Is the AI system highly skewed towards the computers side.

Unknown

Maybe I'm just paranoid but it seems as though the AI system is constantly cheating. Has anyone else noticed that whenever the AI system makes a match, the following tiles that get replaced on the field is always to the computers benefit. As in they always seem to get replaced with a 4/5 column only to have you get stuck with the **** leftovers which are usually 3s which then when you match them they turn into 4/5s for the computer again. I've also noticed that whenever the computer places a crit tile on the board, it usually triggers right away and when you do it you usually have to make a move in order to use it.

Am I the unluckiest person ever or is this AI system just highly skewed towards the AI side.

Unknown

You're just unlucky. It can happen from time to time and then there are times where you have the same luck

Unknown

It's not. It's been stated repeatedly by the developers that it's not. Trying to make the algorithm for this to happen would be hideously complex... it would be so much easier to make the AI recognize match5s first and give it an advantage that way. Or to improve color selection and power selection. Or any one of a dozen other things before trying to make the tile falling code "cheat".

I've gotten 3 match5s in the first round before, leading to me destroying the other team without them getting a single move. Does that mean that I hacked the code to give me an advantage? No, it means the random number generator is... random.

Dayv

Actually, the AI is rather simplistic, skewing it to the player's side.

Unknown

Apollo Chaos wrote:

I've also noticed that whenever the computer places a crit tile on the board, it usually triggers right away and when you do it you usually have to make a move in order to use it.

That's not always a bad thing. Crits help in setting up match 5's. Even if they don't, it is nice to choose what you want to attack with. Also, Murderous Aim, which I don't use but some might. It is nice to get a free match, but sometimes it can be better if you don't.

Unknown

If the tiles are arranged in an almost "L" shape, the computer will decide to go for the four tiles instead of completing the L shape for a critical tile, which I see as the smarter move

Unknown

Yeah, the AI doesn't know how to match a 5-tile L shape, or how to use the same character ability more than once per turn.

If anything, the AI's dumbness and flaws give players the advantage. Which I think it should, otherwise newbies would angrily quit in droves, especially when fighting something like a 5/5 Rag for the first time.

Unknown

someguy wrote:

Yeah, the AI doesn't know how to match a 5-tile L shape, or how to use the same character ability more than once per turn.

If anything, the AI's dumbness and flaws give players the advantage. Which I think it should, otherwise newbies would angrily quit in droves, especially when fighting something like a 5/5 Rag for the first time.

I wouldn't say that its true at all. Although I believe that the computer isn't smart enough to spam its ability consecutively I've come into a match with a Ragnarok and have him cast a Green/ red/ green on me, until my character was full on dead. On another note I've also seen the computer pull off a 5 vs 4 column, I've only seen this happen once but it was a line of yellow/yellow/green/yellow/yellow/black/yellow, where under the green there was a crit tile and it chose to go for the crit/ 5 tile column instead of the 4 column. I do admit however that it doesn't know about the L-shape 5.

I'm just tired of getting constantly screwed by this game. Where it seems as though every other move the computer makes is either a 4 or 5 column whereas I'm stuck grinding it out while having the computer laughing at me along the process.

Unknown

I think we tend to remember the OMGWTF moments more than the times we have dealt those moments to others. As others have pointed out, the AI really doesn't take advantage of some very obvious strategic options:

1. Failure to recognize T and L-formation 5x matches.
2. General lack of skill spam. Some characters will spam, Rags/M.Storm come to mind, but overall it's not overly utilized.
3. Overall lack of discernment on when to opt for one skill of a particular color over another. By this I mean the AI seems to have a favored skill for each color when teams are formed. I've noticed when I face Thor/IM40/XYZ, the AI tends to opt for IM40s Recharge over Thor's Thunderstrike, when the situation would have been disastrous for me had the TS been opted for. This doesn't always work out, but overall the computer does a worser job of picking skill utilization compared to a human IMO.

And to be fair, let's remember the other inherent advantages the player has over the AI in general:
1. Boosts
2. Target selection
3. First move

Even all this aside, there have been plenty of times I think the AI would have said **** if it could on some of the cascades I have gotten. We just tend to remember the things committed against us more often than vice versa.

Unknown

Apollo Chaos wrote:

I've come into a match with a Ragnarok and have him cast a Green/ red/ green on me, until my character was full on dead.

Was your team stunned?

Unknown

Zathrus wrote:

It's not. It's been stated repeatedly by the developers that it's not. Trying to make the algorithm for this to happen would be hideously complex... it would be so much easier to make the AI recognize match5s first and give it an advantage that way. Or to improve color selection and power selection. Or any one of a dozen other things before trying to make the tile falling code "cheat".

I've gotten 3 match5s in the first round before, leading to me destroying the other team without them getting a single move. Does that mean that I hacked the code to give me an advantage? No, it means the random number generator is... random.

I must have missed these posts. Can you point me in the right direction.

Unknown

Bugpop wrote:

I must have missed these posts. Can you point me in the right direction.

This is probably the most relevant one: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=679&p=6053#p6045

Unknown

That seems relevant enough. Notwithstanding developer comments, cascades seem to occur in favor of the AI. When I play in a similar manner as the AI I tend to get similarly amazing cascades. Perhaps there is a simple answer that has nothing to do with cheating. In a vertical 4-tile match, it clears the column. Does that invite more opportunities for a cascade over 5-tile T and L matches?

I have read faqs for other popular match-3 games. There is a strong belief that vertical matches are superior to horizontal.

Unknown

Vertical clears do provide more opportunity for matches than horizontal ones, as long as the vertical isn't at the edge of the board. With a horizontal clear the only cascades you can get are between the row above and below (and not even then if bottom or top; in any case you can usually see these coming) and the new row at the top. With verticals you get potential new matches with every single row on both sides, and they are unpredictable. I favor horizontal match3s if I can see a cascade from doing so, but I'll take a vertical clear over a horizontal one any time.

The match5 shapes (other than straight line or extended shapes that provide a match4+match3) don't clear lines, so they provide less new tiles and fewer opportunities for cascades. It's somewhat offset by creating a critical, match-all tile, but even that only helps if it immediately falls into another match.

And, all that said, I suspect I'll be schooled by someone who put more than 30 seconds of thought into this

Unknown

I haven't had to do statistics since college, about 10 years ago.

I suppose this can be an "advanced" player technique. If you can manage a vertical match with 2 or more same color tiles on either side in the same row, there is a 1 in 7 chance of a match (about 14%) with the new falling tiles. In order to get a match in a new row horizontally, the odds are about 1 in 343.

Unknown

Not quite. You're only considering setups for horizontal matches in the vertical case, but no chance of a match with a neighboring tile in the horizontal case. Basically, it all depends on the setup. If the top two rows over a horizontal match-3 are the same, then you have 3 opportunities to make a second match, each with a 1 to 7 chance of happening. The reason the vertical is better than the horizontal is that the vertical has a better oportunity to have a setup. This is because there are 7 boarding tiles to the 3 new tiles. In the horizontal case, there are 5 boardering tiles. Also, the vertical can have a setup with a tile on either side of the new tiles. But if the horizontal choice has more setups than the vertical choice, it becomes the better move. Even if it has the same amount of setups, it is better. This is because the vertcal only has one chance for two new tiles to match one old tile just below the three new tiles. The horizonal has two chances of this on either side of the new tiles. I'm rambling though, so if this doesn't make sense, just ignore it.

Kelbris

this is claimed in every single Puzzle Quest game ever.

Every. Single. One.

if you go to get any Puzzle Quest challenge of the warlords board, you'll see at least one topic titled the AI cheats.

Unknown

The AI pretty much plays to maximize the amount of chaining opportunities, so of course it's more likely to get more miracle cascades than the player because it knows where all the opportunities are. I wouldn't be surprised if it also knows the general pattern of new tiles generated, though it really doesn't matter since regardless of how the new tiles are generated, you're more likely to get chains when you generate more new tiles. Passing up a non straight line match 5 for a match 4 is not as bad a move as it appears. You get more cascading opportunities when you do a match 4, and you've a good chance of either getting that match 5 from a cascade or at least destroy a tile that prevents the player from doing match 5. Most of the time when you do a match 5 you only get a crit tile with nothing interesting around it. Sure you can usually turn it into a match 3 but then not getting much APs, and if you leave it alone the AI will eventually find that crit tile with its cascades. For the player, you should always take the match 5 over the 4 since you can't easily figure out all the cascades, but the AI have no problem there. Getting an extra turn is not a gain if the AI picked up more than 3 tiles (the most likely number you'll match), and it can easily do that most of the time when it takes a match 4 over match 5.

Unknown

I was trying to turn this into a useful analysis of AI behavior that may contribute to the real OR imagined miracle cascades. The devs may swear up and down that the AI doesn't cheat. Give them the benefit of the doubt.

Consider games if chance. The casino always holds the advantage. They play by a set of rules and in the long run they come out ahead. Let us consider PQ. Does the AI play in such a manner that in the long run, is more beneficial? We're more focused on getting red. The AI might use g.widow red rather than IM40 red. Does the AI know what it's doing? A good cascade occurs and can use sniper rifle next turn.

If the decisions the AI makes are based on statistically the best moves, then the AI doesn't cheat.

Which explains why it is when I play in a manner similar to the AI, it seems to produce miracle cascades.

Unknown

After playing a couple hours it appears the AI is indeed playing based on what is statistically the best move. I can only guess what the best statically best move is (if I want to keep it fun) but some moves are obviously better than others. It also explains why the AI prioritzes certain matches above others.

The problem playing this way is it tends to make the game longer. You're not collecting colors you need, you're denying the AI statistically superior moves. That notwithstanding, survivability goes up.

Unknown

One thing I find is that you don't really have to work on denying AI the obvious color most of the time, because they probably won't take it anyway because they can actually see a better move. Often time you see the obvious match 3 red and you think that's the best move since the other side has a heavy red attacker, but instead the AI will say match 4 environmental tiles for a row for junky tiles, because statistically that match 4 has a high probability of turning into a cascade and get it more tiles even if it's the worst kind of match 4 it can get. The AI also don't seem to have any sense of urgency. It is not going to try to deny you the last 3 red you need to fire off your move, and likewise it is not in a hurry to pick up the last 3 red it needs to finish you off if it sees a match 4 somewhere.

I find that once you start seeing AI not making any cascades, you really want to match things near the top of the board, because you know the AI prefers cascades if at all possible. So the fact he made a move without cascade implies the board currently has no combo potential, and that's good for you, so you want to keep the board as is. Sometimes I'd even match 3 enviornmental tiles at the top row to just preserve the board.