Well, like the title says, there is a new enhanced AI mod. I've been pouring hours into it and with the modding help of miriyaka and my testing crew (sledge/plaguewraith/darkliath), we've made some considerable progress. So, if you've read this much, let me give you the short version.
We all know the vanilla AI is not good. Peppe created the enhanced AI mod and that was some EXCELLENT work; however, as peppe isn't a full time coder for GPG, he's moved on (but will hopefully join us again at some time). That said, there is still a lot to be done to make the AI awesome using the framework that Peppe left for us. Starting in June, I took over development and have been fine tuning the mod. It's coming along great!
For you expert level folks, the new mod means that you can take take an AI as a teammate and it will buy fs1/cur1/priest/angel/catapults/giants. If you play with more than 1 ai, you can actually start to rely on the AI to go for interrupts and to consistently have a sigil to avoid death. This means you can go for ganks with confidence and you can actually start to count on your AI teammate.
For you mid level folks, this means you can get a decent challenge in a 3 hard AI vs 2 human game. It won't be impossible, but it will make you work and should be challenging and enjoyable.
And for beginners - the new mod will provide you with all sorts of challenges.
I played a great 1v1 + 2 ai per team game tonight that was a blast. The AI did its part (kept me from having to buy upgrades so I could focus on whatever I wanted to - AND stayed alive and got kills).
Anyway, if you are looking for something that will make DG a little more fun or something that will help you get games running if no one is around (eg if only 3 people are in my lobby, I can just take an AI, do a 2v2, and have fun!), give this a shot.
The mod is being updated almost daily with new enhancements to the basic game play.
If you want to give it a shot, here are a few tips to you new comers:
- The AI will ALWAYS buy fs1 right around ws2 (you don't have to buy it unless you want to)
- The AI will ALWAYS buy cur1 at WS3 as soon as it has 1800 gold (you don't have to buy it unless you want to)
- Starting at WarRank 5, the AI will begin to save for creeps (priests/angels/catapults/giants).
- At WarRank 8, the AI will buy every creep unit it can afford (priests/angels/catapults)
- At WarRank 10, the AI will buy giants if it can afford it. Otherwise, it will buy it as soon as it can
- If you do buy things for the AI, it will get better equipment
- I highly recommend playing all games when you use this mod with the AI set to hard difficulty AND AI payouts set to the normal defaults. I've found these to be the most fair and enjoyable settings.
Here's a quick heads up on how the DG's have been recoded:
- If you want a teammate that is AWESOME at interrupts, choose UB/OAK/TB (only ice form)
- If you want to go for damage spikes, choose QoT/Reg/Oak (reg will snipe ANYONE that he sees with the lowest HP - you want an early game kill, pick someone with high dps and choose reg as a teammate. Ganks be comin - and the reg get's staff of renewal... so snipes will continue to hit over and over)
- If you want a tower farm, take rook. He has no hammer slam currently, but he will build a tower farm on a flag whenever possible and give you a chance for ganks (and help you hold crucial flags).
- All of the AI ability builds have been updated to make them as good as possible
- All of the AI equipment builds have been updated to make them as good as possible
- If you take an AI general as a teammate (in a 2v2), the AI will automatically send you a monk/cleric/etc (if its a 3v3 or >, the AI will randomly select a player to send the healer to - AND the AI is smart enough to try to layer healers (eg monks/clerics, etc))
Anyway, there are lots of things to like. There are still a few bugs here and there, but its come a long way.
So, here are some links.
If you want to grab the latest version, you can always read about it and download here: https://forums.demigodthegame.com/409590
If you are interested, but not sure if you want to dive in, you can check out a few replays: BUT - you need to download a the current version of the mod (7/1/2011) and the replays. Replays will ONLY work if you are using the same version of the mod that the replay was played in.
Anyway, to be clear, you need to download 2 files:
Here is a direct link to the Enhanced AI Mod 0.26.54 (you need this to view the replays - this won't be the most current version of the mod in a few days, but the link will always point to version 0.26.54): http://www.box.net/shared/ck36iy4stf0v9vxhqqcn
Here is a link to the replays (you will need to put these in your Demigod replay folder (C:\Users\YOUR USERNAME\Documents\My Games\Gas Powered Games\Demigod\replays\YOUR DEMIGOD NAME\ : http://www.box.net/shared/ajdkpqksaaqymau7g0tz
Give it a look and I hope you enjoy!
