First off, congrats on the great mod. I've been on an extended break from Civ4 and this may be the one that gets me back into it.
But I wanted to ask a question about the potential of this mod to deliver a SP experience above and beyond what we've all come to expect. Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but I've had the idea in my head for a long time and Better AI is the closest I've seen to it becoming a reality.
What I'm talking about is having truly unique AI's that act according to their own set of rules depending on their leader. Basically, every AI is a roleplayer. The goal here is to make the course of a game more historically flavored and epic, and to have the AI trigger world-changing events without relying on the human player for incentive. Each AI would play with a distinct style in all aspects of empire management, diplomacy, and war.
To illustrate what I'm getting at, here are some sample personalities:
Gandhi loves peace and freedom. He will never declare war or enter a defensive pact, and maintains a minimal military. He will defend himself but will not send units into enemy territory, unless he is attempting to recapture a city that belonged to him or one of his allies. If he recaptures a city belonging to an ally, he will liberate it immediately. He will come to the aid of weaker nations being picked on by stronger nations by donating money, tech, and units. He will attempt to hinder the efforts of overly agressive or imperialistic nations by negotiating trade embargos and asking for peace on behalf of the oppressed. He tends to have high population cities with high culture. His preferred methods of victory are diplomatic and cultural.
Napoleon is imperialistic and agressive. He will constantly attempt to increase the amount of territory under his control. He will maintain a large standing army and will attack weaker neighbors. He will make demands for cities and technology. He prefers to keep cities that he captures in order to expand his territory. He will not give back cities that he conquers, even if they belonged to one of his allies. His preferred method of victory is domination.
Genghis Khan is agressive and ruthless. He will build massive armies and attack other nations. He cares little for keeping enemy cities, however, and will raze them if they are of no military value. He tends to have many small cities instead of a few well developed ones. His preferred method of victory is conquest.
Roosevelt is honorable and reserved. He will not declare war unless directly attacked, but if he is at war he will accept nothing less than unconditional surrender. He will aid his allies overtly if they are in need by donating money, tech, and units, and negotiating embargos and alliances. If he defeats an enemy in a war, he will give back any cities that originally belonged to them if they are of no strategic importance or too far away, but may occupy for a little while. He will liberate the cities of his allies after the war is over as well. He tends to have a strong economy with high commerce, research, and production. His preferred methods of victory are diplomatic and space race.
And so on. I don't know about you guys, but I feel that playing against AI's with personalities would go a long way to spicing up the SP experience. And since this mod has proven it can handle goal-directed AI (for example, aiming for a cultural victory), it seems like a natural extension to have specialized AI.
Is this something people would enjoy? And if so, do you guys think Better AI has the potential to do this?
But I wanted to ask a question about the potential of this mod to deliver a SP experience above and beyond what we've all come to expect. Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but I've had the idea in my head for a long time and Better AI is the closest I've seen to it becoming a reality.
What I'm talking about is having truly unique AI's that act according to their own set of rules depending on their leader. Basically, every AI is a roleplayer. The goal here is to make the course of a game more historically flavored and epic, and to have the AI trigger world-changing events without relying on the human player for incentive. Each AI would play with a distinct style in all aspects of empire management, diplomacy, and war.
To illustrate what I'm getting at, here are some sample personalities:
Gandhi loves peace and freedom. He will never declare war or enter a defensive pact, and maintains a minimal military. He will defend himself but will not send units into enemy territory, unless he is attempting to recapture a city that belonged to him or one of his allies. If he recaptures a city belonging to an ally, he will liberate it immediately. He will come to the aid of weaker nations being picked on by stronger nations by donating money, tech, and units. He will attempt to hinder the efforts of overly agressive or imperialistic nations by negotiating trade embargos and asking for peace on behalf of the oppressed. He tends to have high population cities with high culture. His preferred methods of victory are diplomatic and cultural.
Napoleon is imperialistic and agressive. He will constantly attempt to increase the amount of territory under his control. He will maintain a large standing army and will attack weaker neighbors. He will make demands for cities and technology. He prefers to keep cities that he captures in order to expand his territory. He will not give back cities that he conquers, even if they belonged to one of his allies. His preferred method of victory is domination.
Genghis Khan is agressive and ruthless. He will build massive armies and attack other nations. He cares little for keeping enemy cities, however, and will raze them if they are of no military value. He tends to have many small cities instead of a few well developed ones. His preferred method of victory is conquest.
Roosevelt is honorable and reserved. He will not declare war unless directly attacked, but if he is at war he will accept nothing less than unconditional surrender. He will aid his allies overtly if they are in need by donating money, tech, and units, and negotiating embargos and alliances. If he defeats an enemy in a war, he will give back any cities that originally belonged to them if they are of no strategic importance or too far away, but may occupy for a little while. He will liberate the cities of his allies after the war is over as well. He tends to have a strong economy with high commerce, research, and production. His preferred methods of victory are diplomatic and space race.
And so on. I don't know about you guys, but I feel that playing against AI's with personalities would go a long way to spicing up the SP experience. And since this mod has proven it can handle goal-directed AI (for example, aiming for a cultural victory), it seems like a natural extension to have specialized AI.
Is this something people would enjoy? And if so, do you guys think Better AI has the potential to do this?
