How often are YOU running into the "super lucky" opponents?

Gameplay Chat (PlayStation 4/Xbox One)
129

That was actually how Puzzle Quest worked (with lua scripts)!

But the answer is that it’s “kind of” possible… almost
Apple actually forbid any scripting code that can be downloaded as free content, so it would mean that it needs to be written as actual game code & packaged up with the file into the app store, which is a nuisance because you have to be writing it months in advance, often before troops are actually released/balanced/finalized. And it limits your ability to tweak the troops.

Of course there are all sorts of ways to hybrid-ize scripts as data streams that work around this limitation, but we’ve opted to try and make something a bit more generic this time as it’s more efficient.

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130

Very interesting. Now I understand more about the complexity of AI programming.

131

Well that all certainly shines a new light on everything. From my personal experience, I would definitely say it needs some tinkering with yet still. There are definitely instances where the AI can literally take the board and never let up (full goblin teams, for example) until I die, just because they happened to get a 4 match from a sky drop at the start of their turn.

The guild guardian cards are even more notorious for this. It definitely causes times where it seems like my cards powers adamantly leave the AI in a better position, and screw me over. Jarl, for example, can end up constantly leaving 4-5 matches on the board when I use him, and then when the AI uses him, it of course constantly seems to give extra turns to the AI.

I will say that I have noticed times, albeit not that often, where the AI purposefully doesn’t take a 4 match or something else that might favor them. It doesn’t happen often, but it ~does~ happen. Usually at the oddest times, not so much when it’s been going on a streak, just on turns where nothing could really be done with troop powers or where taking it wouldn’t give them much of an advantage.

Thank you for the informative and insightful post none the less though :smiley:

132

It definitely seems to be the 3 trophy bouts that are the most affected by the “super lucky” AI and where the most perceived cheating seems to come from on my end as well. 1 and 2 trophy matches are noticeably easier generally (though 2 trophies can still sometimes cause some ridiculous things to happen for the AI).

133

I have seen the computer playing team to still collect mana for their deceased ally on numerous occasions.It does not scan like its suppose to. Not complaining here. I just took it to mean that it was still following its particular script.

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134

Just had the worse game ever. Every single time I would make a move my opponent got a 4 or worse. I mean super lucky. I was making sure a 4 didn’t happen and then one dropped down. It was beyond fixed it was straight intentional. I was giving the comp the benefit of the doubt but it was obvious. please fix this so we can once again play a fair game against the cpu.

135

if i understand the sliders and console ai correctly, the only way in order for a player to prioritise spells over gem matches is to slide the gem sliders to the left?

and also am i correct: do the sliders multiply priority over gem matches only (and gem creation)? do the sliders not help determining the choice which troop will cast (if they are all full) for example?

136

i have “super lucky opponents” many times a day. My favourite “lucky move” is when the AI ignores a 3 match of a mana it needs, doing a useless mana because that way it magically drops a 4 (hence an extra turn), even though in theory the AI is limited, just like me, to knowing the gems on the board, instead of knowing what will drop in advance.
Plz note: everytime the AI ignores usable mana, it ALWAYS ends in an unpredictable extra turn.

137

I do not like the current AI system but I must say im not a believer of that particular concept. Im putting it down to a coincidence myself, I know that you said it occurs every time so I apologise if it seems I am disregarding your comment.

One reason I don’t believe it is true is because the AI is generally too thick to create a 4+ match from an initial match of 3 in normal play :smiley:

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138

thanks mate, but plz note, i always speak just my 2 cents, based on my personal experience.
Idk why the AI does that, the only thing is know is that if it ignore a visible 3 match of a mana it needs for a useless one, the gems that drop from said move will generate a 4. I do not even bother anymore, is just being the thread about “super lucky opponents” i wanted to share what imho is the luckyest move of them all. :wink:

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139

does it really always do that in such cases? can more console players confirm or disprove it?
can we have a case study about it with some videos?

as a potential “future victim” of the console ai coming to pc im interested to know more

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140

I have a nasty little video later I try to upload it gets quite frustrating,I hope that we all get the same ai soon so you can all feel our pain, I play on PS4, the cascades the ai can get from the top row li turns into infinite loop until match over, I just love every time their gorgatha or tds fires, always multiple turns, mine fires and it just sets them up. I quit using those 2 bc they are only good for defense. Please have the same ai for all of us, immediately, lol.PC/mobile gets everything first unless it’s a crappy Ai, then I guess we took that one.

141

I haven’t noticed it but I also havent been looking.

I think the key difference between console and PC is that AI matches on console result in more of their required mana colour type to fall - leading to spurious 4+ matches as mentioned above.

Now, while the AI on console may not cheat, i.e. the player and AI have an equal chance of sky drops (in reality the player may still have an advantage) the difference in experience for console and PC players is quite drastic.

For example, I can tell early on in some matches on console, when I still have 4 healthy troops, that I have already lost.

142

how so? is that cause you cannot skull-bait to save yourself?

do you mean something like storm effect? please explain

143

I can tell because I dont expect to get another turn before the AI essentially wipes me out due to forthcoming sky drops.

I haven’t used the storm effect but yes, essentially the same mechanic. Good point actually, the game is blatantly coded to facilitate such a thing.

144

Yes exactly what it feels like is a storm for them and 0 colors for yourself.

145

for what its worth, for me the storm doesnt feel like creating more cascades, it just makes the board a bit more “red” or so…

146

So, since this thread had a bit of a resurgence here and I have some more videos to upload showcasing the kind of BS AI the console players have to deal with generally, here’s some more fun!!

First Video

This is one of those WTF just happened things that happens…well, constantly, really. Watch the whole thing (it’s not that long) and you can see the problem pretty easily for yourself. Though if you’re really impatient, skip to 0:55. What’s the point of this video? Glad you asked!

If you watch it and then go back, pause it right before I use the power. Because after I use it, my opponent gets a 4 match yellow in the lower left corner. Look at where those orbs are, BEFORE I use the hero power, and then pay attention to how precisely the cascade works, to actually line those 4 gems up so the AI has them at the start of their turn.

And then, oh yeah, marvel at how the AI opponent then gets counts EIGHT four/five matches including that first one with the 4 yellow gems. Without using a single hero power of their own. EIGHT. IN. A. ROW. Seem absurd to you, maybe, little bit? It’s pretty common on console, sadly.

Which brings us to, duh duh duh!!

Video 2

What’s that, that wasn’t ridiculous enough, you say? You need more proof of the absurd crap we console players have to put up with? Right this way!

Now, you’ll notice this starts with Jarl having his power. I wasn’t massively worried, there was 7 fire gems, 9 yellow. I’d probably take a hit or two, but both my Celestasia had barrier. Sure, the whole team is made up around yellow and red, at worst I’d lose one, maybe two troops, hopefully if it was a Dragon Soul, Resurrection would kick in!

What could happen, right??

…

Oh, did you watch the whole thing? Yeah. That just happened. It also helps emphasis how ridiculously broken the guild chest troops are as well. Because THAT. HAPPENED.

147

  • did you try to use more reliable creators (that create more gems) and/or cast gem creations when there is more of that color present on the board? (with my rough estimation it felt like your celestasia cast with its board situation had like 50% chance to give extra turn to the enemy)

  • how many gems is your dragon soul suppose to explode? is it normal for you that half of the board remains not exploded?

what i want to know does it happen “all the time” outside of those cases where your casting has a high risk to give the advantage to the enemy - i didnt see a video of that yet

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148

I’ve had turns like that many many times with the right team. It’s pretty rare the AI pulls it off though. I saw nothing wrong with the video. The only solution is to hard lock the number of turns, which sounds really lame to me.

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