[SamuraiProgrammer]

This is a bold idea. I hope you like it. I realize that this will not apply to everyone who plays this game, but it could possibly be implemented in such a way that it does not preclude the way things are. Please have an open mind, it may not be as off the wall as you think.

This game is a great game. Unfortunately, it is a bit too big. It takes quite a long time to play a game with a large group. Even if everyone is able to play a turn a day (which in my experience is seldom), games can easily Last 6 months.

The alternative seems to be writing an AI and battling other AIs with it. This has its drawbacks as well. There does not seem to be enough fine control over the AI.

*IF* (yes it is a big if) the internal calls to the AI routines were structured properly, they could (at the request of a race setting) call an external DLL that is provided by the programming skills of the player!

The first call to the DLL could pass a data structure that contained the game state as known by the AI.

Subsequent calls to the DLL would be function calls that ask specific questions about what to do.

As an alternative, there could be a call to a function that returned a data structure that represented all of the orders given.

I realize that this may be totally incompatible with the way the program is currently written. I have no idea how much code will be reused or rewritten for Version 5. If the AI is part of the rewrite, it might not be much trouble to include this feature.

For the record, I have not tried to write an AI. I have looked at it and am willing to accept that it is more flexible than it looks at first blush. I am certainly impressed the accomplishments of Malfador Machinations, and I feel that enabling the gaming community to have direct control over this feature would bring some surprises in how certain problems are solved. This might open the door for this game to have the most proficient computer opponent in strategy gaming.

This is a wonderfully customizable product. The AI is already customizable to more extent than any game I have ever seen. Perhaps this is asking too much. Of course, you never know until you ask...

Thanks for a great game!