Space Travel

[Sim-Mania]

I just wanted to know how fleets were able to travel between places in Horizan. The star lanes in moo3 added a new dimension to the strategy of the game for defense and attack. However reading an earlier post by Zaimat who said, 'fleets could be intercepted before reaching their destination'. Therefore I was wondering if, instead of star lanes, Horizan used like a grid system for travel?



One other game-play concern. in most games, the larger the empire, the faster it can research new technology, which tends to scew the game slightly. Is this going to be the case in Horizan, or are you implementing game features, that say, allow a small empire to keep up in technology (if the empire concentrates their efforts on research), in order to balance the game?

[Sobriquet]

[Quote=Zaimat]4) Evolving AI [/Quote]

Please, do go one. Are you suggesting an in-game AI that learns as it playes. This is a monumental challange, one I'd love to see implemented. Could you get a little more detailed?

[Ravana]

[RobHuntingdon]

Randomness doesn't seem that hard. Oh, there are complexities, including getting truly random data... and assigning proper results to the random rolls... etc. But it's something I think I understand well enough.

But I really would appreciate some more details on #2 and #3. A learning AI seems cool but somehow I don't think that's a concept I'm going to wrap my brain around without a lot of help... so lets start with something I think I can understand!
_________________
Robert, the Earl of Huntingdon

Tarry here, my merry men, whilst I seek what adventure await in yonder greenwood; but look thou listen for my call, for I will blow my horn if I become hard-pressed.

Adapted from Sterling, pg. 45

[Zaimat]

With regards to #2 and #3 they are connected:

As implied with #2 allowing the player to customize a race, design their own ships, chose which techs to research or how to build a taskforce or colony can all enhance repeated gameplay as they are major components of the game in control by the player (or should be).

But all this has to work with #3, if any one of those is too powerful on it's own it has the effect of being easily discovered by the player and is taken out of the equation (doesn't fit in with hard to master), we want player choices to develop a larger strategy that in a given randomly generated game work but are not apparent immediately.

The other issue is to keep it simple, in order for the player to not get bogged down things have to be kept relatively simple (see straight-forward) and fun. Some games choose to add a governor, now I have no problem adding a governor if it enhances gameplay (serve some cool function and allowing you to sack him if not content with his performance) but if it's to make decisions instead of the player because it's too repetitive or complex then that's a design flaw imo.

Chess is an amazing game, you have pieces that have simple moves and every move you make has a consequence and is part of a larger strategy that may or may not work in any given game. Obviously things are a lot more complicated within a game like Horizon but I believe striving for a similar design is important.

#4 Evolving AI, this doesn't have to be complicated and the goal for such a thing is for the AI to adapt as the game is progressing as much as possible. Not keep repeating the same thing if it's not working. This can be done with simple methods or more complex algorithms (such as genetic algorithms). We want the AI to try new or different combination of things out of what it's programmed to do.[edited]
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Horizon - Lead Designer

[Sobriquet]

[Ravana]

[Zaimat]

[Sobriquet]

[Ravana]

We can see a change in conventional thinking by having the AI choose options that we don't normally see.

An obvious example (as outlined above) is the anomaly of the group fleet. Whilst this is away, hop, skipping and jumping all over the galaxy, all of that empire's planets are being conquered! There is no attempt to retain the planets they already own which is ridiculous. I suspect this will not happen in Horizon as Zaimat has already said.

[Sobriquet]

[Zaimat]

What we have done is give each race a list of possible choices in terms of their disposition/nature which is randomly selected at the start of each new game. These choices are part of the type of race they are (race specific) but at the same time allow the race to play differently.
[edited]
_________________
Horizon - Lead Designer

[Ravana]

[Zaimat]

[Zaimat]

[Ravana]

So will fleet movement occur by a process similar to MoO's in that the type of ship equipment will delimit the distance a unit can reach? Or is it more of an ephemeral measurement?

If we can "ambush" units, the relative fleet speed of the units involved is important.

In a similar vein, how "long" would it take to go from one system to another? That is to say, if I decide to conduct a hit-and-run campaign designed to slow down the enemy, allowing me time to bolster static defenses on my key planets, would it buy me the requisite amount of time/turns to complete my defenses?

Apropos to this, will we have attrition units? Fighters and bombers are a good example; the sort of unit which is ideal for such action, with strike carriers making ideal ambush vehicles. Hide them in nebulae or asteroid fields and watch the supply convoys burn!

(If anybody's played SFB/F&E they'll know what I mean.)

[Zaimat]

[Ravana]

Thanks for that Zaimat.

Would you be able to clarify "ambushing" for us? This is a fascinating idea, and I'm interested in the viable use of the terrain we encounter in a sector.

In addition, if a map sector equates to a system, will we see disparate types of terrain in that area e.g. the Kuiper Belt in our own fair solar system?

EDIT:

[Sobriquet]

@ Ravana,

Are you an astro-engineer or just addicted to space games

Great job on the questions!! Keep 'em comin!   

[Ravana]

Thank you Sobriquet, but the answer is firmly in the "addicted to space games" section. I'm no engineer.

All I'm really doing is calling up a host of ideas, gripes, complaints, suggestions, parking tickets, research notes, wish lists, requests, loves, wants, needs etc. from every space game you've ever played.

If we all thought about it, I guess we could all think up loads of ideas or changes to things we already like. Who hasn't played a game and thought:

"I love this/these element (-s) in the game...I would have preferred it if it worked this way..."

After a while, all that detritus builds up and you have a wealth of ideas or suggestions to annoy your local, friendly Canadian games designer with!