Re: request for new patch: an ai that can learn
 

There's no real need to support DLLs or provide API or anything else. Publishing .trn and .2h formats would be sufficient. AI can be hooked through existing --preexes/postexec options. Some utility library to read/write in trn/2h format can be written be fans - that will be the easiest part of developing AI http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: request for new patch: an ai that can learn
 

I suspect JK and KO would be less concerned about the lost sales than the headache of a million eyes looking over their collective shoulders as they code. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif It's one thing if you were expecting to open-source it all along; it's another thing to have to justify a thousand little hackish kludges to people who weren't there when you needed to insert them.

Of course, maybe JK is superhuman and never needs to kludge. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

-Max

Re: request for new patch: an ai that can learn
 

Sounds like a great idea! The only problem would be if the .trn files contained any information about other players that you wouldn't know for just normally playing the turn (for example province ownership, army locations, equipment).

If it contains this info, then even before you get people writing AIs, you'll have others writing cheat programs.

Re: request for new patch: an ai that can learn
 

Well, there's also the possibility of the host decoding .2h files and cheating by knowing other's moves. Of course the host already has a ton of ways in which he could cheat.

-Max

Re: request for new patch: an ai that can learn
 

If you could just get the AI to recognise a few very decent starting strategies to get them through Pretender creation and the first turn of the game, and then a very few explicit things definitely *to* do and definitely *not* to do

(EX: *do* recruit independent archers when you can, if you don't have national missle troops, but *don't* recruit independent troops when you can recruit better nationals, *do* forge magic items items to protect your expensive commanders, but *don't* forge those little amulets that turn them into werewolves, unless werewolves are better than what they already are), then you'd have an improved AI

This could be handled with a ranking system-like "spend 100% of gold income on national troops", unless you can recruit missle troops, "spend 95% of gold income on national troops if you can recruit slingers, 90% if you can recruit archers, 85% if you can recruit crystal amazon archers, and 80% if you can recruit longbowmen" limited ofcourse by available resources, just as an example.

You could then give them a list of Pretender builds to choose from and some idea of what to do with them.

Re: request for new patch: an ai that can learn
 

In a way we have that some of that. The "list of pretender builds and some idea of what to do with them". Maps can include a god build and scales. Loading the map with positions, structures, sites, can "lead" the AI in a certain direction. So we can get this if someone wants to build a Scenario map which includes a bigger better Ermor or Rlyeh.

Also the Semi-Random program allows including god builds that can be randomly assigned to AIs when you run it. If we can get enough different good players to do builds for each nation then that can become a great feature. But we need for someone who really FEELS Mictlan to provide some Mictlan builds. And someone who FEELS Ctis to provide Ctis builds. And Caelum, Abyssia, Pangaea, Arcos. Those are all so different that totally random builds just dont do as good a job as if we provided some smart ones.