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Game Analysis AI Assistant: Smart Expert Match Comparisons for More Relevant Reviews

Introduction

Hello! Today I’m sharing another update to the Game Analysis AI Assistant for Age of Empires IV. This update focuses on improving how the assistant compares your matches with expert gameplay to generate more relevant and actionable reviews.

Background

In my previous post, I shared an overview of Age of Empires IV and the Game Analysis AI Assistant. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend checking it out first.

Let me quickly explain what the Game Analysis AI Assistant does before we look at the new feature. It analyzes your Age of Empires IV matches by comparing with expert matches and generates detailed reports highlighting your mistakes, areas for improvement, and how experts handle similar situations. I’m deliberately emphasizing the word similar, because that’s exactly what this post is about.

And since introducing the tool, I’ve been steadily improving it with new features and refinements.

Recent Improvements

  • Sharable Review Links: You can now share your match reviews with a single link. Previously, you had to input the same match URL again to get the same review. Now anyone can access your review instantly with one click.
  • Faster Analysis: The AI analysis now completes in under 3 minutes on average, down from around 5 minutes before.
  • Better Accuracy: Continued refinements have improved the quality and relevance of the generated reviews.

Now, let’s dive into the latest update: smart expert match comparisons.

The Challenge with Expert Comparisons

The Game Analysis AI Assistant compares your gameplay with expert matches and highlights the key decision differences. However, the quality of these comparisons depends on matching you with the right expert matches.

Previously, the assistant would:

  • Find expert games with the civilizations reversed (so if you lost to French as English, it looked for expert games where English beat French)
  • Pick one of those matches for comparison

Because any of those matches could be selected, your review insights could vary from one analysis to another.

What’s New: Smart Expert Match Comparisons

The latest update adds intelligent playstyle matching on top of the existing filters. Now the assistant doesn’t just find compatible games, it picks the one that most closely matches how your opponent actually played.

The Key Insight

When you submit a game for analysis, it’s usually because you lost to an opponent who used specific strategies to beat you. To learn effectively, you need to see what you could have done differently against that same style of play.

The assistant now finds expert games where:

  • The opponent played very similarly to the one who beat you (same overall approach and strategy)
  • But the expert won despite facing that same style of play

This means that when the assistant compares your game to the expert’s, the difference in results comes from the decisions you made versus what the expert did. The assistant can then highlight exactly where you could have played better to counter your opponent’s strategy.

How It Works

When you submit a match for analysis, the assistant now:

  1. Find Compatible Games: First, it looks for expert matches that were broadly similar to yours, using a reversed version of your matchup as the starting point.

  2. Pick the Best Playstyle Match: From those compatible games, it studies how each game unfolded and selects the one where the expert’s opponent played most similarly to your opponent, looking at:
    • Overall approach and strategy
    • When they transitioned between game phases
    • How they allocated resources and applied pressure
  3. Generate Relevant Comparisons: It then compares your decisions with this well-matched expert game, giving you reviews that actually fit your situation.

Here’s a simplified overview of the process:

flowchart TD
    subgraph MatchFinder [Smart Expert Matching]
        direction TB

        %% Step 1: Hard Filter
        UserGame[Your game] --> HardFilter[Hard filter:<br/>find broadly compatible expert games]
        HardFilter --> Candidates[Compatible<br/>expert games]

        %% Step 2: Playstyle Matching
        UserGame --> UserOppPlaystyle[Study your<br/>opponent's playstyle]
        Candidates --> ExpertOppPlaystyle[Study expert's<br/>opponent playstyle]
        UserOppPlaystyle --> PlaystyleMatch[Find best match<br/>by playstyle similarity]
        ExpertOppPlaystyle --> PlaystyleMatch
        PlaystyleMatch --> BestMatch[Best matched<br/>expert game]
    end

    BestMatch --> Reviews[Your personalized review]

    style UserGame fill:#e3f2fd,stroke:#1976d2,rx:5,ry:5
    style HardFilter fill:#fff3e0,stroke:#f57c00,rx:5,ry:5
    style Candidates fill:#e8f5e9,stroke:#388e3c
    style UserOppPlaystyle fill:#e3f2fd,stroke:#1976d2,rx:5,ry:5
    style ExpertOppPlaystyle fill:#e8f5e9,stroke:#388e3c
    style PlaystyleMatch fill:#fff3e0,stroke:#f57c00,rx:5,ry:5
    style BestMatch fill:#e8f5e9,stroke:#388e3c
    style Reviews fill:#fce4ec,stroke:#c2185b,rx:5,ry:5

The Result

By matching the opponent’s playstyle, you get expert comparisons that focus on what you could have done differently in that situation. Instead of comparing your game to an expert who faced a different style of opponent, you’ll see how top players handle opponents who play just like the one that beat you.

Why This Matters

More relevant expert comparisons lead to better reviews. You get insights that reflect what successful players actually do in situations similar to yours, making the advice more applicable to your specific game.

For example, instead of comparing your loss to any French matchup, the assistant now finds expert games where the French applied the same kind of pressure you faced, and shows how experts playing English handled it.

What’s Next

This update is just the beginning. I’m excited to explore more ways to make expert comparisons smarter and more helpful.

Stay tuned for more improvements coming soon!

Try It Out

The Game Analysis AI Assistant is free to use. Submit your AoE4 match link and see how the expert comparisons become more targeted and relevant.

If you find it helpful, consider supporting the project through Ko-fi. Your support helps keep the tool free and enables continued improvements.

Thanks for reading, and happy gaming!