Comments on: How Good Should an Artificial Intelligence in an Electronic Catan Game Be?

By: Daniel D

Daniel D — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 03:38:15 +0000

Great Discussion! I’ve just started playing and I find the AI to be difficult to beat. In 50 games I have only won 13. I am getting better slowly and my win ratio is also improving. I’m curious about the AI programing and feel that understanding the decision tree built into the AI could help me become a better player. Is there anything written about how the AIs were programmed. Whgat is the best way to learn from the AI? Is there anything available online? Do the AIs play differently than each other? In my game Siegfried, Candamir and Louis are the top three ranked AIs. Is this usually the case? Where are these stats tracked?

By: Colin

Colin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:33:44 +0000

I think the AI is generally good but I would have three criticisms (partially covered above).
Firstly the robber/pirate is played on the human player more than it proportionately should be at the start of the game before additional victory points are added. The detailed stats regularly show that despite having only 2 VP I’ve had more resources stolen than all the other players combined.
Secondly I totally agree with the point about lack of situational awareness. The computer won’t make an extra effort to build a road or settlement to shut you out and quite often will buy yet another progress card instead. Combined with the fact the computer will often trade you the resource you need to jump them it doesn’t feel realistic.
Finally the computer players hoard cards too much and will frequently go bust with 15/20 cards in their hand (especially in C&K). The detailed stats again show just how much this is hurting their chances of winning.

Any news on an online version of Traders and Barbarians?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 16:57:04 +0000

I think the new players’ frustration comes from a combination of two things:

-perception of ‘ganging up’ by the computer. The AI sometimes sends the robber to you even when you do not posses the most points.

-true randomness of the dice. Because the dice are truly random there will be sequences where the most common roles are in fact not rolled. Combine that with rolls which benefit the AI and it appears unfair.

Overall, it is an excellent implementation of a great board game.

By: David

David — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:52:27 +0000

I am new to the game, but wanted to give my input anyways. I’ve played a handful of games in real life, and about 100 vs. the computer. I have significant experience playing other strategy, turn-based games including RISK and Civilization.
I have the AI set to “Normal”. At first I found it too challenging and could not win a single game. It took me about 25 games to learn some of the more common strategies. Because the board changes, it takes time to learn which strategy to use. I now win about a third of the games vs. 3 computer opponents, which is a good ratio in my opinion. I seem to do worse vs. 2 opponents, but I have only played it about a dozen times.
There are two things I wish the AI did different. When setting the initial roads, both players and the AI point them towards the next settlement location. A player considers the risk of other players getting their first, but the AI does not that I can tell. In this way, the AI sometimes challenges you to get their first more than a player would (unless the settlement site is that significant).
The only change I would make is regarding the perception of who is ahead. The computer goes after the person with the highest score regardless (that I can tell). Often the computer builds 4 roads, leaves a gap, and then continues. In this way, the computer can simply fill in the gap and get two points. This is something a player would recognize and try to block.
Overall I am very satisfied so far.

By: Gaming Links « toadflax games

Gaming Links « toadflax games — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:10:34 +0000

[...] these links was the Settlers of Catan blog, with a thought provoking piece from Klaus Teuber about how strong AI opponents need to be in a game, take a look, it’s really interesting (his conclusion, “Not as strong as you’d [...]

By: Paulo Laureano

Paulo Laureano — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:05:56 +0000

I ordered the DS version from the german store (tricky stuff), the cartridge includes the English version, so it turned out well. If only the store itself supported English this would be a non-problem for people that want to order it online.

PLS

By: admin

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:49:49 +0000

While Catan for Nintendo DS has been launched in Germany, we do not have an official release date for the English version. We will post an update on catan.com and as well on Twitter as soon as we know the release date!

By: Marcus

Marcus — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:42:41 +0000

Speaking of AI, when will the Nintendo DS version of Catan be available in America? I saw it for sale on the German Catan store, but I was wondering if there was a way to get it from an American store or a dealer like Amazon or Gamestop?

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:20:02 +0000

I don’t know, but on the PC game (the new one just released a month or so ago) the AI does gang up. With 2vp and everyone else with three, the robber gets sent to me (or Pirate Ship of course) lots more in the opening game than it should if the decision making process bases who gets the robber on VP.

By: Andrew Wooldridge

Andrew Wooldridge — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:39:10 +0000

Remember in Star Wars when C3PO said “let the wookie win” — even if your AI “can” win – sometimes you should “let” the player win because in the end – its all about the player having fun – not playing “well”.
I dont mean throwing the game, perhaps even in “normal” mode – the ai is starting out to be a little less intense and scale it up. Look at POPCAP games.