How often does the suggested match completely eff you?

Arimis_Thorn
Arimis_Thorn Posts: 541 Critical Contributor
edited May 2015 in MPQ General Discussion
I know, I know. It's confirmation bias. But why does it seem that so very very very very very often when the game is suggesting a match for you and you foolishly take it, that it sets up the PERFECT board for the AI to destroy you?

Is it just me? Or is the "helper" AI a complete ****?

Comments

  • morph3us
    morph3us Posts: 859 Critical Contributor
    m5g4x.jpgvia Imgflip Meme Maker

    Have to say, I haven't noticed the suggested match doing anything particularly awful, though. It's mostly my own **** matches that lead to horrible cascades of death. I guess I only tend to see the suggested match pop up when the board is relatively dry of matches, and I'm starting to hunt for one.
  • dfields3710
    dfields3710 Posts: 159 Tile Toppler
    It has happened to me numerous times. The most recent one is that my buffed sentry and two others were taken out to a 150 ms.marvel and two other lvl 94 due to nothing but them getting constant 4 and 5 matches plus huge cascades leading to them casting several combos a turn. They need to turn that "helper" ai down a little bit.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Its like the game is saying "Oh you've no idea what match to make? I'll give you a clue but in return, I'll hit you with a cascade."
  • DFiPL
    DFiPL Posts: 2,405 Chairperson of the Boards
    The suggested match has been bending me over clear back to the original Puzzle Quest. I don't take its suggestions unless I literally can't find anything else (as in, I may be up against it anyway because the AI helpfully handed me a board with ONE MOVE on it) or I'm able to make a move that's similar, but not the same. "Oh, yes, match the pinks. wonderful idea. Except I think I'll create the match one column to the right instead of the one you're suggesting because ahahaha no."
  • simonsez
    simonsez Posts: 4,663 Chairperson of the Boards
    Unless there's only one match on the board, I will make it a point NOT to use the suggested match. It's clearly designed to set up the AI for a match4 or a cascade.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Got it after I finish running this test: https://d3go.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=30201 I will run a test where I only match what the AI suggests and see how many cascades IMMEDIATELY follow that action.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    traedoril wrote:
    Got it after I finish running this test: https://d3go.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=30201 I will run a test where I only match what the AI suggests and see how many cascades IMMEDIATELY follow that action.

    You would also probably want to record whether a health pack was used, although I suspect there are other factors involved.

    There are some days where it seems every suggested match leads to an enemy cascade. Other times, it leads to favorable ones. My general experience is that it's only really useful on tight boards where there's only a few matches available. Sometimes it'll also seemingly punish you for NOT choosing the match it suggests.

    The suggested match thing may be more random than the Health Pack tax, but it might also be affected by it and / or other factors, but I never got a proper sense of it one way or the other, compared to some of my other intuitions.
  • Colognoisseur
    Colognoisseur Posts: 807 Critical Contributor
    What I've noticed about the suggested match is it is most often a preview of what the ai will match if I don't. That has actually been a big help if I need two matches to nuke something. If I can take one match-3 high up on the board unlikely to change the board condition much. The ai will take the suggested and then I can take the next match. Haven't collected extensive data on this and it might be confirmation bias but I do play this way and it seems to work out for me more often than it doesn't.
  • PeterGibbons316
    PeterGibbons316 Posts: 1,063
    I've never thought of it as a "suggested" match, but more of a "oh, you can't find any matches? well instead of looking around the board for the next 5 minutes....here's one you can make."
  • Lloyd Christmas
    Lloyd Christmas Posts: 46
    It has happened often enough for me to develop a habit of avoiding that match if at all possible and only using it as a last resort or if I need the color.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    theHappyDance wrote:
    traedoril wrote:
    Got it after I finish running this test: https://d3go.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=30201 I will run a test where I only match what the AI suggests and see how many cascades IMMEDIATELY follow that action.

    You would also probably want to record whether a health pack was used, although I suspect there are other factors involved.

    There are some days where it seems every suggested match leads to an enemy cascade. Other times, it leads to favorable ones. My general experience is that it's only really useful on tight boards where there's only a few matches available. Sometimes it'll also seemingly punish you for NOT choosing the match it suggests.

    The suggested match thing may be more random than the Health Pack tax, but it might also be affected by it and / or other factors, but I never got a proper sense of it one way or the other, compared to some of my other intuitions.

    noted, when I get to this test, I will record whether I used a Health Pack or not.
  • Malcrof
    Malcrof Posts: 5,971 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited May 2015
    Not sure if it matters, but i get most of my 2* cover rewards from suggested matches.. just never any bagman icon_e_sad.gif

    EDIT: i am an idiot... i thought it was suggested match in PVP, as in which match to fight next after you win one....

    I understand now , it is a suggested tile match when you are staring blankly at the screen trying to remember the lyric to a song you didn't even know you knew and hadn't heard for 20 years but caught a snippet of while your wife tried on shoes and you play mpq to not kill people at random in the store....
  • user311
    user311 Posts: 482 Mover and Shaker
    When I'm playing MPQ while driving my car, I count on the suggested matches so I can pay a hair more attention to the road. I wish it would suggest matches faster.

    icon_e_surprised.gificon_e_surprised.gificon_e_surprised.gif
  • Arimis_Thorn
    Arimis_Thorn Posts: 541 Critical Contributor
    PeterGibbons316 wrote:
    I've never thought of it as a "suggested" match, but more of a "oh, you can't find any matches? well instead of looking around the board for the next 5 minutes....here's one you can make."

    Well, sure. I don't mean to suggest that it's intended to convey an optimal match for you. That's definitely not the case, as it will often suggest a match 3 when there's a match 4 or 5 available.

    What prompted this thread was a match vs. Vision where my team was down, except for LCap, who was also very very low and Vision was near full health. However, I had a couple shields out and was matching Red both for myself and to keep it away from him. I had just hit him with my Red, and besides my countdown tile, there was no other Red on the board. There were no other high value matches, so I took the suggested match.

    The new tiles were Red, matched away my countdown tile and gave him just enough Red to use Attack Protocol and kill me.

    Just the latest in a long line of really spectacularly lucky moves. Of course from the AI's perspective, I'm sure I'm some kind of monster who just keeps destroying it's teams day after day.

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