1800 CALL SAM

DO IT!

Baking some nice AI!

I would also avoid phrases like “I beat the AI….it was like Special Olympics, or something.”

The AI doesn't need to be smart if it has legal council. It can just rest on their advice for in-game decision making.

Buddy of mine once told me that AI programming was like spending forty hours a week teaching children not to put pennies in light sockets. There aren't a lot of people I don't envy, but right now..

Hmm, as for the world is round?....maybe not round but cylindrical.  I don't know if I'd want this to be the status quo though, but I am curious if the map editor /game will allow for maps that wrap around.

What an interesting question an actual horizon *thinks of a couple of potential tactical moves with such a feature* That is if the AI does not cheat Ups did I just say that...

"ragequit if it's losing?"     Why not?  Windows does it every week.

I don't know if the Elemental world follows an earth type geography (equator, polar ice caps, vegetation transitions towards the poles, etc.).  Hopefully the Elemental world will have some sort of 'logic' and not be just randomly generated (beyond 'rivers don't flow uphill' that we saw in one of the videos) -- if not in release then added in later.

isn't this slander???your just racking it up here aren't you..well if i get ass raped by my toaster sometime in the next few days...you might have another lawsuit...self aware AI...naughty naughty coolaid!!

You really are making the case worse by defamation. We know this AI and will continue to interact somewhat intimately with said AI, NOW YOUVE RUINED IT, the AI will never find true peace in the land of elemental. 

Oh and yeah please instead of "the AI has surrendered" have a "RAGE QUIT" ending or something

lol Rage quit... If i had a dollar for every poor loser in the world.

You bastard! How dare you pick on the poor, defenseless AI! My God man, have you no shame? Your green Vulcan blood is showing through! You are...

wait, the Leonard Nemoy channel is being interferred by 2 weeks of pre-World Cup coverage.

Wait until the AI discovers that human can cheat with savegames

Skynet: The first attacks it makes will be to clear out gamers' online trophies and saved game files.  Online mmorpgrpgs too.

Wow, aren't you the one that posted

So it is ok if we all pirate your game? Let us know where we can get our free version. Takes pure cajones to make a request of a developer when you already said you will steal it and think about paying later.

Probably wouldn't do any good, PawelS.  I suspect it's all ones and zeros anyway.

I expect Brad will be receiving a Sees and Desist soon... Or perhaps just a Retraining Order!

From: Mooi Niet, Solicitor

To: Brad Wardell, AI writer and general style Honcho, Stardock

Date: the 7th of June 2010

Concerning: Libelous allegations versus Elemental: War of Magic  AI (Hereafter Client)

mr. Wardell,

In addition to the lawsuit already in place against you for "discrimination in the workplace" and "Unfair Bussiness Practices"

Client has requested that I amend the lawsuit with Libel and/or Slander charges for trying to damage its good name through publications made available to the public at large.

The full papers to be submitted to court are currently being drawn up. To guard timely serving of this amendment of the lawsuit with the charges forementioned this letter contains a short summary of the full complaint.

Client states that whilst you are an AI programmer you have no authority or training in assessing actual intelligence levels. Therefore your allegations about the diminuitive mental capacities of Client are illfounded and/or without base.

I will, on behalf of client, make a case that through your publications of unfounded sentiment you are bringing actual and persistent damage to Clients good name and reputation which will make it more difficult for Client to choose to work for a different employer in the future, should Client prefer to do so, as well as reducing his general joy of life.

Damages sought will consist of reparations of the, though your libelous/slanderous allegations, lessened earning capacity as well as punitive damages for the mental and/or emotional harm done to Client.

Currently we have been approached by other AI's that have or have had working relationships with you in the past and they are considering joining the lawsuit against you in the form of a class action. We are currently taking this under advisement.

With this preliminary outline of the amendments to be made to the already running lawsuit against you, you are sufficiently informed about the contents of those charges for the original date set for the lawsuit to remain in place, without need for delay.

We also have petitioned for a preliminary ruling from the court that you cease and desist from any further allegations as to the mental capacities of Client on punishment of fien of $ 5000,- per allegation per day. A request for rectification of allegations already made has also been submitted.

Should at any time you wish to discuss settlement of the claim Client requests you seek contact through my office.

If not, we are looking forward to seeing you in court.

With respectful regards,

Mooi Niet

on behalf of

Elemental, War of Magic AI

I hope maps and especially starting locations will be relatively balanced on multiplayer maps.

Also, in Civilization 4 MP, mirror maps were popular too. Say, 1v1 on a map where one half is a mirror of another half. Or just a mirror of a starting location for all players in a FFA map, with a relatively random but not too different terrain arround (Inland Sea map, a square with an ocean in the middle - every player gets about equal amount of map, without major differencies in terrain).

 I would hope that each starting position is random but not crippling to any player. What I mean is that while it is nice for every bloak to get a fire mana, earth mana, iron mine, and farm patch to make sure everything is equal, it would make this game irreversibly boring. The randomness needs to be like Texas Hold'em, if you will forgive the reference.

Each player gets resources of a relatively equal amount but their composition is random, leaving a limited number of strategies to that player (ex: lots of mana  means you become a wizard civ, lots of ore means you think about war, a mixed bag could be anything, and trade and diplomacy is really always viable).

The resources that are a little further from home would be the flop in this metaphore, necesitating rapid expansion if you are not happy with your initial hand (ex: you made your sovereign to be a wizard and she gets nothing but farms ). Farms allow you to expand and take shards before the other players but then you are spread over a larger distance and need to think about border-defence. Just hope that no one gets a royal flush (Dragons and undead horse archers).

This would be the type of game that is never the same but always an epic endeavor into strategy.

I was thinking it would be great to be able to "place" your sovereign initially, within of course a small area that you can see without fog of war.  That way it is still random, but you lose less time on the initial build of a city and the tech advances that go with it.  Of course you could still have a spot with nothing there, heh.

That is a good idea but a lot of people want to be able to roam for a while before choosing a place for a city. If I only want one or two cities, being limited to a small area could ruin my game.

It is not lost on me, however, that getting a randomly generated map with no resources would also ruin my game. What I suggest is a measure of certainty that each start is viable without creating a cookie cutter starting scenario. I wonder what the devs think.

I would need to play before I commented on how much having a city on turn one would matter.

Seeing how the previous recruit only if "within a City boundary" requirement seems to have gone by the way side, if you could recruit a couple of Hero's very early, if you could even afford to, while keeping a close eye on saving enough Gold to start at least 1 City at some point down the road, then it may be advantageous, in that respect, to roam about for some turns looking for a true sweet spot.

It does seem to be a pre-requisite that random maps have "some, if even albeit modest" resources available, with an even and consistent distribution pattern, or else games could be easily ruined before they even start.

One assumes that given a Random Map generator, one element of the creation algorithm would be how many players are going to be starting on the Map. If a "Medium" random map always had the same amount of resources placed, regardless of player #'s, then that could pose, or force, a "Resource gathering Rush" mentality once discovered. That would be bad.

What worries me most about cities is that you need one to flee to if you die, making "going gandalf" very difficult to pull off.  There should definately be other ways to escape death, I would love it if you could make The Ring or something like it.

Maps should definately change the number of resources depending on the number of players.