Abstract—Current approaches to adaptive game AI typically require
numerous trials to learn effective behavior (i.e., game adaptation
is not rapid). In addition, game developers are concerned that
applying adaptive game AI may result in uncontrollable and unpredictable
behavior (i.e., game adaptation is not reliable). These
characteristics hamper the incorporation of adaptive game AI in
commercially available video games. In this paper, we discuss an
alternative to these current approaches. Our alternative approach
to adaptive game AI has as its goal adapting rapidly and reliably
to game circumstances. Our approach can be classified in the area
of case-based adaptive game AI. In the approach, domain knowledge
required to adapt to game circumstances is gathered automatically
by the game AI, and is exploited immediately (i.e., without
trials and without resource-intensive learning) to evoke effective
behavior in a controlled manner in online play. We performed experiments
that test case-based adaptive game AI on three different
maps in a commercial real-time strategy (RTS) game. From our results,
we may conclude that case-based adaptive game AI provides
a strong basis for effectively adapting game AI in video games.