Quote from nesrulz :

In this thread, post #27 (14th September 2005 nesrulz - DEMO driver)

No, LFS is an online sim, AI is not worth the dev's time

:iagree:

It's often difficult to find a race online during the times I usually play LFS (west coast of Canada, GMT-8), so I use the AI a lot.

As much as I am looking forward to netKar PRO, I'm still undecided about whether to pick it up largely due to its lack of AI.

Quote from nesrulz :

In this thread, post #27 (14th September 2005 nesrulz - DEMO driver)

No, LFS is an online sim, AI is not worth the dev's time

And if you read post number 4, I ask myself what kind of a moron wears a helmet inside the house.

The biggest problem with the AI I have found is they don't know how to stop at the limits. I've been training a full field for about 2 weeks (fill them to 100% fuel then goto uni), and I've found that they always want to go faster each lap, and won't stop trying to go faster until they crash, then they slow down a tad, then do it again. So for a few laps they are great, then they go off the line a lot as they go too wide, they crash, then they suck, get great... it's rather annoying as I spend most of my time playing with the AI.

it would be wonderfull to have competitive AI in lfs . all it would do is help to strengthen the online community because people would be able to practice offline and learn proper offensive and defensive techniques without ruining someone's race.

there are hardly ever any formula v8 races going on and it would be nice to have smart ai. maybe even allow us to tweak each ai driver's behavior; agression, braking/cornering skill and things like that.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I voted that AI would be valuable, because sometimes (and especially in some time zones) there are few human opponents online to race against.

This is my reasoning exactly. Also, it does provide fun for those who have little to no internet connectivity, and for those who are still learning to ropes to get the feel of racing with others on the track without running real people off the road.

Yes it should. I like to play around with the AI offline a fair bit. AI driving the UF and GTI make for good oncoming traffic sometimes. Im happy with how they are now though, would just be nice if they were a little more aware of what they were doingillepall

I think LFS needs AI as well. Sometimes (frequently in my case) there aren't any servers with the combo you'd like. Especially the LRF class, no one ever races those. I know I could join a league to play them, but I don't have the time to commit to that.

AI are a good training tool imho. In early days, before I raced online, I used them as practice dummies before I learned not to hit other drivers. In GPL, racing against the AI was an especially good way to prepare for online racing - i.e. if you couldn't beat them there was no way you could beat a real human! Good thing about the GPL AI is that you can adjust how good they are, and that would be cool to be able to do in LFS.
And yes, sometimes there aren't any servers I feel like joining, so good AI would be a nice little bonus...

TBH, I am quite suprised in the results, I would have expected the "no's" to outwieght the "yes's".

It's also been a good eye-opener on how many people do use the AI, and why, TBH I don't think I have personally touched the AI in years, although we do have rolling roadblocks when we play on a LAN at work.

It also brings up the issue of lack of populated servers with different combos, there is obviously a call for this, and it saddens me to see over 300 servers sit idle when they could be put to use on more unique combos.

What I also found interesting, is people using, or starting to use, LFS without any net connection, TBH for me if it were not for the net connection I very much doubt I would play LFS at all.

Thanks for all the response

Dan,

Quote from danowat :

It also brings up the issue of lack of populated servers with different combos, there is obviously a call for this, and it saddens me to see over 300 servers sit idle when they could be put to use on more unique combos.

Most of these comments come from North America where I usually only see 8 servers with anyone in them. You can set the 292 empty servers that are left to any cool and awesome combo you want, those 8 populated servers will still be Aston National GTR's, Oval F08's, and the rest FXO's wherever.

Quote :

What I also found interesting, is people using, or starting to use, LFS without any net connection, TBH for me if it were not for the net connection I very much doubt I would play LFS at all.

I agree. I downloaded LFS S1 demo because I wanted something more like regular production cars. Tried it offline for an evening, then went online for the first time ever to race the next. It's all history after that.

Quote from danowat :

What I also found interesting, is people using, or starting to use, LFS without any net connection, TBH for me if it were not for the net connection I very much doubt I would play LFS at all.

i suppose it depends what you have played before.... i.e. if your already coming from PC games where you are used to playing online its probably the first thing your going to do... but then im sure there are also a fair few people (like myself) who come from the world of arcade games and are just not used to the realism and being able to play against REAL opponents! So i guess in that situation the AI helps a little bit to adjust to a simulation!

Although i think i only want the AI because they have been my only friends for all but 2 weeks at christmas damn uni firewall! cant wait for May!!

Quote :

I like AS Cadet with FOX for example. But nobody races that online. AI is the only option...

I like that too. Ai should stay for noobs.

wish a few people would use ai to learn how to pass and when to wait for a gap

Quote from danowat :

IMO LFS is an online sim and doesnt NEED AI.

+1 :rolleyes:

heh lfs should have ai although ive never properly raced with them... and the few times i have i got shunted off the track by them..... they kinda prepare you for what one will encounter on the online servers..... ai are like some of the online racers who dont know how to use brakes or overtake!!!

Quote :

LFS is an online sim and doesnt NEED AI.

Yeah right, like it doesn't need throttle help, automatic shifting and keyboard control. That's stuff for noobs?

Yep. These features help newcomers climb the learning curve, so that they may eventually become competitive online racers.
If you want LFS to gain any popularity, it will NEED all those features. Otherwise you may soon be racing alone, online.

(As to myself: I would never have installed LFS if it was online-only.)

Until a while back, before I moved from Germany to America, I never had a problem finding serverws with god combos to play on, because there was always a lot going on. But now that I live in America, i can never find anything good going on. I never really understood before how Americans would claim that nothing good was ever going on, until recently. Maybe I should just become more nocturnal than I already am to keep the good races comming? Well, I'll figure that one out later, but the Americans are right, In North/South America, there are less servers running with people in them than there are servers in Europe/Asia/Mid-East and whatnot.

But! I'm not saying this can't be helped. This has a simple solution. Americans just need to get their own servers that would house more races for them. I'm aware of a few that are already running, but are sparcely populated. I'm sure if people would get in there, it'd be pretty fun.

I do so agree that LFS needs AI. I have never got onto an online race except head to head with my brother and I would probably be in the way of most of what appears to be fulltime sim racers. With five levels of skill to work through I'm in no hurry to join an online race. It's hard enough for me to understand the jargon which is rife on this site!! Make a little room for the slowcoaches but still enjoy the program immensely!!

i said yes, i still believe LFS needs AI's, i have used them several times to be honest for racing reasons, and how to keep racing clean (which.. it was me being clean not them lol)

but as of right now, the AI's plain.. suck lol
but once that all gets fixed and we have good AI's that can drive a normal pace of a few seconds behind WRs and be able to control themselves and be aware of their surroundings, then im sure AI's will come into much more use

You know, at first it seems like an obvious YES LFS needs A.I. - then it
doesn't. I do think that since LFS DOES have AI anyways, then it ought to be made as good as what the other aspects of the game are (easier said than done I bet)
Also, with A.I., a different way to play LFS could be done. Where the player
is a racecar/team OWNER and A.I.'s make up his team. Car owners could race their A.Is against each other And win credits and use the credits towards
"fixing car parts" that the A.I wore out or broke during racing or maybe
use winnings to "hire" another driver to race as well so that the owner can race two cars and increase his chances of winning.

Something to where the player focuses on the overall racing strategy
instead of just the driving part. Where like if someone joins a ten race series,
they have to keep track of finances as well as where to set the downforce
to make sure that they can finish the series - and having to depend on a computer A.I. (that the owner trained) to perform in the actual race.
... train them to be aggressive - they go through tires, and trannies and clutches. train them to be conservative...well they won't win much money, but less is spent on parts as well. something like that.

I only use AI when im testing the looks of a new skin ingame.
-the viewer is fine, but its better to judge a skin ingame.

...also funny to watch some UF and some FO8 in same race.

...so I voted no.