AI weakness

[Baron Munchausen]

Yes, all of these problems can be summed up as a single phrase: attention span. The AI has no attention span, no memory of what is happening from turn to turn. If a ship hits a minefield, it doesn't REMEMBER this and build a mine sweeper, it just sends more ships. If a colony ship gets destroyed trying to reach a world that the colonization minister thinks needs to be colonized it just builds and sends another and doesn't even bother to send an escort with it. If you wipe out all the planets it held in a system it doesn't remember this and attack your fleets that have just wiped out its worlds with many millions of colonists... it suddenly decides that the fleet that was guarding those worlds needs to be someplace else guarding something important.

Somehow this AI needs some continuity in its actions, some DEPTH of planning and reaction.

[Jubala]

The AI has no memory? Damn, that's a dumb puppy!

[WendellM]

One rather hotly debated factor in Combat Mission (a WW II game from another independent developer/publisher) has been the ability of an AI tank (and one of yours, which is semi-AI) to remember where a recent threat (that has now become unseen due to moving behind cover) was and to keep its turret pointed that way, instead of being "distracted" by a minor threat from another direction and turning the turret toward it, thus being unprepared if/when the previous, major threat reappears near where it was recently seen. Some issues are how long to remember and what constitutes a "minor" threat. If a tank immediately forgets the old threat, that can be used against it. But, if it remembers it too long, or overlooks a fairly serious new threat because of it, that can also be used against it.

This is just one behavior of one unit type in a tactical game, not overall fleet-level behavior for galaxy-spanning one, which would be much more complex. While some memory is vital, if it's too powerful it can become a fixation that causes the AI a different set of problems. Balancing the two is the challenge.

That said, I agree with Munchausen's observations and examples, and also with the essence of Jubala's 27 Nov. post, that some basic memory is important. But properly implementing it could be tough.

[Jubala]

WendellM, this risk for a fixation you're talking about could be used in designing AI's with personalties. Some could have extremely long memories of wrongdoing and never forgive and always go gunning for you when they have a chance and others could forgive and forget overnight.

Still, I see the problem. But some memory is better than none. Just a simple thing like marking a sector with a minefield as unsafe until swept or a system with enemy fleest and bases as unsafe and not to be colonized and stuff like that.