Wacky Diplomatic AI

from Stardock Forums
Me: I would like to trade you 5 Frigates for 75 BC/turn over 20 months.

Torian: No!

Me: I would like to trade you 4 Frigates for 60 BC/turn over 20 months.

Torian: No!

Me: I would like to trade you 3 Frigates for 45 BC/turn over 20 months.

Torian: No!

Me: I would like to trade you 2 Frigates for 30 BC/turn over 20 months.

Torian: No!

Me: I would like to trade you 1 Frigate for 15 BC/turn over 20 months.

Torian: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!

Me: Alright... how about... another Frigate for 15 BC/turn over 20 months?

Torian: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!

Me: Eh... yah, okay. Any chance you'd want a 3rd one at the same price?

Torian: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!

Me: Let me guess, you'll take a 4th one too?

Torian: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!

Me: So why did you refuse my initial offer and insist on me trading these ships to you one at a time?

Torian: .....

Me: .....

Torian: .....

Me: You want the 5th one, right?

Torian: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!
295 views 7 replies
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
LOL That's funny. The math behind such a trade might not equate out as the value curve seems slightly exponential as you stretch out deals, which, if you think about it, is NOT a smart thing to do- it's why the poor get such crappy loans in the real world and get bilked for $$- the repayment plan stinks. You can really milk the AI's by following the same game plan. Lower the appearence of spending (as you did) or stretch it out... as I typically do.

In your case it seems the AI has no real absolute spending threshold (which I think it should) and just has some sort of pain per payment threshold.

~SDC~
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
I hope what we got in v1.03 won't be the final version of the diplomacy fix. Trying to discourage players from certain behaviors with the UI is the modus operandi of another game ;)
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
My guess would be that when the AI is calculating it's economics, it doesn't take into account any deals made already during your turn. So, it doesn't want to spend 30BC/turn...but it doesn't know that it's already committed 15/turn earlier, and is willing to commit 15/turn as many times as you want...until you hit the next turn button.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Seems like it should be deducting it's current deals from a pool of possible limits- so one deal takes away 5 points from the 10 it has so it would only do another deal worth 5 (assuming those deals fall within deals it's interested in in the first place). Make sense?
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Oh, great, another piece of cheese bound for the garbage can...hehe

Seriously, I think it does not keep track of how much it's spent this turn, and I also believe it should. Hope it's not too hard to implement.