the Greyjoy advantage. So no, it is no longer a Lannister decimation, for the better. :)

Ah good to know! The AI is still a complete shambles though.

To be honest, it's not a full fix, but it reduces the Greyjoy winning rates by some % at least. I would say that Lannister is still hard, each error can be pretty fatal. A good diplo is needed for sure.

[JayTac]

It's not better than Race for the Galaxy, but that's an unfair comparison because it's not difficult to program AI for that type of game. Race is far less complex with minimal interaction between players.

If you want a true example of unplayable AI, it's Stratego, not GoT. GoT is light years better in comparison and good enough to be enjoyable and worth playing.

It will make some bad decisions, but it's still fun overall.

[Gut]

Also, I think that with Tides of Battles option activated the AIs will look better, because the unpredictability introduced in battle outcomes will hurt more the player than the AIs (pretty sure they do not plan things like a player do).