Feedback: Bankrupt AI/Unsuccessful AI

[mwyeoh]

Hi David

I just thought you might be interested in the progress of the AI thus far. I am playing at lvl 6, and they are not playing as well as previously
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/23145017/MAT__001.zip

This is taken just a few days before Global Link goes bankrupt

Overall, I havent had any successful AI in this game.

*The Stock AI are buying and selling stocks, but because the other AI are not very successful, they are losing money.
*The big improvement is the real estate AI. They have made the most money out of the AI this time around, but it could still be better (5-13 mil annual profit after 14 years)
*The AI are researching this time, but I fear it coould be the cause of their bankrupcy. R&D seems to be costing them ALOT and they are not reaping the benefits from it (Eg- Global Link invented Camera Phones 10 years ago, but never started producing them). I suspect they may be researching into products and areas in which they are not using at all.
*Its not all bad news for research however. Some AI are doing it right- The lines making the most money for them are high in research (Eg- Kingcorp is producing gold rings with a quality of 82)
*Some AI (Such as stock AI) are researching too, despite this not benefitting them whatsoever.
*THE BIGGEST PROBLEM THIS TIME: The retail AI this time around have not got much brand power at all. In previous games, they invested heavily in brand, which allowed them to sell products at a much higher margin, but unfortunately not this time... (Eg- Kingcorp are producing Gold Rings with a quality of 82, but have zero brand recognition)

From now on, I think I will turn ON reveal AI trade secrets, it will allow us to more easily see what is going right and wrong

[David]

*The AI are researching this time, but I fear it coould be the cause of their bankrupcy. R&D seems to be costing them ALOT and they are not reaping the benefits from it (Eg- Global Link invented Camera Phones 10 years ago, but never started producing them). I suspect they may be researching into products and areas in which they are not using at all.

*Its not all bad news for research however. Some AI are doing it right- The lines making the most money for them are high in research (Eg- Kingcorp is producing gold rings with a quality of 82)

*Some AI (Such as stock AI) are researching too, despite this not benefitting them whatsoever.

Will improve the AI and release a new patch soon.

*THE BIGGEST PROBLEM THIS TIME: The retail AI this time around have not got much brand power at all. In previous games, they invested heavily in brand, which allowed them to sell products at a much higher margin, but unfortunately not this time... (Eg- Kingcorp are producing Gold Rings with a quality of 82, but have zero brand recognition)

Will look into it.

From now on, I think I will turn ON reveal AI trade secrets, it will allow us to more easily see what is going right and wrong

Right!

I tried to replicate your success in a new game by focusing on home appliances. But I had difficulties sourcing steel and electronic components. I am aware that you built mines to produce steel on your own but was relying on seaport for electronic components. But I wasn't able to buy electronic components from seaports and thus the game was considerably harder. Do you think your success in the game depended on availability of supplies of electronic components from seaports?

[David]

The bug with brand has been fixed.

Just released patch 1.913. You may download it.

The AI should be better in this version. (See the below screenshot, Southern Lines is making $87 million in profit annually, by 2003)

[mwyeoh]

I tried to replicate your success in a new game by focusing on home appliances. But I had difficulties sourcing steel and electronic components. I am aware that you built mines to produce steel on your own but was relying on seaport for electronic components. But I wasn't able to buy electronic components from seaports and thus the game was considerably harder. Do you think your success in the game depended on availability of supplies of electronic components from seaports?

Yes, the availability of electronic components AND steel were crucial to early success in that game as I could not produce them myself.
Once I had my factories up and running, as a could afford it, I would also stockpile the steel and electronic components gradually for when the seaports stopped selling them (If its done all at once though, the seaports starts charging too much!)
It is not by choice that I have used home appliances the last couple of games- its just randomly rolled that way (Product expertise is a huge game changer!)

However I always try to build up a profitable base first by investing in semiproducts (Usually I go for farming- usually chicken or cows, as it also provides finished goods (frozen chicken/eggs or beef- in the long run though leather is more profitable, but not at the beginning)).
If the availability of the semiproducts I need are not available, then I sometimes expand to another semiproduct too, depending on what is available and what is already being produced.

This is why I think that having semi-product AI is a huge opportunity, especially early on.
Some semiproducts are definitely more useful than others. Eg- Electronic goods, Steel, Chemical Minerals, Glass, Leather, Timber as multiple goods require them.

Later on, if semiproduct AI are implemented, I still believe my earlier suggestions of having branding on semiproducts and allowing these to carry over would be a huge opportunity as per these threads
http://www.capitalismlab.com/forum/view ... f=10&t=319
http://www.capitalismlab.com/forum/view ... f=10&t=320
It would really make semiproduct specialization worthwhile
But implementation of this could wait until later on when most bugs are squashed

[mwyeoh]

The bug with brand has been fixed.

Just released patch 1.913. You may download it.

The AI should be better in this version. (See the below screenshot, Southern Lines is making $87 million in profit annually, by 2003)

Awesome, looks like they're making some money now!