pluggable AI

[poochiereds]

One thing that would give Defcon some possible longevity would be a way to plug in replacement AI. I could see people coding up AI that would change alliances, etc...

[courier]

Oh my yes, I would be all over that. Adding a few more flavors of AI would make the single-player game less predictable and more replayable, a big advantage to those of us whose slow reflexes and preferences for real-time make us annoying players online or whose schedules demand pausable games (or saveable and reloadable? But that's a different dream...), and so prefer single-player.

A contest for user-generated AIs would also be a delight.

[deadbeef]

I was going to post the same request

that would be awesome IMHO

[Mighty Santa]

Name suggestions for Advanced AI.

Devious [CPU]
Sick and Twisted [CPU]
Backstabber [CPU]

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I would hope a few more AIs can be implemented as standard.

[TheDan]

Pluggable AI would be a nice add-on for us potential modders with more coding skills than graphical ones

We could even play them off against eachother to see who can write the best defcon AI

[wwarnick]

Great idea. However, I think that not only should there be pluggable AI for modders, but I think IV should create some "built-in" AI personalities with this system, such as the extra defensive player, and the reckless offensive player. Or even the loyal player vs. the backstabber (and actually think before voting instead of always abstaining). This would reduce AI exploits dramatically as you'd never be able to predict what they'd do in any particular situation.

wwarnick

[MegaDeathKill!]

Hi all! I'm new to this forum and I'm delighted to see that the community hasn't given up on singleplayer. I'm currently saddled with BT Option 1 (5gb monthly limit) so multiplayer is a no-go for me at the moment. How likely is it that some decent AI could be made? Would it even be possible, I hope so as it would make the game so much better if the CPU was less predictable and acted more like the CPU in good Chess games, where you can't read their next move all the time.

[PSBirch]

Name suggestions for Advanced AI.

Devious [CPU]
Sick and Twisted [CPU]
Backstabber [CPU]

---
I would hope a few more AIs can be implemented as standard.

Conservative [CPU] <-- esp for Survivor / Diplomacy games
Opportunist [CPU] <-- attacks undefended spots with zeal
Balancer [CPU] <-- defends highest concentration of population
Zealot [CPU] <-- ruthless against anyone who harms their population

[torq]

The best choice would be an open script based AI. This way everybody willing may add some twists in the AI's personality and thus making it unique.
It would be great to arrange AI tournament to see which one is the best

The major drawback that I see in this idea that not many would be able to actually script something that would play better than the current AI
And scripting itself requires skills that are unavalable for many people.

[bert_the_turtle]

Unfortunately, the AI code is currently executed on the client; which means that AI scripts would need to be distributed to all clients in a game and executed there, which means the scripts need to be sandboxed for security and be 100% portable. Running the AI on only one of the clients is no real option; it heightens the risk of sock puppet AIs that one player uses to flatten enemy installations so he can go for the people.
I know you're talking about the single player mode only, but the architecture is multiplayer, and anything that works in singleplayer mode should also work in multiplayer mode or there's a stream of questions like "WTF? WHY CANT I GET BTTR CPU PLAYRS IN MULTYPLR GAMS?"

[torq]

Unfortunately, the AI code is currently executed on the client; which means that AI scripts would need to be distributed to all clients in a game and executed

Why? Let it just issue regular commands and that's all.

Running the AI on only one of the clients is no real option; it heightens the risk of sock puppet AIs that one player uses to flatten enemy installations so he can go for the people.

You know, writing a sock puppet AI script is many times harder than writing the normal one. And any AI, no matter how tough, would never be equal to humans, so put your mind at rest. The script language itself can bar any attempts to cheat with them. Say there wouldn't be ways of knowing which player plays for which continent.

I know you're talking about the single player mode only, but the architecture is multiplayer, and anything that works in singleplayer mode should also work in multiplayer mode or there's a stream of questions like "WTF? WHY CANT I GET BTTR CPU PLAYRS IN MULTYPLR GAMS?"

No, I'm talking about AI's championship Who will create a kickass AI

[prophile]

Integrate scripting in some language (say Lua), have a dropdown of possible AI types, and allow them to be added via mods. If people want a different AI type, everyone has to have that mod.

[KingAl]

And any AI, no matter how tough, would never be equal to humans, so put your mind at rest.

Generalising much?

[torq]

And any AI, no matter how tough, would never be equal to humans, so put your mind at rest.

Generalising much?

I mean human, not the mouse clicker

[KingAl]

Nevertheless. It's probably true that any AI someone coded for Defcon wouldn't be better than all humans, but that doesn't mean it isn't theoretically possible for an AI to do better. It all depends on how narrowly you define AI, really.