Chopper - Helicopter AI

[Kogut]

bug

[kamnet]

Just curious if anybody is still using this AI.

[Wormnest]

I just did a little test run starting in 1960, no NewGRF.
It starts out ok but then favors building airports too much. It should check first if it can build helicopters before building new airports.
Later I also saw in this thread that it prefers having plane speed 1/1 while I was using the default 1/4. After changing that performance improved.

I haven't checked all airports but it also seems to only use one helicopter per route. In 1977 it has reached the aircraft limit of 75 and at that time has 149 stations which is indeed only one airport less than needed for one helicopter per route which seems not very efficient.

[orielis]

Just curious if anybody is still using this AI.

I just loaded a slew of AI's that looked interesting, and this was one of them. In my first game, it used Chopper and it worked, but didn't make much money -- didn't go bankrupt, just had a smallish but steady profit.

The game I'm running now started in 1850, which is just a wee teensy bit early for helicopters. So naturally Chopper gets picked as one of the AI's, and it is continually surveying the field, finding it cant build, and going back to sleep.

Which raises the question -- while I presume it would start working either in 1920 or in the 1970s, that's a long time to waste an AI slot. Is there a way to remove a company from a running game? Without breaking the game, that is.

[PikkaBird]

Is there a way to remove a company from a running game? Without breaking the game, that is.

Type 'stopai <company number from 1-16>' in the console. You can then type 'startai' or 'startai <ai name>' to start another AI up in its place.

[Captain Rand]

Type 'stopai <company number from 1-16>' ......

Aren't there only 15 companies in the game including the human player (who I'm assuming is #1)?
And, If that's the case, then shouldn't it be "stopai <2-15>" ?

Pete.

[orielis]

Thanks for your help. If it happens again, I'll give that a try.

As it turned out, Chopper somehow managed to purchase half a dozen heliports, which cost a huge amount of upkeep each year. Since it couldn't buy helicopters, it went bankrupt fairly rapidly. Don't know just why it changed from snoozing to buying stations, but it was a fatal move.

One other AI, Convoy I believe, bought a bunch of carriages but placed terminal stations instead of the drive through (all the horsedrawn carriages are articulated), so it couldn't actually build any routes. That company also went bankrupt. It actually helped me out quite a bit by building very expensive roads that I couldn't afford, letting me set up more routes.

[PikkaBird]

Whatever - company numbers starting from 1, instead of from 0 as it is in some other contexts.

[orielis]

Is there a way to remove a company from a running game? Without breaking the game, that is.

Type 'stopai <company number from 1-16>' in the console. You can then type 'startai' or 'startai <ai name>' to start another AI up in its place.

Well, Chopper went bankrupt but then another one showed up in its place. This worked (yes, the player is #1), and the stage is cleared for Chopper to make another try.