Vacation bound

Gone for nearly three weeks!

from JoeUser Forums

Tomorrow I'm off to Texas for 9 days. Then I come back and I'm off to Redmond Washington for meetings with some software company there for a week.

I heard someone on JoeUser say that only people from Texas would go to Texas on vacation. Well, okay, yes, I'm from Texas. And I'm going to Dallas to visit friends and then to the gulf of mexico.  But it's warm, it's sunny, and I'll get to spend some much needed time with the wife and kids.

It's been a real adventure since this past November.  We got WindowBlinds 5 out in November and then at the very end of February we released Galactic Civilizations II.  I won't deny that it's been a lot of work.  Between Thanksgiving and mid March I had worked every day (including Christmas) to make sure things got taken care of.  So it'll be nice to get away from the computer and such for a couple weeks.

We just released Galactic Civilizations II v1.1 yesterday and things seem to be going pretty well.  It's just as well that I'm going because I've already thought of some new things for the AI that I think could make a difference in how it plays.  And the engine team got my new option in -- "Allow AI to use extra CPU time" that people who are willing to wait (or have really powerful CPUs) can set the AI to use algorithms that are more time intensive. 

I don't think most people sit and and realize the restrictions on writing computer AI code is.  You can't do things like do a for loop of all the tiles that are uncovered by the FOW that a ship might travel on in its turn or the following several turns along with nearby tiles to see what might happen. Each ship has to decide its move in less than a milisecond. Each planet has about a milisecond to decide what it's going to build.  And this is on typical hardware mind you, not state of the art machines. The trick to writing good computer AI isn't just sittin gthere putting together clever algorithms, it's also being able to create algorithms that do their thing without using much time.

For example, one of the most intensive things that the AI does is design ships. Part of that reason has to do with the actual graphical assemblage which I don't fully understand what's involved on that part.  But I only allow the AI to design ships once per year right now. If I tweaked it to even 3 times a year I think you'd notice a significant difference, especially early on when human players have better ships because in 2226 the human player has gotten plasma weapons and the AI is still running around with laser 1 or something when it has actually researched Plasma weapons as well.  But I digress.

I've really had a lot of fun these past few months. There's not a real good business justification to be working on AI tweaks on weekends and such, but that's not what it's about.  It's about making cool stuff. If I weren't doing this on GalCiv II, I'd be modding some other game and at least in GalCiv's case, I have the source code. ;)

One of the real bright points of my day was the arrival of some really thoughtful goodies from Texas Wahine, a blogger on JoeUser.com. She and my wife are on-line friends and she's a really nice person. She lives in Hawaii and sent some really neat Hawaiian stuff. Thank you very much TW if you see this.

But that's the whole thing about on-line communities, I love them. You meet such great and interesting people. A lot of companies don't actually have their own forums and such. I think they miss out.  Even though I get flamed dozens of times per day (one irate user emailed me about the "Unpleasant like northern Michigan" joke that I put in the user manual, she didn't find it funny at all), it's still worth it to talk to people and hear their ideas.

So anyway, hopefully no one will burn down the place while I'm gone <g>. I will be pretty much off the grid. Hope you have a great couple weeks. When I get back, we've got new DesktopX builds, Galactic Civilizations 1.2, Multiplicity 1.1, a new IconDeveloper, SoundPackager, and a bunch of other stuff on the schedule to get out in a short amount of time.  And I have to start arranging interviews for game developers to work on Society.

Cya! !FROGCARE!  (Draginol/Frogboy)

66,529 views 53 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top

I just wanted to add "Thanks TW!!"  That was sooo sweet and thoughtful!  The boys love their tiki guys.  I love the hula doll and the adorable hawaiian outfit for Ashley! 

Maybe I can collect something from your home state for you this week and try to find something from MI you might like. 

Thank you!!!!

Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Have a safe, fun trip.
TouchTasks - Access tasks with ease on Windows touchscreens.
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Some software company in Redmond, Washington? I take it you're talking about Veritas or Avaya, right?
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have a feeling we are going to miss you...

Enjoy. You deffo deserve it. Along with your entire team!
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
I hope you have a great time, and it sounds like you deserve the break!
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Texas is the best state
Dallas is the best of that

Weather has been cool so its the perfect time to be in Dallas.
Enjoy your vacation and forget about the demanding users for a while.
Of course, we expect you to work twice as hard when you get back

You definitely deserve the break.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Enjoy it. No one would blame you if you took longer
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ye Gods ... 6 months without a day off!

Have a good time! And no sneaking peeks in the forums when you are on vacation!

PS - Where DOES the name 'Frogboy' come from????????????

Dano
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
But I only allow the AI to design ships once per year right now.

Oh my god. This explains a lot.

Please, add an "Intesive AI" option that would allow the AIs to do things like upgrade ship designs whenever a relevant tech is researched. I respect the desire to make the game accessible to people with older machines. At the same time, I don't think I'm entirely alone in my willingness to spend more time waiting in exchange for a, well, less crippled AI. Having to restrict it like this must frustrate you as the designer, too... right?

Well, enjoy the sun!
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Have a good trip.
Tell the executives I say you earned your bonus this year.

tx for all the fun
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top
Like they say here, BON VOYAGE!

And enjoy the sun
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi Brad/Frogboy, out of interest (hope you havn't gone quite yet) if u save and reload a game will it update the AI's ship designs at that point? Hopefully in future patch AI will redesign their ships at least every quarter.

The Terrans still havn't researched a single propulsion tech in my beta 4a game after 3 1/2 years no tech trading, hope this is freak occurance.

enjoy your well deserved vacation,


Lenius.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I would not want the AI to design ships every time a tech gets researched. If your at a point where your getting a new weapon or def tech every few turns, it would probably be cripplingly slow.

Now, I dont know if this refers to deciding to aesthetic elements of ship design or it it refers to actually choosing the load of weapons, defenses, sensors, life support, and the like.

Having said that, I can see how this turns into a non trivial problem. The only obvious time to re-examine your ship designs are when you get a new hull size, or new miniturization tech. You would also need to decide if you need to change gears with respect to weapon or def choices due to opposing ships getting too good at killing your own ships. And then you have to decide just how many new types of ships to create or update.

I would assume that there is already plenty of clever tricks going on for this sort of thing, like running some evaluation functions in a low priority background thread on the players turn.

Also keep in mind that if this is a slow function to run, that early game when you have all major civs plus some minor civs, your not running that function just once per year. If you kicked up the frequency, your doing this for every civ.

END COMMUNICATION
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
And the engine team got my new option in -- "Allow AI to use extra CPU time" that people who are willing to wait (or have really powerful CPUs) can set the AI to use algorithms that are more time intensive.

Shouldn't it be possible to have the AI design new ships every time he research a new ship component. I know that I would be willing to wait for that.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Completly agree with ignuss as long as I dont have to wait 5 mins per turn for example. 1st year is prob biggest problem this is why the AI keeps producing speed 2 colony ships i assume. This is BIG problem if the AI is going to have a hope of winning v decent human opp.

Adjustable CPU thing would be fantastic!!!!!!!

Lenius.
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Enjoy your stay!

We'll try to behave and wait with our complaints until you're back.
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Vacation

You deserve it.

Thank you for your dedication to your customers and your craft.
Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
Texas Roolz!

Get some rest, have some fun, and try to find a way to turn your brain off for a while. I understand tequila works wonderfully in this regard.
Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top
Have a great time!
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Have a happy Vacation, and thanks for a great game.

And now i understand why the AI have so crappy ships, I wold really want a option to enable more cpu time for the AI. I got no problems with waiting time at all, and a AI with better ships (atlest using latest weapon and propulation tec).

I always tend lag behind the AI until the first wars then i beat em easy. (playing on crippling dif)
Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
This is a turn based game, not real time, and even though I play on an older machine, Celeron 2.0, I would not mind waiting a minute for the AI to do it's thing each turn. Right now there is very little wait time between turns, the longest wait time is when I get the eyes of the universe, and the graphics have to up date with each move of a ship, and with many fleets of ships moving, both mine and the enemy, it is very slow.
Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It's always nice to take a good vacation after a monster project. You certainly deserve it. Just for giggles though maybe let us know how long you managed to last before you were looking for a comp to jot down a *few notes on the AI* .

Seriously have a safe and fun trip
Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Between Thanksgiving and mid March I had worked every day (including Christmas) to make sure things got taken care of. So it'll be nice to get away from the computer and such for a couple weeks.

Enjoy your well deserved break!

It's just as well that I'm going because I've already thought of some new things for the AI that I think could make a difference in how it plays. And the engine team got my new option in -- "Allow AI to use extra CPU time" that people who are willing to wait (or have really powerful CPUs) can set the AI to use algorithms that are more time intensive.

I would be in favor for giving the AI more CPU time if it meant it would play smarter! Although I think there are improvement that can be made that would not require extra resources.
(1) In v1.1 the AI places more value on speed which is good but it also needs to place more value on sensors. The player who builds "Eyes of the Universe" has a large advantage over the others!
(2) Choosing alignment "Neutral" and building "Neutrality Learning Centers" allows you to greatly accelerate your research! On difficulty level Tough I easily out research the AIs even without NLCs because the AI does not allocate enough spending to research.

For example, one of the most intensive things that the AI does is design ships. Part of that reason has to do with the actual graphical assemblage which I don't fully understand what's involved on that part. But I only allow the AI to design ships once per year right now. If I tweaked it to even 3 times a year I think you'd notice a significant difference, especially early on when human players have better ships because in 2226 the human player has gotten plasma weapons and the AI is still running around with laser 1 or something when it has actually researched Plasma weapons as well.

How about having it redesign ships on turns where it gains some new tech which impacts the quality of its' ships? Human players import ship designs from past games and then research the techs needed to build those ships. Could the AI not be provided with smart ship designs at the start of the game? When you consider the combinations of weapons and defenses the list could grow very long. Although I build ships unique to each game (usually changing things like ship range), these days I find myself always researching Beam weapons and ignoring defenses (defenses are not needed if your fast fleets strike first and hard and then level up). In the pre-1.0 Beta I focused on Mass Drivers because they then were more effective when you consider size/cost/strength (e.g., Nanno Rippers) and armor was less effective.

p.s. I'll miss your dev journals during your vacation. Enjoy!!!