AI Chips

An AI chip affects how your Neuron acts on the playfield.

Along with Batteries, a Neuron has a slot for an **AI chip**. The chip can be any of the following:

* Striker
* Kicker
* Midfielder
* Defender
* Goalkeeper
* Winger
* Utility

These chips are the position that your Neuron plays on the field, and affect how they act on the playfield.

## MIPS Values, AI + CPU Combinations

Each AI has a certain MIPS value, and each CPU has an optimal threshold of MIPS and an overheat threshold of MIPS. The Neuron's CPU should ideally have a higher optimal MIPS value than the AI's MIPS value to get the best performance. Otherwise, the Neuron's CPU load may increase in matches, making the AI chip not run optimally. Sometimes, the Neuron may catch fire during matches if the AI's MIPS exceeds the CPU's maximum MIPS value.

This is a bit of a difficult concept to explain, so let's use an example:

Let's say I have a Defender VI AI chip, which consumes 910 MIPS. To run this AI optimally, we need a CPU that has an optimal threshold of over 910 MIPS. In this case, the Quantum VI CPU processor runs optimally below 1100 MIPS, which is well above the 910 MIPS threshold. So, the Quantum VI CPU runs with the Defender VI AI. The end of this article will have a chart for AI MIPS values.

## Types of AI

#### Striker

Strikers are well, strikers! They attack the enemy goal by obtaining the ball from a pass or interception. They then attack the enemy goal and try to get the ball into the goal, just like in real life with real soccer players! Strikers have the lowest MIPS value of all AIs per level.

#### Kicker

The kickers are the bullies. They stand next to the enemy goalkeeper (Or on top if it's a Ghost goalkeeper) and try to kick them out of their goal to make it easy for their own team to score on the opponents. Angry and Electro Neurons are good for these positions. They also act a bit as defenders! Talk about an easy win!

#### Midfielder

The Midfielder is in the middle, hence the name "Midfielder". The Midfielder plays both as a support and an attacker. They help out the defense defend and the offense attack.

#### Defender

The defender is the main line of defense of your goal. Their goal is to help prevent attacks from the opposing team's strikers. The more defenders you have, the more likely the enemies will have a harder chance of scoring on your goalkeeper. Neurons with this AI can also play as offense when they are positioned near the front of the layout screen. A lot of Tough Neurons use this AI.

#### Goalkeeper

The last line of defense between your goal and the opposing team. The goalkeeper (GK for short) prevents the opposing team from scoring by attempting to intercept shots at the goal, just like a goalkeeper in soccer. Goalkeepers have the highest MIPS value of all AIs per level.

Goalkeepers II and III always stay at the same y-value on the playfield, i.e. they only go up and down, like the paddles in a game of Pong. Goalkeepers IV and V have slight improvements, with them moving left or right to hit the ball when it's starting to approach the goal, but are very inaccurate. Don't upgrade to Goalkeepers IV and V if you're a new player, they're not worth it-- wait until Goalkeeper VI, which is much more accurate. Goalkeeper IX is another big jump in accuracy, but it's still worth getting GKs 7 and 8.

#### Winger

The winger is just like a striker but acts differently. They hang out near the goal or corners, attempting to divert pressure on the opposing team's defense. They basically try to open up new angles of attack.

#### Utility

The universal AI chip is meant to act as every position. With this chip, you can assign your Neuron any position you wish, just shift them across your layout screen! However, they aren't as good as the specialized positions in cases like Midfielders and Goalkeepers, so these are mostly used on beginner neurons, but it allows them to be more flexible to get more wins for your team.

## Table of AI Values

This table will contain the required Neuron level for unlock, the cost, and the MIPS consumption of each AI.

All information comes from a thread on the Neuronball Forums, and supplied by the users Vertigo and quadrophenia.