A thought on space TBS game AI

[VetLegion]

I have tried many space based TBS games, including MoO, MoO II, MoO III, GalCiv and Space Empires IV. They never hooked me the same way land based games like Civ did, probably due to the history anchor that I like and the space TBS don't have. I consider original MoO and last GalCiv the best.

Anyway, in each of those games, it struck me that the AI seemed to perform much better than in land based games. My explanation was that the cause for that is mostly in straightforward pathfinding in space based games. I assume that having AI "understand" the map layout is extremely difficult, and that space does away with this huge obstacle.

[Lemmy]

I agree, i think in general it has to do with pattern recognition.
Humans are specialized in that, one of the advantages of having a neural net as a brain i suppose. For computers and traditional algorithms however this is near impossible to simulate.

For example if you show a Civ player a 10x10 map with several unique terrain features, he can almost instantly point out good locations to found a city, where to position units, what the bottlenecks are, which tiles to work/improve first etc. Try doing this with a computer and you run into all sorts of difficulty. Doesn't mean there aren't ways to compute and approximate this. I find the Civ4 city suggestions quite good for example...however there are too many variables to come up with a suggestion that i'd always agree with, and the weight of each variable too often depends on my own bias rather than some logical mathematical equation.

For space-based games this is simplified to only having a finite number of possible colony locations. The space-based AI does not have to look for possible colony locations, it only has to grade them, which is much much easier than identifying them on a map.

Another factor is that, ignoring other players for a moment, the order in which you colonize doesn't matter for space-based games. Settling on planet A will not affect your ability to settle on planet B. For a landbased map however...after the AI has calculated locations A and B as potential city locations, you might find that they are in each other's range. Settling on A might eliminate location B as a possible city location. Then you might want to have a location C, to cover the remaining area of A or B depending on which you chose. All of a sudden, the value of C depends on whether you settle A or B, and the value of A and B depends on the location of C. Choosing your locations becomes a trade-off, depending on many factors...another thing humans are great at doing.

[Spearthrower]

I think that really is a key point too..... the AI doesnt have to consider WHERE to colonise, just WHICH to. A far simpler decision.