🚀 go-pugleaf

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic Brad Wardell <bwar...@stardock.com> wrote:
> 
> Anyway, here's the URL to the AI debugging session entitled "Human/Drengin 
> wars".  I through in flavor text as well to make it more interesting to 
> read. ;)
> 
> http://www.galciv2.com/Journals.aspx?AID=98513

I hadn't read it yet when I made my previous comments, so here are some
more:

First you have trouble with the AI building too many Constructors early,
later you mention them reaching Transports too late. One easy fix (the
way a modder would do it), is too make Constructors availlable later,
and Transports availlable earlier. To be honest, exploiting those
mysterious Galactic Resources sounds a bit more high tech than getting
people from A to B anyway.

I really like the fact that the AI does counter design. A game with
ship design wouldn't be complete without it. A have a few questions,
though: is every ship a counter design, or does it also make alround
ships? Perhaps it depends on how much trouble its having with its
enemy's specialised ships? And can it make one design to counter two
different enemy designs?

Also, how predictable is it in its counter design? A big risk in
counter design in multiplayer games (Stars! is my main example), is
that you may not know exactly how many ships of a certain design the
enemy has built. If it responds to quickly to a new design, I may be
able to trick it into building a lot of ships on a type to counter a
design I only built two of, while I spent most of my time secretly
building a counter against the predictable AI's counter design. If
you know what I mean.

Ofcourse if players tend to specialise extremely in different weapon
technologies, this may not be much of a problem, but with more than
two players, I may be able to trade my advanced mass drivers against
an ally's advanced beams, and surprise my enemy who has just put a
lot of effort into a mass driver resistent fleet.

By the way, I love the unique Drengin ship names, and especially the
fact that their naming scheme changes when their alignment changes.
Probably not very hard to program, but still a very cute detail.

One comment about the Orbital Fleet Manager. For a software engineer,
it's natural to call everything that manages something a Manager, but
in a military SF setting, would Orbital Command Center sound better?

I'm pretty amazed that the Drengin still put up such a good fight,
despite not seeing the importance of most of its own planets.

Great read. Looks like a really exciting game. Any chance you're
looking for beta testers?


mcv.
-- 
"Serenity is a very personal work with political resonance and a
heartfelt message about the human condition and stuff blowing up.
'Cause let's face it, nobody cares about that 'human condition'
stuff... in fact if you notice it, try to keep it to yourself."
                                        -- Joss Whedon on his new film