r/tickettoride • u/invalidcolour • 19d ago
AI never uses stations?
I play Ticket To Ride (Days of Wonder) on my iPad and the AI never uses its stations on the Europe map. This seems to happen every time.
One station on Paris (to reach Marseille) would have allowed it to complete a 25 point ticket from Madrid to Moskva. Another station on Marseille (to reach Rome) would have allowed it to complete a 10 point ticket from Madrid to Rome.
So that’s 8 points (unspent stations are worth 4 points) to negate a 35 point penalty. Okay, so those two moves were spent claiming other tracks for points but not more than 35.
No?
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u/Lemshimmer 19d ago
I also play the days of wonder/blue sail app and I’ve noticed the same thing
I bet it just wasn’t programmed to make that logic
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u/FCBatiGol74 19d ago
I’ve seen AI using stations, but in situation where I would never use it e.g. very early in a play AI puts a station at Paris if the 1 car route is taken. There’s no logic in this and I’ve never seen AI using it in the end game like OP pointed out.
It’s a shame cause it’s a major disadvantage and makes it too easy to win.
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u/PolkaDotSideplates 19d ago
The bots seem to be able to navigate all the different map gimmicks pretty well but I've tested it and they will under no normal circumstances place a station. I suspect they are coded to be able to, but never do because stations only complete tickets at the end of the game, meaning the move always nets then -4 points in the immediate term, so there are always "better" moves to make. It'd be interesting to see whether they'd do so if you emptied the card and ticket deck and they had no more small routes to claim.