Type of AI/competitors?

[Ort]

Just wondering what kind of AI it is...As in:

- AI/Computer player, or roughly that. Key point is, play under the same rules and the difficulty tries to change the efficiency / how "smart" it plays
- Simulates a player but with a boost/bonus. As in, they cheat, the difficulty sets how much
- Another layer of random events. Like a series of triggers where the difficulty sets the frequency of them (e.g. now and then the computer will patent something)

I guess I am half curious about it and I guess it will also affect (more or less) how I will set my custom games.

So, if anyone knows anything about it, I will be happy to know too! Thanks.

[clvnhbs]

I've been following the devlogs for some time, so I know some of the things that went into the AI (you should check out Tim's channel for those videos). The AI competitors are not exactly trying to win (i.e they are not trying to make that 1 mill in 10 yrs) like you. They are basically just players to make for a more interesting market simulation, act as barriers to the player's goal.

The AI play by the same rules as the humans - they also have to build the factories and production lines etc, we just don't get to see it. They need to research tech and ingredients etc all of it. The game's difficulty level doesn't depend on the smartness of the AI as such, it's more about the profit margins on cures and market saturation, time to get a good cure rating etc.

In the custom game builder itself, you can see the pop up for the cure profit margin says that's the single biggest factor influencing the game's difficulty. Set it too high and the game becomes stupidly easy as even your level 1 cold meds will make enough profit to finance additional lines. Too low and you'll be struggling to make a profit until 2-3 level 2 cures which means you'll be relying more on loans.

Sorry for the wall of text but hope this helped a bit!

[Ort]

Thank you very much. That actually help me a lot.

Because it makes me quite happy that the AI will be playing under the same rules/mechanism. Instead of just another layer almost randomly generated events (e.g. the global events).

Basically, that affects me of just adding a single AI player (if it's just another series of events like cure releases and patents) or like 2-4 of them (if they at least roughly follow/play under the same rules/mechanism) in the custom game.

Anyway, thanks again!

[Twice Circled]

Just want to chime in and say clvnhbs is spot on here.

[Tharaxis]

To be honest I think it would have made the game a lot more interesting if there was an option to have a competitive AI whose win condition(s) mirror the player's own. It would make the competitor(s) a growing concern for players as they research newer drugs and have a greater impact on the market. The way it's structured right now, if the win-conditions are lenient enough (ie. not time limited) then there's no way to not eventually win with enough time, which ends up making the process a bit boring once you've got one or two really high-selling drugs.

Right now my (in particular custom) games tend to just end up with me sitting back and going "well, I've got enough money now" and leaving the game. Not once have I had to save a game of the many I've played.

Please consider putting in a more competitive side to the game. Or otherwise multiplayer with shared win conditions or *something* that makes the game a bit more competitive. It's just dying for it.