I''m trying to develop an engine for playing turn based wargames (only at tactical level). In a tactical situation of a battle between to armies, the system should be able to recognize the armies disposition and propose which is the most suitable behaviour. During the battle it should be able to propose what to do next (move, firing, retreat, ...). Do you have some general ideas about this? or some site where it''s possible to find documentation? Thanks mae68

A thread... compiled by Steve Woodcock (Ferretman). He also wrote a nice article in AI Game Programming Wisdom on the subject.



Dave Mark - President and Lead Designer
Intrinsic Algorithm - "Reducing the world to mathematical equations!"

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Original post by mae68
I''m trying to develop an engine for playing turn based wargames.
Do you have some general ideas about this? or some site where it''s possible to find documentation?

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i don''t know a specific site that lists everything you need to know about war games, which is a shame. But if you can define specific problems, there''s a decent number of sites that can help you. Most game AI articles i know are around 6 pages long, so they tend to solve specific problems or bigger problems at a very high level

As for Dave''s comment about Mr. Ferret''s article on identifying fronts and flanks, i just happened to read that article not too long ago. It''s in the AI Wisdom book. That book has like 70 articles from 45 authors. Some are good, some are OK, some are great, some are terrible. i know Ferretman from email and his site but had never seen any of his personal stuff and, since he isn''t a game guy, i didn''t think he''d have too many useful original ideas. Boy was i wrong. His article was one of my favorites in the Game AI book. So i''ll second that recommendation

-baylor

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Original post by baylor
i know Ferretman from email and his site but had never seen any of his personal stuff and, since he isn''t a game guy, i didn''t think he''d have too many useful original ideas. Boy was i wrong. His article was one of my favorites in the Game AI book. So i''ll second that recommendation
-baylor

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Well, I know the Ferretman personally. He and I (along with the other member of the Three AI Guys (tm) - Neil Kirby) have been moderating the AI Roundtables at the GDC for 7 years running (hoping for an 8th too).

Don''t let the fact that Steve shoots real missiles at real targets for a living fool you. Steve is definitely a game guy with several game credits to his name and he is probably one of the top strategy game players of Empire Deluxe in the country. He also plays a pretty mean RTS game with many of the latest RTS games (I have been on the receiving end of his strategies). Not only that, but I believe he stays as informed of the latest in computer game AI as I do, and I do computer game AI for a living.

Eric

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Original post by mae68
Do you have some general ideas about this? or some site where it''s possible to find documentation?

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There is very little published material. Check the Articles and Resources section here for an article by Mark Baldwin (also a friend of mine) who wrote on Project AI which may give you some ideas. Also, another friend, Dave Pottinger at Ensemble Studios wrote a series of articles about the Age of ... game AI development. You will have to search for them on gamasutra.com. Chris Crawford wrote some about Balance of Power and Eastern Front AI years ago, but that is pretty hard to find and when you do, it will be mixed in with his game design philosophies. I always wanted to write about the AI I did for Enemy Nations and the AI in my "Battles" series of shareware turn-based wargames, but I never seemed to find the time. I gues I should have.

Hope that helps.

Eric

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Original post by Geta
He and I (along with the other member of the Three AI Guys (tm) - Neil Kirby)...

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... and one pesky yet perky sidekick!



Dave Mark - President and Lead Designer
Intrinsic Algorithm - "Reducing the world to mathematical equations!"