AI toned down too much in early game?

[elonashooter]

Okay, so I beat the game the first time, so I'm probably a good deal better than someone playing for the first time, and I know that the developers "nerfed" the AI gains in the early game to be more reflective of what you could expect. Problem is... they're pretty terrible now. I've actually seen them get negative profits pre- december levels, which takes some skill to do, and post december I can get over 20K in a level easily enough but they're still oscilating (i.e. ranging in a spectrum) between 5 and 20 K. I don't have any idea how the competitor profit is calculated. I would imagine it's a function of the oil in the area, along with the upgrades they've bought. Fact of the matter is that I was able to completely drain a level with 42 oil before leaving the fertile plains. So... with that taken into consideration I think that the AI might have been "nerfed" too hard.

To the developers:
Also, I have absolutely no idea what function you're using that could return a negative profit. You have more or less fixed the auction AI so they aren't paying $10,000 per plot, but when I saw negative profit it was from people that hadn't spent that much money on land. In fact I seem to recall something like -5K, which would actually require the AI to take out gratuitous amounts of loans. Why is the AI taking out loans? Loans are almost never necessary, unless you keep missing the oil with your pipes, you should have enough for 2 dowsers, 1 rig 1 silo 1-2 wagons and a pipe upgrade.

I don't know how else a negative profit is possible without loans, and if in fact loans do factor into the AI profit calculation I cannot imagine them using loans intelligently.

[Gamious]

Thanks for the feedback!
1. We didn't nerf the AI in levels. We only changed the way they bid (no silly 25K bids) and the way they upgrade (proper and focused upgrade paths).
2. Their results are indeed a calculation dependent on Oil in the ground and upgrades. Spillage is ALSO a part of the equation. That might be why they turn op low profits or even negative profits in some cases.

It might be that this is counted too heavily, so it's something we will revisit at some time.
We are also adding a Hard Mode where the results for the AI will be much better. A player who has finished the game once or twice will be able to beat the AI pretty easily if they play again.

[Mick]

Hey, I find that really interesting. I’m playing the Heat Update right now and haven’t played for ages also sub 5 hour overall game time. And the AI in my Playthrough is soo ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Bad it feels like I’m playing in Sandbox mode. I mean I finished now the first Year or Episode or what ever and I have finished almost every Tech Strain while they got like 10 Upgrades at MAX. I also saw the same that some Ai pulled negative Profits which is mind blowing while I’m always between 25 and 60k. They also never exceeded like 15k or max max 20k. I just wish there would be an option to increase the Ai Difficulty. Anyways still love the game and had a great time playing. Shoutouts