When a player leaves... and AI take over! (Here: Imagine the Psycho theme)

from Demigod Forums

I am not going to complain about leavers or disconnects in this thread because that happens it is inevitable. Probably everyone will have to leave once in a while because something came up and many will probably have disconnects due to various reasons. It's not them that is the problem it is what comes after.

As it is now, when a player leaves the game, he/she is replaced by a AI. This is more a liability than a comfort since the AI's basically suck and is mostly just feeding the enemy and enhancing their upperhand. This is ofcourse crazy in my opinion, the AI is supposed to help not to destroy.

I think this needs to be discussed since I haven't seen or find any post about just this.

Personally I don't like the AI, I wouldn't like it if they were on nightmare difficulty even because AI can't replace a human player, they are far too easy to corner and fool etc. My suggestion is that the team would get a buff of sorts when a plyer in their team leaves. For example, a player in a 3v3 game leaves and his/her allies get a 5% more gold and 5% health and damage bonus. (Please note that this isn't a balanced suggestion, it is just an idea)

What do you think about my suggestion or do you have others of your own?

demigod
6,117 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

This has been discussed a few times here, and we have an offical response in one of Frogboy's journals. Basically, we're going to be able to set the amount of EXP and Gold a player gets for killing an AI to one of multiple levels.

It's a solution of sorts, however in most games I've played when one person leaves, their side concedes. Unless they're absolutely dominating the game.

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

But that's only for custom games right? It is worthless in skrimish and pantheon.

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Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

I was under the impression that the settings for both were getting set to whatever the community felt appropriate, and I think we can all agree it would need to be set to the lowest setting
:)

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

Ah, now that would be good :) Might be enough. Let's hope it is.

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

Here's the info from Frogboy's dev journal:

  • New AI options  (on death)
    • 1. Gold/ XP: High (= to what it is today)
    • 2. Gold/ XP: Normal (= 50% what killing a human player would be worth) [default]
    • 3. Gold/ XP: Low (=25% of what killing a human player would be worth)
  • New AI option:
    • 1. Hitpoints: Very High (2X what they are today)
    • 2. Hitpoints: High (1.5 what they are today) [Default]
    • 3. Hitpoints: Normal (1.0 what they are today)
    • 4. Hitpoints: Low (0.75 what they are today)

    I believe that the new defaults listed above are what the settings will be automatically set to (presumably in all game types) - I don't think anything else was clarifed by frogboy on that, but I might have missed it. 

    Reply #6 from Demigod Forums Top

    I think that the new AI settings (see Pacov's post above) should help to address some of the concern about the AI feeding.  For example, if killing an AI with 1.5-2X the hitpoints of a human player returns only 25-50% of the gold, targeting the AI may not be worth it in many instances.  Actually, an AI-controlled demigod with 2X health might be dangerous in some instances, though I'm sure that the AI will still find ways to die unnecessarily.

    Reply #7 from Demigod Forums Top

    In HoN(heroes of newerth) a DotA clone, when someone quits or DC's there hero is removed. All the players attained gold gets split among the team, and all of there items get dumped at the crystal. Seems to work. Although still being short 1 person is still a problem in and of itself.

    Reply #8 from Demigod Forums Top

    I think the changes frogboy listed are a much needed step in the right direction, but so long as the AI isn't much of a strategist (caps + lock flags as needed, initiates traps, etc), smart enough to stick with other players, or smart enough to buy logical upgrades, it will keep coming down to the same equation... how much ahead is your team when someone on your team disconnects?  The longer you are stuck with an AI, the greater your odds of losing... but at least now people won't get as much a benefit from farming the AI. 

    The only downside I see to this will be people asking new or inexperienced players to quit a game because they'd be better off with an AI (less money/exp for the other team on death). 

    Reply #9 from Demigod Forums Top

    Yes that might be a problem Pacov. Doesn't mean they will quit though. But the same problem would come with a buff to the rest of the players in the team where a players leaves.