new feature: random game

licker · #1 November 17th, 2003, 07:04 PM

Well you do get to see where the choke points are, and maybe that influances your decisions on which direction to expand to first.

Still I don't think that's such a big deal, the way it works with dominion and armies is good enough.

Gandalf Parker · #2 November 18th, 2003, 03:05 PM

I have a question on the random opponents thing. I will try to get interested in doing some testing later today but so far it looks like it can take 2 forms. (maybe I should poll this)

1) a game directory is made for the game and the god files are randomly selected and copied into it. I could setup an email collection box where people could mail me the gods they have made so they can be collected. (multiple man.2h files would be renamed to somethng like man_a1a.2h then renamed back to be added to the game). The advantage is that as far as I know now, these would be forced to be legal pretenders.

2) Pieces of .map text can be snipped out and saved. A randomizer exe would be clicked on which selects a god-file and inserts it into a .map file which the player then selects as his playing map for his next game. The advantage of this is that the pretenders would NOT have to be legal. They could be ANY of the 1010 units in the game, with any combination of powers and scales.

So would people prefer to play against legal pretenders, or SURPRISE! pretenders?

[ November 18, 2003, 13:06: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Gandalf Parker · #3 November 18th, 2003, 11:30 PM

OK I have to take it back. I find no way to start a game with choice of AIs. Especially with player made gods. The only way is to start them as human players, then change them to computer in the first turn.

However, I was close. Id say that we should change our request from being an option for a random game to being a way to specify on the command line or the map file who is playing and whether they are human or computer. What level computer would be good also.

HJ · #4 November 19th, 2003, 04:04 AM

The way I started doing "random" AI opponents is through random number generator. I pick the nation I'm going to play, decide how many opponents I'd like to have and what their difficulty is going to be, and then have it generate that many random numbers from 1 to 16. It works, to a point.

jeffr · #5 November 19th, 2003, 05:28 AM

Yeah, with DOM 1, I used a random number generator to pick the computer opponents too. One problem with this approach was that I knew from the beginning the number and nation of the opponents. If you don't know who your are facing, it is more difficult.

It would also be cool if the computer randomly generated your god, dominion settings and scales. You would be forced to adapt.

Hopefully, if the developers like this idea, and it is not too difficult to implement, they can include it in a patch.

I would also think it would make for some interesting multiplayer games.

Gandalf Parker · #6 November 19th, 2003, 03:29 PM

Well I can get as far as creating completely random opponents. The pretender, his magic, dominion strength, scales, castle, all that. Plus I can randomize all the game settings such as indie strength and magic site frequency. And even a random selection of a map.

[edited] I CAN set random opponents and their AI level. [/edited]

Now if a REAL programmer would speak up (someone who can create executable files) we could get a clickable icon for a random game

[ November 19, 2003, 15:20: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]