🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <BzzpHn.9oE@cs.uiuc.edu>, wang@cs.uiuc.edu (Eric Wang) writes:
Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer
From: wang@cs.uiuc.edu (Eric Wang)
Subject: Re: Empire History (was: Strategy algorithms)
Reply-To: wang@cs.uiuc.edu
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 22:08:11 GMT

>>draper@ais.org (Patrick Draper) writes:
>>So, do you know how the enemy algorithms work? I've always imagined that
>>they were some sort of weighting system, with high risk/threat grid areas
>>getting the lions share of troop allocation.
>
>From considerable empirical evidence, I hypothesize (but it's ONLY a
>guess) that WGB's Interstel Empire's computer opponents are
>reductionistic "peephole" automata that react to their immediate
>surroundings according to hard-coded response tables that are written to
>maximize local "combat results" (in terms of city-turns of production
>(CTP) killed versus CTP risked), with only the most rudimentary levels
>of higher-order behavior, such as "look-ahead", communication,
>co-operation, co-ordination, etc.
>... <stuff deleted>

	At first I shyed away from following up Patrick's question
as I realized how much about the program's internals I've forgotten.
But your hypothesis brought a bunch of it back... you're basically correct.
The game had some rudimentary goals for each type of piece and would
interatively execute them each turn.   It did remember where it last saw
you and would head there.

	Once you realized that, the best Empire strategy consists of a
diversion/feint attack.  Land a beachhead, attract attention, then hit
him from the other side.

	It was fun when you knew the debug code to see the enemy positions
to watch ships get trapped in rivers blocking each other and bumping around.

>Still dreaming about an open-architecture Empire that allows us to write
>our own plug-and-play computer opponents ...

>Eric Wang
>wang@cs.uiuc.edu
	
	I view this as the logical forward evolution of Empire gaming.
There should be an Empire game server which is the Moderator of the
rules and keeper of the proper blind game state, and plug in network players
with AI's for opponents.   This would allow the AI's to be updated
independently.  AND the Player Client modules could be updated to provide
better player tracking and order tools.

	.... well I could ramble (and have) on Empire design for much too
long....  FWIW:
	Dave (ELROND::EMPIRE)