AI weakness

[WendellM]

One rather hotly debated factor in Combat Mission (a WW II game from another independent developer/publisher) has been the ability of an AI tank (and one of yours, which is semi-AI) to remember where a recent threat (that has now become unseen due to moving behind cover) was and to keep its turret pointed that way, instead of being "distracted" by a minor threat from another direction and turning the turret toward it, thus being unprepared if/when the previous, major threat reappears near where it was recently seen. Some issues are how long to remember and what constitutes a "minor" threat. If a tank immediately forgets the old threat, that can be used against it. But, if it remembers it too long, or overlooks a fairly serious new threat because of it, that can also be used against it.

This is just one behavior of one unit type in a tactical game, not overall fleet-level behavior for galaxy-spanning one, which would be much more complex. While some memory is vital, if it's too powerful it can become a fixation that causes the AI a different set of problems. Balancing the two is the challenge.

That said, I agree with Munchausen's observations and examples, and also with the essence of Jubala's 27 Nov. post, that some basic memory is important. But properly implementing it could be tough.