petrabot Hidden map and "fog of war" for Petra AI

[CheckTester]

Hello everyone.

Does Petra AI have a hidden map under the fog of war when such option has been turned on for real player in match settings?

 

It looks, that Petra Bot always knows where the opponent is located and no need to find anything?

The replays also demonstrate this, that the bot directs his army directly where it is needed from the  beginning of the game match. How is it possible, without opened map and without searching location of enemies ?

 

May be I am wrong, but it looks so, that Fog of War is not implemented for Petra AI. So, it is some advantages for Petra and disadvantages for real players. Hidden map should not been revealed before exploration. 

It necessary to fix it in this case. Does anybody made such request before ? 

Edited 13 hours ago by CheckTester

[Gurken Khan]

Yeah, Petra sees everything. It's just how she/the game works.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

There are things we could do to make Petra behave more like a human and less like a omnipotent machine. For instance, don't allow it to attack until one of its units has seen one of your buildings. Force it to send a "scout" or scout party randomly around the map for this purpose. 

[Gurken Khan]

2 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Force it to send a "scout" or scout party randomly around the map for this purpose. 

I think that would be good. I find it especially egregious when the AI settles in a region/on a continent they have never been to.

[CheckTester]

The issue in Gitea: https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/issues/8666

[Perzival12]

Yeah, the reason Petra currently needs to see the entire screen is because it decides when to launch an attack based off of the current number of buildings, units, etc. that it's target has, as well as where they are. The hard part would be naval maps, where it would have to sail around with a ship (which it currently only builds fishing boats unless it is attacking) until it found your base. And, on maps with large islands where you are not visible by a ship sailing around you, Petra would have to be coded to land on an island, send soldiers to find you, then get back in then ship and sail back. Another reason Petra can see the entire map is so itcan change it's plans based off of what has happened since it launched an attack, i.e. to make sure it doesn't just walk past new buildings that weren't there when it ordered the attack.

[CheckTester]

2 hours ago, Perzival12 said:

Yeah, the reason Petra currently needs to see the entire screen is because it decides when to launch an attack based off of the current number of buildings, units, etc. that it's target has, as well as where they are. The hard part would be naval maps, where it would have to sail around with a ship (which it currently only builds fishing boats unless it is attacking) until it found your base. And, on maps with large islands where you are not visible by a ship sailing around you, Petra would have to be coded to land on an island, send soldiers to find you, then get back in then ship and sail back. Another reason Petra can see the entire map is so itcan change it's plans based off of what has happened since it launched an attack, i.e. to make sure it doesn't just walk past new buildings that weren't there when it ordered the attack.

It would be better if Petra AI weren't an all-powerful know-it-all, but instead mimicked the behavior of a real player.

It would definitely be more correct if the bot built scouts (land and sea) and scouted the territory. Or did so with any available unit (as real players do).
And then, having found something, it would choose tactics to attack or contain. I'm sure it's not that difficult to get a bot to scout the territory.

Many new players complain that Petra AI is too strong, even on easy difficulty. And the open map and lack of fog of war are precisely the unfair advantages of the "computer player."

If you're unsure whether the bot will be too weak as a result, make it optional when creating a match, using a checkbox like this:
[V] "Computer player simulates real player behavior" (slightly obscured, not explicit) or something like that "Petra AI can see the entire map always".

Or, in other words, explicit options:
[V] Map explored for all Petra AI Bots
[  ] Fog of war for all Petra AI Bots