bad ai hiring?

[BaleOhay]

I signed up for
http://c-rpg.net/?page=strategusbattlesupcoming#!?page=strategusinfobattledetail&id=843
at least 45 minutes before the fight for the ai defense. Was not hired even with the ai not having a full roster


what gives?

[Artyem]

Doesn't the AI only put people on once every hour after the battle starts?

[BaleOhay]

i logged into the server but could not pick equipment. stupid ai

[MURDERTRON]

It will only hire you an hour and change before the battle.  So if a battle is at 8:30, the last chance to get hired is 7:00.

[BaleOhay]

that is rather poor programming if true

[SucculentHeadCrab]

I think it is to prevent people ghost stacking a roster at the last minute, we all know how "effective" that tactic is at throttling the opposing teams merc count.

[Aksei]

this is NOT poor coding. Just think you would run the script that looks for applicants every 10 min. Would make the whole server lag. hour based cronjob is more than enough

[BaleOhay]

was not asking for 10 mins.. But if someone signs up in the last hour before a fight to a roster that needs help the ai should hire maybe 5-10 mins before the fight starts. I signed up 45 mins before should have been hired.

[MURDERTRON]

Bale, you're an adult, learn to plan in advance.

[Pappy]

Auto sign entire roster last minute before battle, problem fixed. To hard to know if you got time until last minute

[Butan]

I think it is to prevent people ghost stacking a roster at the last minute, we all know how "effective" that tactic is at throttling the opposing teams merc count.

If I remember correctly, AI roster applied people at the last minute in previous rounds, but it picked them badly.
Now, AI roster "updates" and doesnt kick out, but the time to react (one hour) is way too long. Most of the time there is last minute mercenaries in strat battles so we miss out on them.

I think we should keep the actual system (auto update, doesnt kick out) but add a "last minute check" (if its not already there) so we replace the last cancels with the last minute new mercenaries.

[MURDERTRON]

I think it's fine the way it is.  Ghost rosters are pretty lame.

[Haze_The_Hobo]

If ai check ends 1hour before that should be deadline for players to make changes in roster also. Would be only fair in fights against ai villages/castles/towns. Also "ghost rosters are pretty lame" - yes they are, but i've seen some of the clans in EU do that. Doubt anyone has hard time guessing what colors those might be.

[Mr.K.]

If I remember correctly, AI roster applied people at the last minute in previous rounds, but it picked them badly.
Now, AI roster "updates" and doesnt kick out, but the time to react (one hour) is way too long. Most of the time there is last minute mercenaries in strat battles so we miss out on them.

I think we should keep the actual system (auto update, doesnt kick out) but add a "last minute check" (if its not already there) so we replace the last cancels with the last minute new mercenaries.

It does.

[Butan]

Never been kicked despite bad reliability/performance, so I thought.

Also "ghost rosters are pretty lame" - yes they are, but i've seen some of the clans in EU do that. Doubt anyone has hard time guessing what colors those might be.

I dont understand what exactly you mean by "ghost roster", you mean guys not showing up with their name still in the roster? Yeah, its pretty hard to miss them. The bigger problem is somewhere else, let me detail....

If ai check ends 1hour before that should be deadline for players to make changes in roster also.

Like you imply here, in the current system there is a pretty easy exploit:

- apply to a strategus battle
- get accepted
- wait for the last AI roster update
- cancel your application before the battle begins
- ???
- profit


So basically, we should add either:
- last minute roster check,
OR
- impossible to cancel applications after the last AI roster check,


Because atm there is a pretty large gap where you can ghost roster without showing on the roster list.

Add to that that people like Bale want to play but cant join the AI side if they dont apply in advance, and you have a recipe for excruciatingly weak AI defense over time.