Editor’s Intro
This is one of the most extensive, detailed, and well-thought-out articles we’ve ever posted at eXplorminate. Some time ago, Delta_V came to us and said that he had long wanted to put his lengthy analysis and thoughts of Master of Orion 1’s AI up for anyone interested to read.
Part thought-piece, part developer insight, it was mostly just an excuse to flex his mental muscles and put his acquired knowledge of the inner-workings of the game’s AI into words, which, unsurprisingly, have applicability to other 4X games in general. The result is a 90-page Google Doc we’ve begun to tease here, but the rest can be found in the link down below. It’s eXtraordinarily well written and very interesting to those of you that have an interest in video game AI processes or are a developer yourself.
Without Further Ado…
AI is one of the main hurdles for anyone willing to create a new 4X game. It’s really hard to figure out how to make the computer follow the gameplay you have in mind.
And the AI isn’t the only thing in the game, there are a lot of other moving parts. How to decide when to stop?
AI is one of the main complaints for anyone willing to talk about 4X games as well. Lower difficulties are usually perceived as unfulfilling and higher difficulties are usually perceived as computer cheating.
In the vast majority of cases, it does cheat indeed.
We begrudgingly accept the AI in 4X as what it is, we wish we had something better and we rarely get it.
Sometimes players and developers even debate what are the goals of the AI at all, stating what they think they want, but, it looks like, not what they really want.
It’s fine. It’s about time to talk about it.
My Assumptions
I’m addressing you as a developer, because, let’s face it, who doesn’t want to design a 4X game? Maybe just those who are elbow-deep in their 4X game.
I also assume you played Master of Orion 1 or Remnants of the Precursors at least a couple of times, so I don’t need to explain how the game works from the player’s point of view. Much smarter people than I spent almost 400 pages on that.
Yup, I’m talking about these 400 pages. I heavily recommend the official “Master of Orion Strategy Guide” by Emrich and Hughes for any deeply interested reader. It is a magnificent work written by people who knew this game back when it was called “Star Lord”.
I’m not sure whether it is permitted to link to it (the paperback is still listed on Amazon?), but it’s quite possible to find it on various archival sites. Kilgore Trout provides a bit of errata for it.
To be continued…
Link to the Rest of this 90-Page Analysis via Google Docs
Delta V is extraordinarily well-informed in the ways of some of our favorite 4X games. You’ve probably seen him around many different 4X and strategy game forums.