Aug 1st 2024, 15:58:40
Boo to this anti-farmer and anti-CI propaganda!
... I joke.
Agree with most of the points above, though framed in a different way:
It isn't bot techer's bushel stocking behavior causing the weird market, it's bots overall switching from getting enough defence early on to buying tech. There is a tipping point where all the bots start buying tech at the same time and it causes the price of tech to spike; this then causes the bushel spike because the techers are rich. The large human techers exacerbate this (i.e. 1 human techer is likely the size of 10 techer bots at this point in the game), supplying into the overwhelming demand from ALL bots (not just techers). This then creates the farmer cascade, where the rich farmers buy more tech, keeping the prices elevated.
The above should help address this, though perhaps what would be more helpful here, is to make it so that this change in buying schedule is randomized within some wider timeframe, not unlike the bot destock now. Perhaps this is already built into the logic, and is what is meant by "change buying schedule". Then we're good.
This is one of those situations where, if every bot adopts the "game-optimal" strategy, it quickly becomes non-optimal for everyone.
I applaud Slag for continuing to work on these changes, and taking this in the right direction. New server, having to make new strategy decisions, is a lot of fun! (And I'm not just saying this because I ran the *cough* biggest farmer.)
If anything, I would add that it appears that all 4 strats seem playable and winnable at this point, but the biggest question mark remains on CI. The top finishing CIs lost turns, and its hard to say whether it's the inability to generate enough cash to play turns that caused the loss of turns.
... I joke.
Agree with most of the points above, though framed in a different way:
It isn't bot techer's bushel stocking behavior causing the weird market, it's bots overall switching from getting enough defence early on to buying tech. There is a tipping point where all the bots start buying tech at the same time and it causes the price of tech to spike; this then causes the bushel spike because the techers are rich. The large human techers exacerbate this (i.e. 1 human techer is likely the size of 10 techer bots at this point in the game), supplying into the overwhelming demand from ALL bots (not just techers). This then creates the farmer cascade, where the rich farmers buy more tech, keeping the prices elevated.
Originally posted by Slagpit:
* Change buying schedules to get more early military and a little less tech.
The above should help address this, though perhaps what would be more helpful here, is to make it so that this change in buying schedule is randomized within some wider timeframe, not unlike the bot destock now. Perhaps this is already built into the logic, and is what is meant by "change buying schedule". Then we're good.
This is one of those situations where, if every bot adopts the "game-optimal" strategy, it quickly becomes non-optimal for everyone.
I applaud Slag for continuing to work on these changes, and taking this in the right direction. New server, having to make new strategy decisions, is a lot of fun! (And I'm not just saying this because I ran the *cough* biggest farmer.)
If anything, I would add that it appears that all 4 strats seem playable and winnable at this point, but the biggest question mark remains on CI. The top finishing CIs lost turns, and its hard to say whether it's the inability to generate enough cash to play turns that caused the loss of turns.