[dmm]

More on forethought: Besides asking itself about the other player, it might start by asking itself about itself.
Examples:
What would happen to these ships if I moved them through that unstable warp point with a black hole on the other side?
What would happen if I attacked that big fleet with my one ship?

Also on forethought: It needs this in tactical (battles) AND strategic.

Lastly,
this is probably a lot harder to talk about than to do. But scripting has its limits. In an unscripted situation, the AI needs to have some way of optimizing the outcome. I think that this is the basic weakness of the AI as it is now.