Weren't npcs supposed to be a little smarter this patch?

Roxxsmom · November 2022

Seems like the opposite. Even the expert npcs completely ignore the patrons (except the sorcerer king, which they still start spamming every turn when they cannot possible win by doing so because you've picked up more power cards), so you can get a patron victory every time if the right situations come up. They used to hit the crow patron too early for almost no points, and they'd spam the Hunding and Hlalu patrons incessantly, but now they don't use them at all. They are doing other things that don't seem quite ... smart that they didn't used to do as often. Plus, they still don't seem to realize when you're over forty and the game will be over unless they do something clever. Instead they buy every card in sight and kill your patrons when they actually could pass you for another turn of play.

I guess it's really hard to program an AI to play at all well.

SilverBride · November 2022

Roxxsmom wrote: »

...they still don't seem to realize when you're over forty and the game will be over unless they do something clever. Instead they buy every card in sight and kill your patrons when they actually could pass you for another turn of play.

I've seen other players do this many times. I've seen players generate 20 coins or more but instead of using the Crow patron to convert them to power and making it impossible for me to then catch up they sit and think and buy cards and kill agents. So, unfortunately in this situation, the NPCs are behaving just like a lot of players do.

DrMuggle · November 2022

I have also noticed the NPC players are worse since the patch. They absolutely will not stop you from getting a patron victory. If the Red Eagle, Hlaalu, Crow, and Ansei decks are the ones you are playing with, you can win in 4 turns with a patron victory every single time (maybe a few more depending on your hand draws).

Snowy_Wyndra_Karn · November 2022

SilverBride wrote: »

Roxxsmom wrote: »

...they still don't seem to realize when you're over forty and the game will be over unless they do something clever. Instead they buy every card in sight and kill your patrons when they actually could pass you for another turn of play.

I've seen other players do this many times. I've seen players generate 20 coins or more but instead of using the Crow patron to convert them to power and making it impossible for me to then catch up they sit and think and buy cards and kill agents. So, unfortunately in this situation, the NPCs are behaving just like a lot of players do.

I’ve had this happen as well and the player will get to over 40 prestige during their turn and definitely win. They have all of this coin to buy other cards but rather than solidify their win by flipping the crow, they will use every second they have to buy cards, exchange some out, buy some more and then wait.

Some people!!

spartaxoxo · November 2022

delenn35 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Roxxsmom wrote: »

...they still don't seem to realize when you're over forty and the game will be over unless they do something clever. Instead they buy every card in sight and kill your patrons when they actually could pass you for another turn of play.

I've seen other players do this many times. I've seen players generate 20 coins or more but instead of using the Crow patron to convert them to power and making it impossible for me to then catch up they sit and think and buy cards and kill agents. So, unfortunately in this situation, the NPCs are behaving just like a lot of players do.

I’ve had this happen as well and the player will get to over 40 prestige during their turn and definitely win. They have all of this coin to buy other cards but rather than solidify their win by flipping the crow, they will use every second they have to buy cards, exchange some out, buy some more and then wait.

Some people!!

Nothing satisfies me more in this game than when they do this, and then I proceed to win because they underestimated me. Victory is sweet, but revenge is all the sweeter. MWU HAHAHAHA

DrMuggle · November 2022

The NPCs are not any smarter after the patch. They still will not lift a finger to stop you from getting a patron victory and I just watched one of the "expert" NPCs randomly destroy a Prowling Shadows card he had in play instead of destroying one of his 1 gold cards.

spartaxoxo · November 2022

...that sounds like they upgraded they meant to make the novice npcs harder but instead assigned that difficulty to the expert ones lol

Leighlaa · November 2022

They're definitely dumber in regard to their patron use/disuse. The only exception to that seems to be if they choose teal- and then they'll always get it after 2-3 coin cards have been upgraded. Then it's ALL THEY DO NO MATTER WHAT.

sekou_trayvond · November 2022

The main thing I do to make NPC matches more enjoyable (and I reluctantly use that term in this context) is to always put Orgnum in the game. It's the one patron they play reasonably close to how a hooman plays it. That being said, some suggestions for programming better AI for ToT:
1) Imprisonment is not the greatest card ever
2) patron defense knowledge sorely needed
3) red eagle cards are helpful
4) focus on buying for one or two decks and not just whatevs
5) give it a high priority (or particular NPCs) for Crow cards. All the combos would help it score better imo. Likewise for Druid.

Just some off top of my head. I'm sure others have tons of further suggestions.

Snowy_Wyndra_Karn · November 2022

“Smarter” NPCs just means that they choose the Orgnum deck more often.

It’s the only time they have even the slightest chance of a win.

SilverBride · November 2022

I've found that the NPC doesn't use the Orgnum Patron unless I use it first, but once it's been used they spam it nonstop.

SeaGtGruff · November 2022

It depends. Tonight I was playing an Expert NPC who seemed like an actual person as far as picking cards and moves. Of course, it helped that he was able to buy some powerful cards early in the match, but he really stomped my ass. Normally I wipe the table with the NPC, but this NPC completely wiped the table with me. That's happened before, but this time it was more pronounced than in the past.