Possible AI Issue - Casting my Powerful Spell? Nah, I'd Rather Match Some Gems! ^^

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1

I realize that the AI isn’t quite perfect, and come to expect some weird moves from it. However, this specific issue I think might be a bug or an actual issue, as it seems inconsistent with its usual behavior.

What you were expecting to happen, and what actually happened?
The AI had one troop with a strong spell at the ready, with a favorable board for it (when/if relevant), so I expected it to take advantage of that and indeed cast the spell.

Instead, it decided to match some gems elsewhere on the board.

What are the steps to make it happen again?
I’ve noticed this a few times recently, notably for sure with the Gorgon and Drake Rider. I’m not entirely sure if this is coincidental or not, but in every example I remember, including the one shown below, the ignored troop was at the bottom of the line-up. This was in The Arena.

I actually made that particular match last longer than it needed to, and spared the Drake Rider for as long as I could, just to see if it would finally cast the spell. It only did so once it was literally its sole survivor. There was a fairly damaged Siren with it before that, and it gave her complete priority until she died.

Do you have any screenshots or video you want to share with us so we can see the problem? Attach them to your post!
Here we go:

<img src=“//cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/business5/uploads/gemsofwar/original/2X/2/2d0d4478bfec9587f4f1a851ef276ba91d672aa7.png” width="690"height=“397”>

When I took this first one, the Drake Rider’s spell had already been ready to go for two turns. As you can see, casting it then would have been pretty good (even on my harmless Zombie, which was public enemy #1 for the AI in this line-up, but that’s another story ^^). Also, just because the color transformation would have given it an extra turn, I really expected it to go for it. I know it normally does that pretty okay with the Valkyrie or the Alchemist, for instance…

1440×830 1.64 MB

But nah. It could have changed a truckload of Yellows to Reds, gained an extra turn and made a lot of damage, but bumping the Siren’s mana gauge from 3/9 to 6/9 was just too good to pass up, apparently. ^^

1439×828 1.59 MB

A few turns later (as you can see from my dead HerdMaster - RIP), it had the same opportunity again, and it discarded it in favor of charging the Siren’s spell… casting the Siren’s spell (on my Zombie, obviously)…

<img src=“//cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/business5/uploads/gemsofwar/original/2X/a/a05863311bc033f02bda1bc0350a9ff3e7776762.png” width="690"height=“397”>

…and charging the Siren’s spell again, even when she had 2 HP left.

Once the Siren died, the AI suddenly remembered about its Drake Rider, and used his spell immediately, despite the board being far less favorable for that at the time - it actually helped charge my Slay Bells and kill him, without giving him an extra turn.

I hope this helps. Could you please confirm if there is an issue?

2

Many troops with convert and remove spells will hold until… whenever they feel like it. No clue what the actual condition is. There are a few troops that don’t do manipulation that sometimes hold (such as Gob-Chomper), but it is commonly newer troops that have the problem.Troops like Dryad wait to cast until a troop is damaged. There is also the problem of buffers prefering to buff theirself in many situations, such as Sunweaver.

Update 2.0 should hopefully fix some of this.

3

I find that when you really smash the enemy Team the AI will “give up”.

It’ll do exactly what was described above, avoid Skulls and even SET UP Skulls.

4

It has always seemed to me that in situations like that described above, the AI is actively suicidal.

5

=) hehe

Sure, the AI always made plenty of weird moves, like not taking advantage of a Goblin’s extra turn when there are skulls on the board, etc. But this specific “I don’t care if I have a spell to cast, don’t mind me, I’ll just be matching gems in the corner” syndrome seems new-ish to me; that’s why I’m reporting it.

Gorgons and Drake Riders in the AI’s hands have seriously hurt my line-ups many times in earlier runs. But for some reason, it has been ignoring them every now and then lately (and always when they’re at the bottom).