As stated before, the world of Empires and Tribes will include several rivaling kingdoms. Therefore it is necessary that the whole town development, resource planning, unit training, combat strategies, etc. may be AI driven. So let's share some thoughts on the progress so far:
As we include random generated maps, the AI has to be able to completely analyze the environment, searching for rivers, mountains, forests and plateaus which offer plenty of building areas. We handle this by analyzing the height map of the terrain, combining all the areas which are flat enough and valuing these areas by size, height and resources. After finding the best spot the AI outlays the base street grid for the town center and starts constructing the first basic buildings (You, as a player, still won't be limited by grid based building placement, but using this approach for the Ai simplifies a lot). The following decisions, e.g. "What building type should be added to our building queue?", are determined by long term and short term goals and current - unexpected - events. In the long term the AI seeks to establish a wealthy kingdom and a strong military. To achieve this, different short time goals, like the need for higher lumber production, the construction of a chapel an so on, are triggered. These short time goals always depend on the situation the AI is currently facing (Is there a lumberjack yet? Can it be upgraded? May I assign workers to it?) and may be altered when other needs occur or events like an attack by the player are triggered.
Check out our new video, featuring the AI settlement developing from a small fishing village to a medium sized town including craftsman buildings.
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