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Player vs Computer harvesting in Tiberian Dawn


peterthepigeon

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00438719   8B40 48          MOV EAX,DWORD PTR DS:[EAX+48]
0043871C   F640 05 02       TEST BYTE PTR DS:[EAX+5],2
00438720   74 07            JE SHORT C&C952.00438729
00438722   B8 19000000      MOV EAX,19
00438727   5A               POP EDX
00438728   C3               RETN
00438729   B8 C4020000      MOV EAX,2C4
0043872E   5A               POP EDX
0043872F   C3               RETN

 

TEST BYTE PTR DS:[EAX+5],2

 

This tells us if this is the computer player or the human player.

 

Now to answer what the non RE programmers are asking.  What is going on?

 

The answer is trivial, the computer player and human player's harvesters both carry 28 bails of tiberium.  This is obvious, but what isn't so obvious is that the computer's bails are worth an astounding 708 credits per bail vs the 25 credits the human player gets.

 

That's really it, to be honest.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Ooops... from my observation i was pretty sure the computer always gets twice the amount the player gets.

 

But you're saying he basically fills up all his silos, as long he has less than 13 (assuming he also has only one refinery... otherwise adjust accordingly). So in fact all these guys who claimed that were (almost) right, and I always thought "it seems they weren't paying enough attention"...

 

so, it was me who wasn't paying enough attention... now i wonder how i get that "twice the amount" idea  ;) well, i know how i arrived at that, but there must have been something i overlooked: when trying to "starve" the AI, i noticed that if only one of his harvester got through, he was able to build a new one. that part is obvious, and is still works with this new information. however, i also was under the impression that that money was barely enough to purchase that extra harvester. and i have no idea why i thought that. maybe his silos looked almost drained when his new harvester arrived. maybe he was building other stuff which i overlooked...

 

do any of you know if maybe the computer has to pay his stuff "up-front" instead of gradually during the construction, like the player does? if so, that might explain this observation.

 

speaking of this: how much faster does the computer build than the player? and what does the level have to do with it ... is it the build level of the mission, or is it the actual number of the campaign mission which makes it go faster? or something else entirely, maybe that mysterious "Percent" setting in the INI?

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I think the computer builds at the same speed the player does, BUT the AI can simultaneously (as opposed to just faster for human players) produce units from its factories. It can also erect two buildings at the same time if it has two CYs, etc.

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I think the computer builds at the same speed the player does, BUT the AI can simultaneously (as opposed to just faster for human players) produce units from its factories. It can also erect two buildings at the same time if it has two CYs, etc.

 

In RA the mutliple factories + production applies but they also build faster

meaning on those (dumb) infinite money maps if someone has cyed 100 times and leaves/disconnects the AI becomes practically unbeatable

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  • 3 months later...

I was actually well aware of this... actually, I thought that the computer just got everything auto filled if it got a harvester back... which is why i don't bother to shoot the harvesters unless I can kill them all... even then, it's easier to just blow up their base. Like, I thought it didn't even have a number associated with the number of bails for the comp harvester... just 100% auto fill all silos. Which, on some levels is HEAPS of money. even if you kill the harvesters, they can just build loads more, and heaps of other units. Not to mention, if they still have con yard, they can basically rebuild their whole base instantly, which, I've also seen them do. This means if you don't just blow up the con yard and then factories, it's very hard to win the final missions.

  -Liam

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  • 1 month later...
  • 5 months later...

Sadly this isn't the case in Red Alert 1 and I've been meaning to patch the game to add this logic, because in skirmish the AI runs out of money really quickly. To be fair everyone does..

I'd really support this.

When I make maps, they just don't harvest quick enough, the AI, and they don't even get enough money from doing so.

 

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Karpet, you could add something like

EasyAIGoldValue=100
EasyAIGemValue=200
NormalAIGoldValue=50
NormalAIGemValue=100
HardAIGoldValue=25
HardAIGemValue=50

to the [AI] section of your map or rules.ini to calibrate your enemy!

e.g. 100 means a full harvester will give 28*100 = 2800 credits at once!

(For any reason, HardAI... here means when you play at easy mode and EasyAI when you play hard)

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