This has been mentioned before... how much value do you guys think there is in developing a game playing AI?

This would allow single player games but it could also be used as a game option giving additional AI players in a multiplayer game or for booted players to turn into AI players.

ps this thread is in no way related to the horrendous Spielberg flick of the same name.

I personally think it would be awesome, and probably fun to work on. It sounds like on of those things that you could get a A.I that could play the game badly without *too* much work, and one that could play well if you wanted to invest the rest of your life working on it.

I like it, but I like it way down the list of priorities.

I'd love to work on programming something like that, but I can't imagine the complexities with all the different rule variations.

If you do create an A.I. (which I really want) could we call it "RiskyBot"?

Cramchakle wrote: I like it, but I like it way down the list of priorities.

I concur.

Definitely cool to have (WarLight's is pretty snazzy I believe), but I do think there are quite a few minor things (some display issues and a few bugs) that could be updated first and then some bigger things (ie BAO, Board Sorting etc.) before an A.I.

A.I., the movie- walked out.

A.I., the deep blue of risk- sign me up.

Or you could simplify things greatly and just hire Andernut.

The thoughts I've put together on this all lead me to the idea that we would need to have specific programs for each board design. It's one thing to have rules established on how to play the "perfect" game of straight RISK, but those same rules do not universally translate to all (or any) of the "non-standard" board types.

If you are looking for a Development Team on this one though, please sign me up; that sounds like a blast.

Mongrel wrote: Or you could simplify things greatly and just hire Andernut.

Yes - but who wants a bot that criticizes how you play? 

Egads, Andernut as a GPS - how annoying that would be.

Lawsuits ensue when, at a red light, the GPS says "la la la".

I think I mentioned this before, but if you have bots, regardless of how stupid they are, when a player goes past the time constraints of the game, (s)he could automatically be put into bot mode.

Not to be a buzz crunch but I'm not sure what this would add to the experience.

Some may wish to play against bots, some may not, but I imagine designers would find it convenient to have bots for testing, more so even than a solitaire option (assuming bots could simulate various play styles).

As for the priority list, would I be wrong in guessing that tom envisions enlisting outside help?

Yeah it would be very low down my personal list of stuff to do - could easily spend 12 months / a lifetime writing a good bot! Perhaps defining an interface that coders could plug their bot into, that way you could have multiple developers working on competing bots.

Wallace Wishmaster wrote: Not to be a buzz crunch but I'm not sure what this would add to the experience.

Faster games for players who don't like to wait, not to mention developers who don't like to wait.  

Players or Teams that want work out strategies or figure out the mechanics of a board without it "counting"

I wonder that putting players who are over the time limit in "bot" mode would help certain games maintain their integrity.

I do think that bot games should not count in ranking. However, with the possibility of a booted/skipped player being swapped over to a bot this makes things complicated. Perhaps that scenario would still allow rankings to be affected. Alternatively, you could have it as an option for the host when s/he makes the game to either allow bot swapping or just reverting to neutral at boot.

tom wrote: Yeah it would be very low down my personal list of stuff to do - could easily spend 12 months / a lifetime writing a good bot! Perhaps defining an interface that coders could plug their bot into, that way you could have multiple developers working on competing bots.

This is a really good idea. I think there are enough interested parties here that opening up a port for site members to plug bots into would be really cool. I know that Lux, for example, had some really excellent user-designed bots. The site could even host bot competitions to see who's bot is best!

Bot competitions. Damn, that's geeky. Wish I thought of it!

Kjeld wrote: bot competitions

This is a GREAT idea.