KevinC
2000
I certainly didn’t! I was very curious because AI is a bugaboo for me as well and for myself I’d put Old World as one of the better ones in the genre. So while I knew you had complaints about the AI being a gaggle of digital blockheads I would curious what your particular frame of reference was. What curve you were grading on, that sort of thing. :)
From what I can recall, I was pretty happy with the AI in Sword of the Stars. It seemed to compete very well without obvious cheats. Civ4 I was happy with in terms of its ability to build an army, wage war, etc. The diplo AI left a lot to be desired there, but still better than a lot of its peers. Planetfall is a good one you mention, the AI feels very solid in that game although I feel that it relies heavily on its omniscience cheats which can get quite aggravating to me at times. Still, the AI can put up a fight!
Anyway, sorry if my question caused any sort of derail but your answer was really helpful for me in understanding where you’re coming from, so thanks!
Strollen
2001
I do remember the AI, building a lot of siege engines and then not using them. but honestly I have not seen the AI build many in recent games. They are certainly great for taking down cities, in the games when I’ve I’m taking out a weak civ. I’ve be frustrate in how slow they move.
I guess my priorities for AI are as follow and my grade for OW
#1 use basic military units effectively B
#2 Expands aggressively and plays to win. B
#3 develop internal economy efficiently C
#4 Diplomacy feels realistic and makes sense A-
#5 uses advanced or specialized units D
#6 Uses advanced systems (religion, espionage) D- F
I agree with all of Kevin’s choices, and add HOI IV.
I’ve played a fair amount of Planetfall, I think much less than Sharpe though. I really don’t know how to judge how much internal development it does. Tactically it puts a good fight.
Oh and this was worthwhile discussion because I had no idea that there was MOO remake, with decent AI. That’s very exciting.
FWIW, I was curious how things have changed since July, so I loaded up Tom’s original save, and the AI is now killing 8 of his units (using the Onagers) instead of 4. (And is also not doing the weird thing of retreating some Onagers to a few random tiles way behind the frontlines.) We’ve been focusing primarily on player-facing AI (such as combat) for the moment.
rho21
2003
Before long, the “Tom’s Save metric” will be integrated into your release pipeline.
tomchick
Split this topic
2004
@Sharpe btw, if you like the music, 80% of it is available on this playlist: Spotify
Strollen
2006
So what happened with the collaboration, with Christopher Tin?
I like the music of OW just fine, but it is not Baba Yetu.
The music of CIv VI, also by Christopher, was the best thing about the game.
I realize this tough comparison, the best computer game music ever, but how many other game designer did Christopher have as a roommate?
cornchip
2008
iTunes says I’ve listened to the Offworld Trading Company soundtrack 11 times, so consider me intrigued.
tomchick
2009
Pfft, lightweight. That’s been one of my main boardgaming soundtracks for a while now.
-Tom
Most of the tracks I couldn’t get on Spotify (besides the non-Chris originals we recorded ourselves) are from Musicbed, which are all available here: Musicbed
newbrof
2011
it is called Bughouse.
you basically drop random chess pieces on the board, provided to you by your team partner. I hate it, it is nothing like chess
cornchip
2012
From #70:
- UU hiring events now cannot fire in the first 30 turns
Hah. Someone must’ve had a randomly easy game. Or an impossible multiplayer game.
Malkael
2014
Coming to Steam and GOG in Spring of 2022, with an expansion campaign included as well apparently according to the release date trailer below.
Sweet! I’m hoping the GOG version will be a “first-class citizen”, too, and get patches and updates at about the same time as Steam.
I think that trailer really really needed narration. There is no way I would have watched it if I didn’t love the game.
Agreed. Shorter, perhaps, as well.
I do rather like the game, and I skipped along.
I’m having a couple of weird bugs since the last update. The first is during the event where another civ tries to sell you a unique unit - I say yes, but the unit never actually shows up. Seen this one several times. The second is on the “Barbarian Invasion” scenario - after a few turns, the game completely stops accepting any mouse input. Left click, right click - nothing. Only thing I can do is exit the game completely. Anyone else seeing either of these?
