Why an AI for Outwitters is hard to do

[awpertunity]

Actually in SC (I would assume for WC too but not sure there), the computer does not have a fog of war, which greatly helps them write AI for it. I suppose you could start with the same idea for an Outwitters AI, to completely remove uncertainty from the programming (i.e., computer actually knows where all units are on the field, and even how many wits the opponent currently has to use). Of course, building a good AI off this information is going to be impossible to beat, since they are essentially map hacking you, but then comes in the probabilities for bad moves.

As already stated, in each state of the game (with no uncertainty) the agent should have a prioritized set of moves. To make AI easier you could reduce the chance of playing moves high up on this list with lower ones, this doesn't necessarily mean it's making a "bad" move, just one that is not as good. Of course coming up with this state-dependent list of priorities is still a huge challenge in its own

i.e., is it good to attack their base with my soldier now? Or should I take out the sniper instead? Of course this should depend on many things, the most trivial one being (for example), "well if the base has 2 or 1 health left, I should probably go for that".


These are mainly just talking points though and a first step at how to simplify the whole problem. I write AI for multi-agent systems myself, and am not expecting this to come out for Outwitters anytime soon