ORIGINAL: ralphtrick
Looking ahead as in chess/go isn't practical, the number of possible moves is almost infinite. TOAW is more like Go, and the computer can't play a really good game there yet. It is possible to have Elmer look at the situation and pick which objective track to follow, or even to pick his own depending on chokepoints, relative strengths and other criteria. It's also possible to save the history of past rounds and games and compare them to the current situation.
I've got a lot of thoughts about what I want to do with Elmer, we'll see what time I have, and what ideas work out in real life.<g>
I'd like to repeat here some comments I made in the War in the Pacific/Admiral's Edition Forum:
Heck, I'd be willing to wait overnight or even days for the AI to do its thinking.
If AI effectiveness is proportional to the time we allow it, give it more time!
How about something like this?
Give the computer more time?
[ ] No, use the default time [60 seconds? 5 minutes?]
[ ] Yes, give it 10 minutes.
[ ] Yes, give it one hour.
[ ] Yes, give it <fill in the blank> hours.
[ ] Give it unlimited time until I [the player] press the Stop button.
[ ] [any other option suggestions?]
Make this a pre-game selection, or even a turn-by-turn selection (see below).
For a game of this scope and complexity, If I the human player might take hours to plan and execute my turn, I'd think it only fair to give the AI equal time consideration.
If we're talking about a game that might take months and even years to complete, what's a few hundred extra hours among "friends" (you and your AI opponent), especialy if those extra hours you are (a) sleeping, (b) at work, (c) playing some other computer game, (d) whatever.
I could see playing in the following manner: I commit to playing one turn at a time, then giving the computer indefinite time--at least overnight, days if I get distracted and have to move on to other things (including playing other games)--to plan and "think" through its response. Distracting time off between moves would even be a virtue. It I knew that the longer I wait, the better the AI move might be, I'd not fret over my time away from the game. In fact, variable AI time between moves might have the added advantage: For complicated situations and important turning points in the war, give it full time consideration. At other times, when there is little for the AI to do, give it as little time as your experience and/or impatience to "get on with it" deem necessary.
For the life of me, I can't fathom why game designers try to make their games, and their AI, fit one mold. Break the mold! Give the players a choice! If enabling a competitive AI is a matter of giving it more time to think, let us the human players decide for ourselves the limits of our (im)patience. These games allow us, the human players, to set all sorts of optional rules going in. Why not give us as many AI options (particularly PO time to think), too?
Variable, human player directed AI time!
Where it makes sense, and where it is implementable in future versions of TOAW, please give the AI more time to "think" according to our, the players', choosing.
