New Bot's AI is Lacking...

the Anarchit3cht·Apr 19, 2014·3 votes·520 views

There are a few problems I have noticed with the Bot's new AI. While it is more human like in some regards, it is lost in other regards. Namely, they seem to have a few quirks that make them pathetically weak.

The bots now go into lane BEFORE the minions. While this is something that I like, it is easy to abuse. Now every single game of bots that I play winds up in someone getting First Blood by drawing the bots out from the safety of their turret before the minions even spawn. They still can't reasonably detect the level of threat when they have no minions around to support them. As such, they will go to chase someone to their untimely death. Usually I notice it occurs in either top or bot lane, where there are two players. Only one of the two enemy bots will put themselves in a bad position, bum rushing the two players with no support from their teammate who is either still hiding under their tower, or for whatever reason detected a greater level of threat and did not venture out as far as their ally did.

Like I said, this behavior is more human like, but at the same time... what kind of player is going to dive head first into two enemies without support of any kind? I know bots are a more relaxed game setting, but it takes away a bit of the fun in actually having to work to get first blood--which while it is not wholly important in bots, the extra money could help you roll out that new build you are trying out. It wouldn't be such a big deal for someone else to get first blood, if they actually legitimately earned it as opposed to abusing an obvious flaw in their AI.

The bots just stick around and die now. I understand now that they are trying to actually fight back, but given the fact that players will have a definitive power advantage over the bots, it only makes them easier to kill. They see you low on health and they come in to punish you. It's not hard to play a game of Ring-Around-The-Minions while waiting for your skills to come of CD. This could possibly be due to the fact that they had their reactions time slowed(which is good, because before every time you could get hit by a skill shot you basically would) but I think they were slowed a little too much. In this same vein, I noticed occasionally that the bots seem to get a little confused sometimes and literally just stand there doing nothing. They won't attack. They wont use skills. They won't run. It only lasts for a few seconds, but in a game like League of Legends where you can pump out more damage than they have health in just a few seconds, it really does make all the difference.

That being said, they are extremely unforgiving now when it comes to fighting on low health, or multiple enemies at a time by yourself. Whereas before I could jump into their whole team with half health and get out with 2-3 kills, I'm lucky to get one and come out alive--so it's not all bad. But maybe the bots could have their escape mechanism improved? They don't use summoner skills, which I can understand why that would be a little complicated, but their use of them doesn't have to be too complex. It could be something simple like when they are getting dealt a lot of damage and start to run away, they drop an exhaust on you to increase their odds of survival. Or when they are running away and you're hot on their tail, maybe they can flash ahead and get some distance between you. It doesn't have to be over a wall or anything fancy like that, it could literally be a flash on the same straight path that they are walking, it would still increase their odds of escaping.
There are a few other quirks I've noticed as well, but I can't say I know them in depth enough(or that they aren't strange outliers to my knowledge) to really explain them and their effects as they pertain to AI games. As my understanding of them improves(or the aforementioned issues) I will be sure to keep this post updated.

Be aware, that this is speaking only of Beginner Bots, which I know are supposed to be easy anyway--but easy does not equate to handing you free kills.

13 Comments

the Anarchit3chtApr 19, 20141 votes

This seems to have completely disappeared from the public view. I'm wondering if this will help.

Hyrum GraffApr 19, 20141 votes

I think it's probably because not many people play bot games :P

the Anarchit3chtApr 20, 20141 votes

That's not true at all. If barely anyone played bots, then Riot would not have gone through the lengths to update the AI as the have. In fact, they announced that Co-Op VS AI games make up a significant time of games played, even among level 30 players. I figured out the reason, however.

Hyrum GraffApr 20, 20141 votes

Yeah, I know; I was just being cheeky.

Out of curiosity, what was the reason?

the Anarchit3chtApr 23, 20141 votes

I'm sure they were somewhere on the pages way back there. But the default sorting method for posts is the "Hot" setting which sorts them by upvotes that they have. I removed my upvote so it moved below every single post with at least one up-vote(which is everyone because it happens automatically).

Hyrum GraffApr 24, 20141 votes

:O Why remove your own upvote?

the Anarchit3chtApr 25, 20141 votes

It seems arrogant, to me. Like liking your own posts on Facebook. I feel like upvotes should be a reflection of how OTHER people view your posts, not yourself. However given the way that the system works, it's something that I won't be doing.

HexSealApr 20, 20141 votes

I play bot games primarily if I feel I will be bad with a certain champ but want to play them while they are free. I think that to really try a champ there has to be some resistance. Take a champ like Ezreal. You can't expect to get an bad outcome from these new bots when they barely move, or their movements are predicable. I think that the bots should present some challenge in the aspect of they can dodge skill shots and not get lured out as easily.

the Anarchit3chtApr 20, 20141 votes

While bots do only help to an extent, the type of testing/practice I think it comes down to isn't so much mechanical skill, but game knowledge. You get to really learn how your skills work, the combos that you have to lay out. You find whether a certain item is good or not on that champion. In the case of Ezreal, I was testing AD vs AP. It wasn't really to practice my skill shots(because even with the update their dodging skills are still horrendous) but rather to see the symbiosis that certain items such as the Tear of the Goddess or Iceborn Gauntlet would have with him.

Angry MonsterApr 21, 20141 votes

they made improvements and stated that this wasnt the end game of bot ai. Give them time, AI does not just happen. Each bot has to have independent programming understand its own skills.

There are alot of things that would be nice to add in. There is a reason why there is no real AI in the real world. A computer by nature does not understand action and reaction. It only understanding on off states.

the Anarchit3chtApr 23, 20141 votes

I understand that. I'm merely giving them feedback, however. I'm not saying "RITO YOU MESSED UP FIX BOT NAOS". I actually enjoy the improvements, and as someone who dabbles in Co-Op VS AI games quite a bit, I was merely offering suggestions based on what I have noticed. They can take their time to make the improvements, I'm not expecting over-night changes, merely that they take some of these issues into consideration for the next time they do work on the AI. Why so snappish? You act as if I personally offended you.

Angry MonsterApr 23, 20141 votes

I think your messaging is a little of. First off riot said that they were not done and that they want to do more. There was even a section in the news explaining part of the tech issues with bots. And what they want to move towards. They released what has been successfully done.

Your post is comes off they are not trying hard enough. "Instead of bots lacking" you could of gone things that were lost with "Bot Changes things lost". Your thread is one of 50 that i have seen. Well your thread comes of as the nicest that is not saying much.

I personally read this as demanding and arrogant. You do not even seem phased by how hard it is to make a decent AI. Maybe the things that were lost were taken away for other changes. You wont know since your post doesn't come off as a discussion so much as a u did this wrong.

the Anarchit3chtApr 23, 20141 votes

Personally, I don't see how it is "u did this wrong." At all. What do you propose that I say differently? These are issues that I have noticed. Are you ignorant, or just plain stupid? I already admitted the fact that Riot said they are not done with bots yet. I never said they were. The fact that you are saying that is how I feel is an arrogant presumption on your behalf. I'm not going to sugar coat it and give them a pat on the back every other sentence, because where would that get us?

As I said once before, I am not demanding that Riot immediately start working on their AI games and make these changes. I'm not even demanding that Riot make these changes at all. I'm merely offering suggestions based upon things that I have noticed. Whether they choose to heed them or not is entirely up to them, but I still have the right to make these suggestions. If you don't like it, then you don't have to read it.

It wouldn't really fit to "Bot Changes things lost" as the bots did not LOSE anything. I understand that making an AI is very complicated, especially when they have to make one for each individual champion bot. I probably understand that a lot more than you do, because I dabble in programming myself.