A possible path to better AI
Competent challenging AI. It makes games fun to play solo and it is rare and difficult. There is a thread asking how many people play with the AI bonus set to max. There are a number of people who manage to defeat the AI even with a 5X bonus. My problem with playing at that level is that I feel like I’m still playing a really stupid opponent—just one with a very large stick. As a result I quickly quit playing solo (after three games) and have taken up PBEM. But I would like to be able to play competent challenging AI.
There is a suggestion I would like to make on how to get good AI. It may not be possible with SEIV but it might be possible with SEV. I would like to see user developed AI. I realize that we have that to some degree now but the fact that people are playing and defeating even the user mods at 5X bonus mean that the tools for modding the AI are insufficient.
If the AI code itself were modularized and replaceable, then Users could develop their own AI. If races could specify which AI to use, that is, if multiple AI modules could be used in one game, then races could have radically different personalities and styles. AI could compete with AI. Players would select their Favorites.
While I realize that this would mean work for MM, it would have advantages as well. MM could be satisfied with developing barely competent AI and leave the improvements to the user community. After reading this board for awhile, I am certain that there are a number of people with the skills and willingness to develop AI code. In fact, some of you might get more satisfaction from that activity than from playing. Another advantage for MM would be a better and more fun game. A third advantage might be a greater recognition of how hard good AI in a complex environment like SE really is.
We might even adopt an open software model for some AI and have the whole community contribute to it.
Anyway, I sure would like to give it a shot myself.
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