[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#18237) ai.ruleset

["Curtis Warren" <cwarren89@xxxxxxxxx>]

<URL: http://bugs.freeciv.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=18237 >

Actually, I've been having a similar idea for about a year. The idea
is to basically have sort of a "decision list," if you will, that
basically gives a general overview of how the AI should behave. This
would basically be the overall plan, with the other parts of the AI,
e.g. attack strategy and short term responses to events, being handled
by the code. For example, the typical strategy for a 2.0.x game looks
like this:

* grow to 8 cities
* research the republic
* build harbors and temples
* rapture to 8
* create traderoutes
* build marketplaces and aqueducts
* rapture to 12
* build libraries and banks
* rapture
* build unis and stock exchange
* build marines and transports
* attack everyone

The basic idea is that each step outlines a stage: either something to
build, an action to perform, etc. There are essentially 3 base
properties which will "fall through" if not specified: what to build,
trade rate, and city state, e.g. Max Production, Max Trade, etc. If
something like this were implemented, the AI could be tailored for
each ruleset with a minimal amount of effort. At the same time, this
would also make the AI much more organised and it would actually
concentrate on abstract tasks, rather than just doing whatever
whenever.