Background

Are my AIs any good? Well they have their moments, and are definitely works in progress. But if you are interested in a computer opponent, I would say they are the best thing going.

How do they work? Well these AIs are able to play games using the DAIDE server and mapper. They can play against other AIs or against humans.

The names of the bots I have created are ALBERT and KISSMYBOT and have been working on them since late 2005.

Albert is the most serious attempt, although is the most CPU demanding.

The main thing I have learned from writing this AI is that good AI's are possible. I have a very positive outlook on how the future of Diplomacy AIs will look. I can say this because I am in no way experienced in AI writing, so I feel now that if I can come this far with an AI, I can only imagine what an experienced programmer is capable of, especially one that would know something of Game Theory.

But back to the question of deciding whether these bots are any good... well you will need to judge for yourself, but I find it will often play an enjoyable game for me. I would categorize it as not great, maybe not even good, but I would say it is decent. It makes some bad moves, but it also makes some very nice ones.

For all those who don’t know, I am not a programmer, and only started learning c++ with the creation of this bot. I have relied on the generous nature of David Norman and John Newbury for helping me with some basic c++ questions, and to them I owe a lot for their patience. However, don’t write my bots off, as programming experience isn’t the only thing that is needed to put a bot together. I have found programming these AIs a tremendous amount of fun.

I love strategy games, and found diplomacy while searching for the next game to play. I did not grow up playing the boardgame. I played the Paradox version of diplomacy when it came out, and found the AI completely lacking, even when compared to the 1985 DOS version which was no-press. It was at this time that I searched out the DAIDE community and decided that it would be here that I would find better computer opponents. The Clientframe work that is setup has made it easy for someone like me to get involved who otherwise would not have a chance. I encourage anyone who is interested in Artificial Intelligence, to give it a try.