Silk
Well-Known Member
.. this be FREEEEEEEEE until tomorrow night.
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/empire_earth_gold_edition
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/empire_earth_gold_edition
Empire Earth Gold edition
- Thread starter Silk
- Start date
Just to be warned, the AI cheats. Seriously.
Panda with issues...
Well-Known Member
This has been true since mario cart.
There's cheating, then there's teleporting new units on the map where absolutely no unit production could be just because there's fog of war...
Silk
Well-Known Member
Mario Kart uses rubber banding rather than blatantly "cheating" - don't consider that cheating myself but it is damned annoying
I hate that in mario kart, always have. I like to get a good lead as reward for my mad skillz, not have some NPC superglued to my ass for no logical reason.
Why can't they just use a blue shell like a player would?
Panda with issues...
Well-Known Member
Mario Kart uses rubber banding rather than blatantly "cheating" - don't consider that cheating myself but it is damned annoying
How is it NOT cheating?
I hate that in mario kart, always have. I like to get a good lead as reward for my mad skillz, not have some NPC superglued to my ass for no logical reason.
Why can't they just use a blue shell like a player would?
Exactly. The game possesses a tool designed specifically to punish the player in 1st place and make life difficult for them. Why not use it?
Narly Bird
New Member
Silk
Well-Known Member
Because the AI isn't necessarily doing anything that a player couldn't do, simply adjusting its driving ability based on position.
See also: every other racing game ever
Silk
Well-Known Member
Eh no, the AI mirrors or rubberbands the player, not really thinking for itself is it. It can't make mistakes, and it'll overtake if you make just one.
That to me isn't AI.
AI should make mistakes.
Xarlaxas
Active Member
Just checked and it doesn't seem to be free...
The site was acting up so now I have two copies sitting on my virtual shelf, for free.
I'd give you one, but it doesn't work that way on GoG, sadly. . . .
Hate to break it to you, but we're still decades off of AI that thinks for itself.
Again, being perfect is not the same as cheating.
Panda with issues...
Well-Known Member
That's crap. Human players can't magically teleport into second place.
It's not present in all racing games, but its widespread proliferation is a strong reason racing games generally suck.
Silk
Well-Known Member
I think/hope you know what I meant. Rubber banding is the lazy option, the fact that most racing games do it, doesn't justify it.
I am quite sure it's entirely possible to make an AI that has various racing skill levels ; the lower the more prone to mistakes and critical mistakes, the higher prone to minor mistakes and hardly ever critical. An AI that adjusts speeds for the upcoming turn. It can't be that hard.
That's what I mean by an AI that can think. I don't mean the AI can make life decisions and become sentient, nor was it ever implied, so shush you pedantic so and so.
Like I said, I just think they're lazy - and so long as everyone thinks like you (x did it, so I'll do it too!) then the genre won't evolve.
Panda with issues...
Well-Known Member
It's all cheating.
Narly Bird
New Member
Firstly I want to put on record that I don’t like rubber banding in general, but believe it has a place.
Secondly, the reason that most racing games use it is so that there is always a close race. If you did set each AI player to a specific skill level, it would be very hard for this to match or be close to the skill level of the real life player (since real life players can be at huge skill ranges). As an alternative, they use rubber banding so that no matter how good you are, it will always be close. Otherwise, if they were to set an AI player to be really good, so as to be competitive with the really high skill real life player, most real life players would never win a race, as they will never reach that really high skill level that only committed gamers reach.
I like the racing games that have only subtle rubber banding, which slightly increase the speed or skills of the AI when you are in the lead, whilst not making it constantly on your tail with the most minor flaw on your behalf will result in being overtaken. For me, that’s where the developers skill comes in – making it competitive without being stupidly unforgiving.
Having said that, I haven’t played any racing games for years and am not a big fan of the genre. I just thought I would post here so that I don’t seem like a blood bowl hermit.
Secondly, the reason that most racing games use it is so that there is always a close race. If you did set each AI player to a specific skill level, it would be very hard for this to match or be close to the skill level of the real life player (since real life players can be at huge skill ranges). As an alternative, they use rubber banding so that no matter how good you are, it will always be close. Otherwise, if they were to set an AI player to be really good, so as to be competitive with the really high skill real life player, most real life players would never win a race, as they will never reach that really high skill level that only committed gamers reach.
I like the racing games that have only subtle rubber banding, which slightly increase the speed or skills of the AI when you are in the lead, whilst not making it constantly on your tail with the most minor flaw on your behalf will result in being overtaken. For me, that’s where the developers skill comes in – making it competitive without being stupidly unforgiving.
Having said that, I haven’t played any racing games for years and am not a big fan of the genre. I just thought I would post here so that I don’t seem like a blood bowl hermit.