SE5, Tell Aaron what's on your Wish List

[Fyron]

For research, go look at how SE3 did it (there is a free shareware download available). That system would be the best to use.

[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!

[Fyron]

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.

This is the point of a PBEM game.

*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.

This is already handled through text files, which is much better than a dll, because anyone can edit text files. Dll's require some more knowledge of programming code.

[ February 23, 2003, 01:20: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[Mephisto]

But the point is, that you can directly alter the way the AI does things in the game. At the moment, you can just adjust some values but cannot alter AI behaviour. For example, the AI will at the moment only scrap atmospheric converters after they have done the job. What Samurai is suggesting is, that if you don't like it, you write your own routines to teach the AI how to scrap different building and under what conditions. In effect it would allow you to write your own AI. I personally would love it and it has been suggested in the beta forums to Aaron. I hope he will implement it, even some simple if...then conditions would be of great help.

[Gryphin]

This was discussed months and months ago:
The other "programing" ability I would like is commands for a ship. For example:
Go to < System Name > Cordinates
Do < Action >
Go to < System Name > Cordinates
Do < Action >
It would be a bonus if there could be conditional aspects to it as well.

[Andrés]

I like the idea of allowing plugins.
I wouldn't be able to write them, and the primary way to make mods should still be editing txt files, but there seem to be a lot of programers among the players.
External plugins to add some function or improve some AI behavior would be great.

We all want SE3 like research!
(will this make AI research harder to mod?)

I also want se3 like construc/repair queues!
and my multy SY bases!
and a construction system that resembles more SE3

The ability to save initial setup to start another game with the same settings and to save during a simultaneous game turn.

Editable damage types! Choose if they skip shields, if they target, skip or do some % more/less damage to a specific family/ies of components ect.

Ground combat could resemble space combat in SE4 (space combat should of course be in 3d space, but the surface of a planet can be asumed to be flat). Just change the space background with some ground background, give move points to troops.

Orbiting planets.
Orders should be move to this planet, since actual coordinates of the planet will change during its year.

Researchable domes!
Early in the game you can only colonize planets of your type and atmosphere, later you can research a dome for every other atmosphere, there can even be several levels of domes getting cheaper and allowing more space.
You should allways need a dome in a planet of a diferent type.

Supplies of all types can be transfered between ships like cargo, and delivering supplies is an important part of an empire's strategy.
There are several types of supplies, generating supplies has a cost, and that cost is the manteinance cost of your ship.
EG even if a ship has a QR, an endless supply of energy it will still need other supply types, such as "ammo", or "spare parts".

Another thing from the SE4-planning days: Techs with "ors" and maybe even "nots" as well as "ands" in their prerequisites - so maybe you need either Particle Physics or Wave Mechanics to get EM Radar (I seem to recall posting a similar example a few years ago when SE4 was in development ), or you can either research The Light Side Of The Force or The Dark Side Of The Force, but once you research one, you can't get the other!

I really like this, this would allow for more complex tech trees.
But if you want to be realistic with the SW example, while you're researching "the light side", "the dark side" will allways be there tempting you with cool looking easy to get stuff, but as soon as you star researching it, you'll be unable to use all you had researched in "the light side". But even then you should be able to return to the path of light by reffusing to use dark side items and researching the light side.

Messages such as "the star will explode in 3 years" should be followed by a countdown.

What if the game would actually remember enemies seen in systems you no longer have presence, old Messages, and almost anything players may need to remember and are usully to lazy to take notes.

The abilty to randomize some of the traits of a race at the start of a game so when you do run into them you would not know what they would be like from memory.

The solution to this problem is having enough races so everytime you play they are not the same old friends and enemies but someoun you hardly know.

I would love to be able to move a window

I would like the enter key to close a window
I would like the Tab key to move between fields, (I think it does this)
I would like to be able to save "New Game Settings" up to and including the AI I have chosen.
The settings should the races, pt values, type of quadrant, game mechanics, etc... It should not include the name of the game.
That was suggested by someone long ago. It is a matter of conveinance. It makes things a lot easier.

Sounds like you're saying I want windows standard GUI like SE3.
But yeah a game like this should be almost fully playable only using the keyboard.

[tesco samoa]

Turn Based games are still available...

[Gryphin]

Andrés Lescano,
Laughing at myself.
I never thought of choosing other AIs to get the unknown. I usualy choose an AI based on the ship set.
Thanks for the wakeup call.

[Chronon]

One thing I would like to see is the ability to retreat from space combat - especially if your ships are faster. It's frustrating that your three light cruisers cannot escape from a sector when confronted by a fleet of ten dreadnoughts.

I realize this would add a whole level of fleet and ship orders in simultaneous games (always retreat, stand and fight, retreat at 20% losses, etc.), but I think it would alleviate the two fleets enter, one fleet leaves (almost completely intact) aspect of space combat, and make smaller ships more valuable. It would also allow support ships a much greater survival rate.

[Andrés]

SE5 needs a better icon, why is SE4 icon an SE3-like star?