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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0002508AI War 1 / ClassicSuggestion - AI Type IdeasJan 17, 2011 4:41 pm
Reporterwingsofdomain Assigned ToChris_McElligottPark  
Status consideringResolutionopen 
Summary0002508: AI type: keymaster, can lock wormholes.
DescriptionThe AI type key master/gatekeeper can lock wormholes making it impossible for human ships to move in or out. Shouldn't lock the only wormhole leading to the planet for the humans.

The lock is time based, a wormhole should be locked for enough time making so that the human can't just wait it out and may take another rout or progress in another area while waiting for the wormhole to unlock. But making it too long would just be like having the exact same map but without a specific link. Suggestion: 10min?

Whenever a locked wormhole unlocks, the AI will lock another wormhole but should only be able to lock a specific amount of wormholes at the time. Suggestion: 2?

Scouts maybe could pass through locked wormholes, since they can't fight anyway and it would be annoying not knowing if the planet the players can't get to is completely worthless or worth waiting for.

To help the humans, the AI could have a ship that locks wormholes, making it possible for humans to track it (or destroy it). But a locker device could bug the game easily getting stuck on an AI planet with no friendly adjacent planets.

Instead of having a ship to moves through the galaxy locking wormholes you could simply add a warning before a wormhole gets locked. The warning is shown in same box as incoming waves are. With this system the humans would be stressed to get to a planet they really want, or sending scouts there fast so they can see if there's anything of interest (assuming the scouts cannot pass through locked wormholes).
TagsAI, lock, type, wormholes
Internal Weight

Activities

keith.lamothe

Jan 17, 2011 2:07 pm

administrator   ~0008905

I think the pathfinding routines would repurpose themselves to "we will find the person responsible for this, and deallocate them" ;)

TechSY730

Jan 17, 2011 2:12 pm

reporter   ~0008906

Anyone want to do an appropriate GhostBusters reference?

BobTheJanitor

Jan 17, 2011 2:40 pm

reporter   ~0008908

The only real effect of having a wormhole become impassable for a while is that the human player would have to go expand somewhere else while waiting, or find a way around. If it locked down the only good route to get somewhere, people would just lean on the fast forward button until it unlocked. The only real effect in game terms would be that the AI would get to reinforce a little more, and pop out another wave or two. The concept is interesting, but I don't see what good effects it would have in terms of bringing interesting strategy or fun gameplay to the table.

keith.lamothe

Jan 17, 2011 2:42 pm

administrator   ~0008910

No, there are other very, very real effects if such a lockdown ever "divided" the graph of planets.

Very real, very nasty ;)

TechSY730

Jan 17, 2011 2:52 pm

reporter   ~0008913

Maybe to mitigate that somewhat, wormholes that if locked down would cause any home planet (AI or not) to be not-accessible from each other, then that wormhole can not be locked down.

This does mean that there are very few places (or none if you chose the end) that are eligible in the snake style map.

BobTheJanitor

Jan 17, 2011 3:29 pm

reporter   ~0008916

Oh well that's true, Keith. I meant 'real' from a player perspective. Not 'real' from a developer perspective. You should know by now that we players just want everything to magically work from our end and consider all the coding work to be of no importance when we suggest an idea. ;P (Thanks for all your hard work!)

KDR_11k

Jan 17, 2011 4:03 pm

reporter   ~0008924

Why not just put permamines on the wormhole for a while?

wingsofdomain

Jan 17, 2011 4:41 pm

reporter   ~0008953

@bobthejanitor: Actually I am not with you. As I said the time limit of the lock down is supposed to be long enough to make it worthless just waiting it out! The whole point is to mess some with the planing, to make it not so predictable. :P Suddenly you'll have to replan (if that word exists). To find a new way around is interesting isn't? Well.... maybe not the best idea I've had but comparing to oneway doormaster I think it's much better xD. And keymaster would be very interesting, I think, IF you would have this warning, so that the human will stress to capture a specific planet. But AI wars maybe doesn't rely so much on time.

@keith: I don't really get what you think about the idea. :P Maybe my english isn't enough.

@KDR_11k: Yeah true is kind of link the permamines, except for that I want it to be tomporarly.

...and I mean it doesn't have to be an hard AI if it's not interesting enough. At least I want some AI types that are not so specialized. AI types that are like the vanilla (or whatever it was called) but with a little tweak.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Jan 17, 2011 1:50 pm wingsofdomain New Issue
Jan 17, 2011 1:50 pm wingsofdomain Tag Attached: AI
Jan 17, 2011 1:50 pm wingsofdomain Tag Attached: type
Jan 17, 2011 1:50 pm wingsofdomain Tag Attached: lock
Jan 17, 2011 1:50 pm wingsofdomain Tag Attached: wormholes
Jan 17, 2011 1:57 pm Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To => Chris_McElligottPark
Jan 17, 2011 1:57 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status new => considering
Jan 17, 2011 2:07 pm keith.lamothe Note Added: 0008905
Jan 17, 2011 2:12 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0008906
Jan 17, 2011 2:40 pm BobTheJanitor Note Added: 0008908
Jan 17, 2011 2:42 pm keith.lamothe Note Added: 0008910
Jan 17, 2011 2:52 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0008913
Jan 17, 2011 3:29 pm BobTheJanitor Note Added: 0008916
Jan 17, 2011 4:03 pm KDR_11k Note Added: 0008924
Jan 17, 2011 4:41 pm wingsofdomain Note Added: 0008953