I've decided it's time to start working up some docs on the game. In the end we are supposed to have context-sensitive online Amigaguide docs. But for now, I am just going to start trying to shape up some basic text.
I am going to include some comments in braces {like this}.
§jc
The Game of Invasion Force
Amiga Version 0.15
§jl
WHAT IS INVASION FORCE (alias Empire II)?
======================
From The New Hacker's Dictionary:
empire n. Any of a family of military simulations derived from a
game written by Peter Langston many years ago. There are five or
six multi-player variants of varying degrees of sophistication,
and one single-player version implemented for both UNIX and VMS;
the latter is even available as MS-DOS freeware. All are
notoriously addictive."
There have been a couple of previous versions of Empire on the Amiga as well as various Empire-like games such as Civilization. Invasion Force (originally called Empire II, but that name is taken) follows strongly in the tradition of Interstel's famous
commercial release of Empire: Wargame of the Century. You may think of Invasion Force as an unofficial and wholly unauthorized sequel with updated programming, expanded gameplay, and a whole raft of new features {many of which don't exist yet, but we'
e working on it}. It is meant to be the last word in Amiga wargames. It is NOT to be confused with the commercial game on PC systems, known by the name "Empire II". They are utterly unrelated.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
===================
Invasion Force is designed to run on a wide range of Amiga systems. You must have Workbench 2.04 or higher. A 68020 CPU or better is highly desirable, though the game may function on 68000 systems {provisional}. To run the game in a useful manner, yo
should have 1MB RAM free {provisional} when starting it. If you have more RAM, the game will allow bigger maps and more players. Invasion Force will work on standard ECS machines, but can take advantage of AGA or graphics cards to allow higher resol
tions and a flicker-free display. The game can run from the boot floppy {I hope! It will be nice if we can somehow cram the essentials onto a 880K floppy, but I'm not betting money on it.} or can be installed on a hard drive. If you run it from a har
drive, you must have ReqTools library and Topaz 11 font installed in your system. {I hope this can be taken care of by the installer in the general public release.}
It is assumed that the user is familiar with the basics of using Intuition programs on the Amiga. Explaining how to use the mouse, drop-down menus, or common gadgets is beyond the scope of this document.
OVERVIEW
========
Each game is played on a map of hexagon-shaped terrain sectors. Most often it will be ocean with islands or continents scattered about, though the map editor can be used to create many forms. Also scattered on the map are cities. The game hinges on c
ntrol of these cities.
At the beginning of the game, each player controls one city. The rest of the cities are "neutral". Each city that is controlled by a player will produce military units. The player can select what kind of unit each city makes. The units made by the p
ayer's home city can then be used to conquer others, so the empire grows. The ultimate goal for you is to control all cities in this manner, fighting the other players as necessary.
THE MILITARY UNITS
==================
The battle is fought with several kinds of military units. They are:
INFANTRY -- Composed of footsoldiers, they are equipped mainly with rifles, but also machineguns, small anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, and even pack howitzers. In open terrain they can move one hex per turn, and they can invade and capture citie
. They can lay minefields or clean them up. {Not yet implemented, but soon, I hope!} Because infantry can be quickly raised, they are the natural foundation of your war machine.
ARMOR -- The elite ground forces, armored units consist of tanks, mobile artillery and mechanized infantry. They can move twice as fast as infantry, sustain twice as much damage without dying, do twice as much damage with their heavy guns, and can also
invade and capture cities. However, they are much more expensive than infantry. (In Invasion Force terms, "expensive" means that something takes a long time to build. There is no money as such.)
AIR CAVALRY -- The combination of helicopter gunships and troop carriers have limited range, but can move quickly over terrain obstacles and even short stretches of water to reach their targets. Although unable to attack other aircraft, the air cavalry
can invade and capture cities. They are quite expensive, but the ability to launch surprise attacks against hard-to-reach cities makes air cavalry important.
FIGHTER -- The fighter unit is great for coastal defense and clearing the skies of enemy aircraft. It can also attack surface targets, but may sustain heavy losses when doing so. Because of their speed, fighters are prime units for scouting and reconn
issance of all kinds. The fighter cannot attack cities.
BOMBER -- Similar to the fighter, the bomber is a bit slower and has longer range. It is unable to attack other aircraft, but is more effective at destroying surface targets. It does twice as much damage as the fighter. The bomber can also can bombar
cities to destroy enemy units stationed there, though it cannot capture the city.
TRANSPORT -- These are cargo ships which are made to carry infantry or armor. An undamaged transport can carry six infantry units or three armor and unload them in amphibious assaults against the enemy. Transports have little combat value of their own
and are easy targets for the enemy unless you protect them with your own air force and warships.
SUBMARINE -- These small, inexpensive ships are invisible to enemy aircraft. Only enemy cities, subs, destroyers or cruisers can spot them. Although vulnerable to attack if spotted, the submarine's torpedoes can do great damage and even sink battleshi
s with a bit of luck.
DESTROYER -- Small, inexpensive, fast warships are used for scouting, escorting transports, hunting submarines, minelaying and minesweeping. {mines not yet implemented} Although not suited for heavy combat, the destroyer's versatility makes it useful.
CRUISER -- Medium sized warships, cruisers can attack other ships, sustain some fairly heavy damage without sinking, spot submarines, and bombard shore targets with their guns.
BATTLESHIP -- The most powerful individual unit in the game, the battleship is expensive to produce, but also very hard to sink. It is a floating fortress that can attack other units with confidence, doing great damage with its guns and sustaining many
hits without sinking. It can also bombard land targets with great effectiveness.
CARRIER -- The ship has little combat effectiveness of its own, but is fairly tough and is designed as a base for fighters. It can carry eight fighters on board, and can sustain even more by rotating them (flying some while others refuel). However, it
is more vulnerable to attack when fighters are landed on board. It is often used with attack fleets to provide fighter reconnaissance, thus multiplying the effectiveness of surrounding warships.
The details of how these various units move, fight, are manufactured, repaired, and so forth will follow later on.
THE MAIN MENU
=============
When you first start Invasion Force from the Workbench, it will open its own custom screen. The display at this time is mostly blank, but you can use the drop-down menus or right-Amiga shortcut keys to select various functions:
Project
[A] About Invasion Force --> version information
[N] New Game --> begin a new game
[L] Load Game --> load an existing game
[M] Map Editor --> enter the map editor
[Q] Quit Program
Prefs
[G] Screen Mode --> select the graphics display
If you select [G], the program will give you a system requester allowing you to select any Amiga screen mode you like, provided the size is 640x400 or greater. This information will be saved to the "empire2.prefs" file. If this file is not found f
r any reason, the game will revert to a default NTSC 640x400 display.
STARTING A GAME
===============
When you select the [N] New Game command from the main menu, the program will present you with a large and complex looking requester. Don't panic! This merely lets you set various options for the game. Let's take a look at the requester items one at
time!
The left half of the requester is all player information. Here you can set the number of players, their names, type (computer or human) and handicap. At top is a row of small buttons. Each of the numbered buttons from [1] to [8] represents a player.
At first only two buttons are active and the rest ghosted. This indicates we are set up for a two player game. Clicking the [+] button increases the number of players. The [-] button decreases the number of players. The minimum is two, maximum eight
Below the row of buttons is a selection of other gadgets showing information about a player. If button [2] is selected, for example, the gadgets below will display everything about player two. You can change these values to adjust the game. (Some of
he gadgets can be activated using hot keys, as indicated.) They are:
[N] Name: This is the name the player will use in the game. You can put your real name here, make up a fanciful handle, or even use the provided default names.
[T] Type: This tells the game whether a player will be controlled by a human or by the computer. You can mix any combination of human or computer players.
Color: This little icon shows what color each player will be and what his map icons will look like. This cannot be changed. Each player number has a fixed color assigned to it.
Production Efficiency: This slider allows you to adjust the efficiency of cities you control, which determines how long it takes them to build units for you. As the value is increased, cities need less time to crank out units. For an even game, you wi
l probably want to leave this slider at the default value of 50%. As you gain experience with the game, you can adjust it to create new challenges.
Attack Efficiency: This slider adjusts the strength of your troops in battle when they attack enemy forces. Again, the default value of 50% is most commonly used, but you can adjust it to make the game easier or harder for different players.
Defense Efficiency: Similar to attack efficiency, this slider adjusts the battle strength of your troops when they are attacked by hostile forces.
Computer Competency (as Aggressiveness): This value ranges from 1 to 10 and influences the strategy of the computer opponent. A low value will cause the computer player to behave defensively, guarding his cities well and waiting until he has great stre
gth before attacking you. A high value will cause the computer to strip his defenses to build an attack force for quicker strikes. This slider has no effect on human players.
[NOTE: This has been changed from the original intent, perhaps permanently, perhaps not. Currently there are a number of different AI opponents implemented, which will correspond to the range of values from 1 to 10. As of 10/1/96 #1 and #2 have be
n implemented and #3 is on the way. Eventually, a single AI opponent may be selected from the "contenders" that are developed along the way, and this slider changed back to it's originally intended meaning. But for now, selecting a value from 1 to 10
ill have that particular player use the corresponding AI opponent code, or the highest numbered one implemented if that particular one isn't done yet. So right now, selecting 1 will enable AI opponent #1, and any other value will use AI opponent #2.]
It is important to understand that each of these gadgets has a different value for each player. For example, if you select player one and move the production efficiency slider, the value is only changed for player one. The other players are unaffected
The other half of the requester controls options of a more general nature. These options apply to the whole game, not to individual players. They are:
Game Play: This cycle gadget lets you choose a normal game, a file-mail game, or a modem game. If you are not familiar with Invasion Force, you should play a few normal games before trying the other types. They are described in more detail later in th
s document. {Of course, only the normal game is implemented so far.}
[S] Use Stacking Rules: This checkbox lets you choose whether more than one military unit can be placed (or "stacked") in a hex. By default this is turned off, so that units can only be stacked under special conditions, such as on board a ship or in a
ity. When the option is turned on, you can stack units freely in open terrain. Aside from your first game or two, you will probably want to turn this option on.
[D] Defend Cities: This checkbox determines whether units stacked in a city will help to defend it. Normally when a city is attacked, a default infantry unit (called a "militia") is used to defend it. However, if this option is selected, you may stack
powerful units such as battleships in your cities to protect them. This option will most often be left turned off. { note: I am still not 100% sure how this option should work in the final game; I might decide it's too much hassle and kill it }
[F] Allow Fortification: This option makes it possible for ground units (infantry or armor) to dig earthworks to protect themselves from attack. { note: Not currently implemented. }
Map: This button and string gadget let you choose a map file to load into the game. This is the map you will play on. You can type a file name directly into the string gadget or you can use the [Map] button to call up a file requester. If you select
directory, the program will attempt to choose a map file at random from that directory.
Units Available: Here is a set of icons which allow you to choose the units that are available for production in the game. At the extreme left are infantry and transports, which are always available. They cannot be turned off. The other units are arm
r, air cavalry, fighters, bombers, destoyers, cruisers, battleships, aircraft carriers and submarines. At the extreme right are icons enabling land and sea mines. { mines not yet implemented, of course }
The default values of these options present a game similar to the Interstel Empire game that many are familiar with. By altering the options, you can explore strategies and ideas that were not possible with Empire.
When you have adjust all the player values and options to your satisfaction, select [Continue] at the bottom of the requester (or press [Enter]). If you wish to abort the game, you can do so using the [Abort Game] button, which returns you to the main
enu.
THE GAME SEQUENCE
=================
Once you have gotten the game started, it follows a general sequence of play, like so:
1 -- summon the player
2 -- show the automatic combat report
3 -- show the city production
4 -- units move and attack
After a player has completed this sequence, the next in line is summoned. After all players have completed their moves, the next turn begins and the cycle continues. This will carry on until the game is through, when all players but one have surrender
d or been crushed.
When it is your time to move, the game will show a requester to call you by name. During your move, it is important that the other players not be allowed to look over your shoulder. Secrecy is a part of Invasion Force, and you will want to keep your o
ponents guessing about how much land you control, what unit types you are building, and where your forces are preparing to attack.
If there have been battles since your last turn, the game may automatically show you a report. The battles will be displayed on the map for you to observe, with comments appearing above on the title bar. The automatic report can be turned off with you
user preferences, but the report will remain available from the menus.
Every turn your cities work to produce military units for you. When a unit is completed, a requester appears telling you about it, and allows you to change the city's production to something else if you wish. Your user preferences can suppress these r
questers for land and air units, but it will always inform you of ship production. The game chooses a random name for each ship, but you can personalize your ships by giving them different names of your choosing.
After these things are out of the way, you will get to the meat of the game, which is moving your units on the map. It is possible that the game may skip this phase if you have no units to move, or if all your units are on sentry duty or otherwise occu
ied. More often, however, this phase is where you will carry out most of your actions.
The game will automatically select a unit for you to move. After you move it, the game will select another for you, and so forth until all your units have moved. However, you can change the order of movement and select units to move in any order you l
ke. The automatic selection is merely an aid to help you keep from forgetting any.
The whole movement phase offers several different modes of operation. The most important of these are MOVEMENT MODE and SURVEY MODE. There are many commands and menus associated with them, so I will describe them in more depth.
MOVEMENT MODE
=============
When the game is in movement mode, the currently selected unit will blink. You can look to the window title bar for information about the unit, or to the movement bar at the left to see how far the unit can move this turn. Each marker on the movement
ar indicates one hex of movement over unobstructed terrain. Movement through difficult terrain drains the bar faster.
Movement is done using the mouse or keyboard. If you click the mouse on a hex adjacent to your blinking unit, the unit will try to move onto that hex. The numeric keypad can also be used to move in any of the six directions, like so:
7 9
\ /
4-*-6
/ \
1 3
The numbers 2 and 8 have no effect in this game, and the number 5 has a special purpose, as we shall soon see.
Each available unit type has a specified movement rate:
UNIT SPEED RANGE
Infantry ---- 1 ----- unlimited
Armor ------- 2 ----- unlimited
Air Cavalry - 3 ----- 12
Bomber ------ 4 ----- 24
Fighter ----- 6 ----- 18
Transport --- 2 ----- unlimited
Submarine --- 2 ----- unlimited
Destroyer --- 3 ----- unlimited
Cruiser ----- 2 ----- unlimited
Battleship -- 2 ----- unlimited
SPEED:
The speed is the number of hexes the unit can move in one turn, assuming open terrain. If the unit tries to cross difficult terrain, such as swamp, mountains or jungles on land, or shallows in the ocean, the movement may be reduced. This will be expla
ned in more detail later on.
RANGE:
The air units can only remain aloft for a limited time, then must land and refuel or else crash. The Air Cavalry can fly for three turns, the Fighter three turns and the Bomber six turns. This limits the distance they can travel, as indicated in the t
ble above. However, any leftover movement an aircraft has at the end of the turn is lost and does not carry over to the next turn. The aircraft is refueled when it lands in a friendly city or or airfield, or on board a friendly aircraft carrier.
ORDERS:
Units can be given orders - this can free you from having to tell each unit what to do each turn, and make playing the game less work and more fun. The various orders are lited below. After each order's name is its keyboard shortcut key in parentheses
Sentry(s) - When a unit has been given a Sentry order it will no longer be highlighted each turn. In order to access that unit you can select it using the survey mode and clear its orders. A unit in Sentry will have a small letter 's' in its icon
o indicate its orders.
Load Units(l) - This function is only useful for Transports and Carriers (most useful for Transports). It causes the Transport or Carrier to "load" - pull onboard - units that it can carry that it finds in adjacent hexes. The Transport or Carrier
ill automatically end this order when it is full (has onboard all the units it can hold). The user is informed how many units it has taken on board each turn.
Unload Unit(u) - This will "wake up" all units on board the ship that are in sentry mode, readying them to disembark a Transport or fly off a Carrier.
COMMANDS:
Commands can be given to units - these are momentary in nature, so they are separated from orders (which may exist for many turns, or the entire game for that matter). After each command's name is it's keyboard shortcut key in parentheses:
Clear Orders(o) - This clears the orders for the selected unit.
Skip(<space bar>) - This command ends a unit's movement for that turn. Note that aircraft always use fuel - skip cannot be used to keep an aircraft from running out of fuel.
Wait(w) - This command causes the selected unit to wait until the end of the turn for orders/moves. This can be quite handy - it will permanently rearrange when a unit is activated (usually, units are activated in the order of their creation - olde
t units first, and brand-new units last).
Center on Unit(c) - This command will redraw the map display, with the selected unit in the center of the new display.
COMBAT
======
Combat in Invasion Force is fairly complex (there are a number of factors involved) but simple in practice - one players unit is simply moved into a hex occupied by another player's unit or city, and combat is automatically resolved.
The real question is: Which will win? Ultimately, success in the game depends on winning individual combats. It is therefore important to know how combat is resolved to make the best use out of your units.
The first item to cover are attack and defense modifiers. There are a number of them tied to specific unit types:
INFANTRY:
Defense Efficiency is reduced by 40% when attacked by CRUISER
Defense Efficiency is reduced by 40% when attacked by BATTLESHIP
Defense Bonus of +10% when in FOREST terrain
Defense Bonus of +20% when in JUNGLE terrain
Attack and Defense Bonus of +30% when in MOUNTAINS terrain vs INFANTRY
Attack and Defense Bonus of +30% when in MOUNTAINS terrain vs ARMOR
Attack and Defense Bonus of +20% when in HILLS terrain vs INFANTRY
Attack and Defense Bonus of +20% when in HILLS terrain vs ARMOR
Attack and Defense Bonus of +10% when in RUGGED terrain vs INFANTRY
Attack and Defense Bonus of +10% when in RUGGED terrain vs ARMOR
ARMOR:
Attack Bonus of +25% when attacking into DESERT terrain
Attack and Defense Bonus of +30% when in MOUNTAINS terrain vs INFANTRY
Attack and Defense Bonus of +30% when in MOUNTAINS terrain vs ARMOR
Attack and Defense Bonus of +20% when in HILLS terrain vs INFANTRY
Attack and Defense Bonus of +20% when in HILLS terrain vs ARMOR
Attack and Defense Bonus of +10% when in RUGGED terrain vs INFANTRY
Attack and Defense Bonus of +10% when in RUGGED terrain vs ARMOR
FIGHTER:
BOMBER:
Attack Bonus of +25% when attacking into DESERT terrain
Defense Efficiency is reduced by 40% when attacked by FIGHTER
AIRCAV:
Attack Bonus of +10% when attacking into FOREST terrain
Attack Bonus of +20% when attacking into JUNGLE terrain
TRANSPORT:
Attack Efficiency is reduced by 50%
Defense Efficiency is reduced by 40%
DESTROYER:
SUBMARINE:
Defense Efficiency is reduced by 40%
CRUISER:
CARRIER:
Attack Efficiency is reduced by 50%
BATTLESHIP:
NOTE: When an Attack or Defense Efficiency is 'reduced by' a percentage, it refers to a percentage off the original Efficiency as set in the Start Game window for that player (i.e. a number from 1 to 100), so if it was set to 50 (the default), then 'red
cing it by 40%' will result in that efficiency going down from 50 to 30. Bonuses are fixed amounts added on top of that, so a Bonus of 30% will result in that efficiency going from 30 to 60.
After adjustments for Attack and Defense Efficiency have been taken, a random number from 0 to 99 is added to the attacker's and defender's total. The two totals are then compared - the higher of the two suceeds in "hitting" the other. Damage equal to
the hitting power of the unit type is inflicted. These hitting powers are listed below:
infantry --- 1
armor ------ 1
aircav ----- 1
bomber ----- 2
fighter ---- 1
transport -- 1
sub -------- 3
destroyer -- 1
cruiser ---- 2
battleship - 3
carrier ---- 1
If the inflicted damage (accumulated with whatever damage that unit had sustained so far in this combat or others) does not destroy the struck unit, another round of combat occurs. This continues until either the attacker or defender is destroyed. Sin
e either the attacker or defender is struck each round, combat is over quickly. The survivor remains (with any damage it might have sustained) in possesion of the contested hex.
Another point to keep in mind is that there is only ONE attacker (of course) and ONE defender (not as obvious). When units are allowed to stack on one hex, only one unit is selected from the stack to defend. If that defender is eliminated, the entire
tack is lost. This is done for game balance - to balance the advantages of stacking (greater flexibility in moving, concentrating forces, etc.) against the risks of losing multiple units from a single attacker. For example, landing troops from a fully
loaded Transport onto enemy held shores becomes more interesting - do you hold some of the troops back in the Transport to prevent stacking them and losing more to counterattacks, or do you stack the troops so that your vulnerable and valuable Transport
can make a quicker getaway? The following is the list of unit types, in order of their selection as defender:
INFANTRY First Choice
ARMOR
AIRCAV
TRANSPORT
SUBMARINE
DESTROYER
CARRIER
CRUISER
BATTLESHIP
FIGHTER
BOMBER Last Choice
Unless the attacker is a FIGHTER, in which case the order is:
FIGHTER First Choice
BOMBER
AIRCAV
INFANTRY
ARMOR
TRANSPORT
SUBMARINE
DESTROYER
CARRIER
CRUISER
BATTLESHIP Last Choice
Units that are onboard other units (Infantry and Armor on Transports, or Fighters, Bombers, and Aircav on Carriers) are excluded from consideration. Some interesting things can be seen from these lists - for example, you can use Fighters to provide air
cover for more vulnerable units against enemy Fighters. Friendly Fighters can protect Bombers by flying with them. Of course, if you lose the fight with the enemy Fighter, the Bomber is lost too - but the Bomber on it's own is at a heavy disadvantage
gainst the same Fighter.
TERRAIN COSTS
=============
Each type of unit in IF has different 'costs' associated with each
terrain type. These are shown in the following table. The number of
movement points each unit type receives at the start of the turn is shown
in parentheses. The movement point cost to enter a hex of a certain
terrain type are shown in the rest of the columns. An entry of N/A means
that unit cannot enter a hex of that terrain type. The Forbidden Zone
(HEX_FORBID) is not listed, since nothing can move through it.
| | | | | | | | M | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | o | | | S | | | | |
| | | | | | | | u | | | h | | | | |
| P | D | | F | J | R | | n | | | a | | D | | |
| l | e | S | o | u | u | H | t | P | S | l | O | e | | |
| a | s | c | r | n | g | i | a | e | w | l | c | p | | C |
| i | e | r | e | g | g | l | i | a | a | o | e | t | I | i |
| n | r | u | s | l | e | l | n | k | m | w | a | h | c | t |
Unit Type | s | t | b | t | e | d | s | s | s | p | s | n | s | e | y |
You will notice that certain terrain type costs exceed the number of movement points givent to the unit each turn - for example Jungle costs 150 points for Armor to enter, yet Armor is only given 120 points at the start of the turn. In the case where t
e cost to enter a terrain type is greater than the number of movement points a unit has, a ratio is used as a chance to enter that hex. In the example above, an Armor unit begins its turn with 120 movement points. It tries to enter a Jungle hex (cost
50). The unit then has a 120/150, or 4/5, chance to enter that hex. On 80% of attempts, it will be successful. On the other 20% of attempts, it will end its movement without leaving its hex. In either case, it will end up with 0 movement points left.
AI Opponents
============
There are currently three different AI opponents available in
Invasion Force. These are: AI#2, AI#3, and AI#4 (catchy names, no?). There
used to be an AI#1 as well, but it has been retired, although it will be
explained in the following section anyway.
To select a particular AI opponent to be used for a particular
player (i.e. to make player 3 use AI#4) it must be done when setting up the
parameters for a new game. Select a player number from the button row
numbered from 1 to 8, then select "Computer" in the choice widget below the
row of buttons - the slider at the bottom left of the window will activate.
Then simply move the slider until it reads the number of the AI opponent
you wish to use (1 to 10). This only affects the selected player number
though - to make more opponents AI you need to repeat these steps with other
player numbers.
The slider selections allow up to 10 different AI opponents to be
selected. However, only 3 are available, so selecting 1 or 2 will use AI#2,
selecting 3 will use AI#3, and selecting 4 or above will use AI#4. When
AI#5 is available, then selecting a 4 will use AI#4 and selecting 5 or
higher will use AI#5.
So why all the different AIs? This is an ongoing project and I
wanted to be able to work on newer, better AIs without losing older, but
still working, AIs in the process. This is a learning experience for me as
well, so the newer AIs use some of the older AIs code (as appropriate).
Also, should anyone want to pick up the code and improve the AIs they can
start with the basics and learn as I have learned. Then either improve on
what I have done or take their own approach (but still possibly using some
of the low-level routines I have written, such as path finding, etc.)
Following are descriptions of each of the 4 current AIs, and a
preview if you will of AI#5.
AI#1 Description (cyber1.c)
---------------------------
This was actually the second attempt at an AI for IForce. The very
first attempt was a "just dive in and make it all happen" approach that
failed miserably - just couldn't get anywhere with it. So, I took a step
back and made the absolute minimum of an AI - AI#1.
AI#1 deals only with Infantry units. It creates then, sets them
off to wander randomly, and has them attack other units or cities when it
finds them. And if the city is taken, all units return to the city to try
and recapture it. That's all.
Well, it worked. Showed what was missing, and gave me a solid core
of working code to build AI#2 from.
AI#2 Description (cyber2.c)
---------------------------
This AI deals with Infantry and Armor, and tries to build the one
that is most appropriate to the terrain around the city building it. The
production is handled by getting requests from all cities owned by that
AI player and building the highest priority request. So the city that is
building the unit may not be the one that "owns" it after it is built.
This gives the cities some measure of cooperation.
It too just sends units off randomly, but reacts with more
direction once an enemy city or unit is discovered. Enemy units near the
city will be attacked by units of that city (or hunted as I call it, since
it involved both moving towards the enemy units and attacking them). An
enemy or neutral city nearby will be attacked and captured if possible, and
as before, all units of a city will converge on it and try to recapture it
after it has fallen into enemy hands.
This one can be some fun to play against. While simple it can
respond very vigorously to invasion once established. It throws away it's
random wanderings and hurls wave after wave of Infantry and Armor at an
invader to throw them back into the sea.
AI#3 Description (cyber3.c)
---------------------------
This AI deals with aircraft as well as Infantry and Armor.
AI#3 does production a little differently still - it holds a raffle.
Each city puts in its own request for units to be built, each with a
priority associated with it. The city doing the production then adds up
all the priorities and rolls a random number to pick what gets produced. A
higher priority request has a higher probability of being selected, but any
one of the requests can be selected. Hopefully that randomness makes the
AI a bit harder to predict.
This also had the original path finding algorithm which could take
inordinate amounts of time to find a path (since it worked recursively).
This path finding routine has been replaced by one in AI#5 (even though AI#5
is not finished yet, some parts are).
It includes new commands for moving randomly (more like a billiard
ball than a mexican jumping bean) and searching with aircraft (which is
based on a lookup table of offsets from the city's location).
Fighters and bombers are used for exploration, patrolling, and
defense. Aircav are only used to attack cities that are detected by are not
accessible by ground forces (Infantry and Armor).
Still not great, but a start.
AI#4 Description (cyber4.c)
---------------------------
This AI is a slightly modified version of AI#3 - it does not add
any new unit types to the kinds it uses, but does add a little more to the
overall functionality.
This AI adds a command to walk the coastline - useful for having
ground or naval units map the edges of an island or continent - and a new
goto command with some improvements over the older one.
Not much else.
AI#5 Description (cyber5.c)
---------------------------
This AI is supposed to be the first foray into a full featured AI
that works with all the unit types - so it adds all the naval units to the
ground and air units that previous AIs use.
Currently, the unit production selection routines are in written,
as well as the new path finding algorithm. It is far from finished.
This new path algorithm implements a full-blown A* (aye-star)
search, supporting the new roads and terrain types as well as selectable
speed settings (you can get a bit slower, more exhaustive search, or a
quicker, less rigorous search). This algorithm is being used extensively
for the human player as well as the AI opponents to enable units to "goto"
another location efficiently.
Also new here is a "smart" routine to calculate odds in combat of
units vs. other units - taking into account player settings, current unit
damage, terrain types, etc., etc. Quite complex, it needs to be reworked
to handle the new combat system.
Known Problems with AI Opponents
================================
In an effort to chase down bugs in the AI code, I added several
checks to try and detect when *bad things* happen (since I can't run
Enforcer). So, if you see a message that starts:
"Error! Unit List Fouled..."
You might as well reboot. The game cannot exit gracefully as the
system memory pool pointers have gotten corrupted somehow or other. You
might as well reboot.
So please save games in progress often. You can load up a game
saved from previous turns and continue on (unfortunately the problem is
very sporatic - it refuses to repeat itself, otherwise I would have found
it by now). My hope is that when all Enforcer hitting code has been fixed
this problem will never surface again.
AI#3 and AI#4 have been reported to "lock up" or take "forever" to
process a turn. If you can get this to happen with the latest revs, let
me know please.
Bug Report Information for AI Opponents
=======================================
Since the AI Opponents are a mixed bag of old and new code, there
are a number of items that are needed to pinpoint a problem in the AI
code.
1) First is the revision of the program, of course. If it is not
one of the latest (or *the* latest) I may not be able to help - I don't
keep development environments very far back at all.
2) Which AI opponent type (AI#2, AI#3, AI#4) is the player? The
different opponents act very differently, and use different code.
3)
MAP EDITOR
==========
{Some notes from me, Ed Snyder :) }
I figured that I've done enough damage to the map editor now, so it's time
to write some form of docs for it.
Once entering the map editor the screen will fill with blue hexes (that's
the ocean terrain!). The title bar will change to "Map Editor vX.x" (the
X.x being the current version of the map editor, NOT the game!). Also, in
the title bar you will notice the x/y readout when you move the mouse. This
lets you know which hex the mouse cursor is currently over.
MENUS:
------
Project:
[L] Load Map - This will load a map file into the map editor.
[S] Save Map - This will save any maps you have created or edited.
[R] Resize Map - This allows you to change the size of the map.
Just remember, the bigger the map the more memory required.
[C] Clear Map - This will erase the currently displayed map and
fill the display will the currently selected terrain type.
[X] Exit Map Editor - This will exit the map editor, NOT the
entire program. If your map wasn't saved you'll get
the usual warning.
[Q] Quit Program - This will quit the entire program and drop you
back at Workbench (or wherever you came from). Any
unsaved maps will result in the usual warning.
Terrain:
(Spacebar) Toolbar - This toggles a small window with all of
the terrain types. From here you can select a terrain
type and then return to the map window and draw with
the newly selected terrain. There's also an INFO button
that will display info on the selected terrain.
Terrain Types - These are the available terrain types. These may
also be selected from the Toolbar (above).
(I) INFO - This will display info on the selected terrain. This
option is also available from the toolbar. This is
explained in more detail below.
Other:
World View - This will shrink your map and display it, in its
entirety, in a separate window.
[M] Random Maps - This neat little button will take you to the
Random Map Generator. This option is explained in more
detail below.
[I] Statistics - This will display the current map statistics.
Such as... the percentage of each terrain types, number
