Strange cars pace

[QB]

I feel a bit disappointed with 0.9.1 version. I have tried some tracks in novice level in single player mode (actually, my level is expert in previous versions) and I feel the cars competition is quite fake.

I make this test. I have configured some races with 19 karts (plus mine) and 20 laps. In every track, in the lowest level, cars keep my pace all the time, which is something that does happened in previous versions (except when I was actually a novice). Maybe this is realistic but the weird thing is what happened when my car is at the bottom of the pack.

I stopped my car and waited for three laps (the whole pack passed me three times). I restarted the race three laps behind.

However, my pace was quite incredible and unrealistic then. In two laps I managed to recover the three laps that I had lost (believe me: I am not so good with Supertuxkart). I overtook the whole pack and placed my car in the first position. From the rest of the race onwards, the rivals’ cars kept my pace and I could not increase the gap in any moment.

So, what is happening? I can hardly understand why other cars are so slow when I am behind and so fast when I get the first position.

In general, when I improve my level in previous version, I can race speedier than the rest of cars and the difficulty of racing ahead of them increases with levels. In 0.9.1, this is no longer true which I feel disappointing. The strange behaviour when my car is some laps behind it is quite puzzling.

[Auria]

Hi,

first of all, which version are you comparing with? I don't think the enemy AI has had any major change recently.

Then, on which track did you try? This can be important, because our AI is not perfect and it's still a bit uneven : on some tracks the AI is very good, while on other tracks it still tends to fall off or bump into things, making it a lot less competitive.

But then, you also said you were playing on novice. Novice is really meant for total beginners, or young children, and it's meant to be really, really easy. If you're not a young child or a total beginner, I would stronly recommend playing at medium or hard, you will get a proper challenge on these difficulty levels

[QB]

I am compering 0.9 and 0.8 versions.

I have tried on every available tracks at the moment with similar aftermath (only changing the number of laps needed to overtake the whole pack). I have tried harder in "Around the Lighthouse", "Old Mine", and "Gran Paradiso Island". No special criteria, just because I can developed full speed in these tracks.

As fas as I know this behaviour only happens in novice mode. Precisely, because it is a so low level, more skillful drivers should do better. I think that a experienced driver should open a huge gap when he goes first as it happened in 0.8 versions. I think that this behaviour —that other cars run slow when you are behind and keep your pace as soon as you place first— does not happen in previous version. Maybe I was wrong but I feel it is "unnatural".

Perphaps I should mentioned that I am playing in "Time Trial" mode.

Thank you.

[deve]

Note that novice level is designed for children. The AI karts indeed slow down when you are behind them to give you a chance for win. It has been added some time ago, I don't remember in which version. If you are more demanding player, then try to play on expert or supertux level.

[bonifarz]

If you look at the file SuperTuxKart/data/stk_config.xml, you can see how the difficulty setting affects the AI karts. For the novice setting, karts will lose up to 40% (!) of their max speed if they are ahead, and they only get full speed when behind you.

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

                speed-cap="-10:1.0 -5:0.9 5:0.8 20:0.7 50:0.6"

On the other difficulties, the effect is smaller and kicks in only if they are really far ahead.
I've also just picked up 0.9.1 after a long break, and I get the impression the AI has improved nicely since 0.8, in particular their ability to skid.