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Author Topic:   A SMAC bot?

nydam posted 07-15-99 12:33 PM ET
Ok, everyone agrees that the AI is, shall we say, less than intelligent. Therefore, I was wondering if there might be a way around this. Specifically, would it be possible to create a bot player that would run through the PBEM or network hooks that already exist? This would then mean two implimentation hurdles:
1) Is it possible to grab the appropriate info from the network or PBEM files and then return the info in the correct form?
2) How difficult would it be to construct the decision rules/AI/whatever-you-want-to-call-it to make the bot player (likely tuned to one faction) at least better than the existing computer players?
Any comments?
LoD posted 07-15-99 01:01 PM ET
1)It's probably encrypted to prevent cheating...
2)I have very little experience in making AIs (so far my biggest accomplishment is one for tic-tac-toe ), but I can tell you that it's ****ing hard to make one, especially for a complex game like SMAC. That explains why the "commercial" AI in Alpha is so easily beatable. I'd imagine that a group of real SMACoholics who are also great programers has to be gathered.
LoD
LoD posted 07-15-99 01:33 PM ET
Again, this is all MVHO.
LoD
JayPegg posted 07-15-99 05:21 PM ET
tried to make AI for Smac once, gave up after 24 straight hours.
my best ai programs are for AOE, which I have made some bad-*** ai's that have no remorse at all.
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Author	Topic: A SMAC bot?
nydam	posted 07-15-99 12:33 PM ET Ok, everyone agrees that the AI is, shall we say, less than intelligent. Therefore, I was wondering if there might be a way around this. Specifically, would it be possible to create a bot player that would run through the PBEM or network hooks that already exist? This would then mean two implimentation hurdles: 1) Is it possible to grab the appropriate info from the network or PBEM files and then return the info in the correct form? 2) How difficult would it be to construct the decision rules/AI/whatever-you-want-to-call-it to make the bot player (likely tuned to one faction) at least better than the existing computer players? Any comments?
LoD	posted 07-15-99 01:01 PM ET 1)It's probably encrypted to prevent cheating... 2)I have very little experience in making AIs (so far my biggest accomplishment is one for tic-tac-toe ), but I can tell you that it's ****ing hard to make one, especially for a complex game like SMAC. That explains why the "commercial" AI in Alpha is so easily beatable. I'd imagine that a group of real SMACoholics who are also great programers has to be gathered. LoD
LoD	posted 07-15-99 01:33 PM ET Again, this is all MVHO. LoD
JayPegg	posted 07-15-99 05:21 PM ET tried to make AI for Smac once, gave up after 24 straight hours. my best ai programs are for AOE, which I have made some bad-*** ai's that have no remorse at all.