Nice Norman - that's an impressive amount of AI for a single game - watch out for the Singularity:) Is all of this already implemented?

Is all of this already implemented?

yup - the whole game is pretty much done, just putting the whammy on the final graphics and doing the help system - that's about all that's left. then its finally time to release - after 3-4 years on this one. My biggest game to date. probably a little TOO big for a solo dev. maybe not with an engine, but they weren't cheap when i started on it.

I also thought of another impressive AI - the Mark 5 Battle Computer in SIMTrek (my first hit).

Watch the Star Trek original series episode called "M5". In it they install a super computer in a starship - then test it against starships with human crews - with devastating results. M5 won handily in a 4 vs 1 battle. I implemented M5 in the game. I saw that AI take out SIX klingon battlecruisers in a fair fight. It would attack, it would flee, repair itself, comeback, attack again. controlling all ship systems, weapon, shields, engines, navigation, targeting, you name it.

This was another case of the AI playing the game for you better than you could play it yourself. So it was sort of a built-in cheat. If things got really bad, you could just click the M5 button, it would say "M5 on" in a robotic voice (speech synth from PC speaker in 1990, before sound cards), then do its thing. Unless you were seconds from death, it could recover from just about anything.

Coding it wasn't that hard. basically you just made it do what you would do - or should do. The hardest part was adjusting things like fleeing soon enough to guarantee you can get away before you die so you can make repairs and rejoin the fight.