Does the AI calculate while I play ?

from GalCiv2 Forums
Hello,

I wondered whether the AI was calculating while I play my turn.
Chess programs, for instance, calculate while you are thinking ; they store their results and use it when it's their turn to play, thus considerably increasing their strength. Given that a single midgame Galciv turn may last pretty long (especially when there is combat involved), the AI engines would (or maybe already do) highly benefit from it. A consequence of this : the fewer AI players, the stronger they would be.

Thank you for answering if you have an idea about it.
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The original Galactic Civilizations (OS/2, 1993) was the first PC game to have a multithreaded AI. Before any chess games. Before any strategy games.

Another point of fact -- the original Galactic Civilizations was the first commercial multithreaded consumer game.

So yes, the AI is calculating while you are taking your turn. At the time, it was discussed how chess AIs would benefit from using the same model as Galactic Civilizations.

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Here is a review of the original GalCiv back from 1995:

http://www.os2ezine.com/v1n2/galciv.html

The AI's that control your opponents are all run on seperate threads and as a result you'll rarely notice any delays between turns. With this level of multithreading Galactic Civilizations is one of the few games that lends itself well to SMP (Symetric Multiprocessing--more than one CPU). Run this on a dual-pentium box and you'll need more than a sixpack of Jolt to keep up.

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar may be the first PC game to have AI options to make use of dual-core and quad-core CPUs.

Groupy 2 - Organize multiple applications into grouped tabs on your Windows desktop
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hello,

I wondered whether the AI was calculating while I play my turn.
Chess programs, for instance, calculate while you are thinking ; they store their results and use it when it's their turn to play, thus considerably increasing their strength. Given that a single midgame Galciv turn may last pretty long (especially when there is combat involved), the AI engines would (or maybe already do) highly benefit from it. A consequence of this : the fewer AI players, the stronger they would be.

Thank you for answering if you have an idea about it.



I'm pretty sure it only calculates when you hit END TURN.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Could it maybe possible to speed up the computer turns by taking longer on your own turn? Seems possible...
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for the link. That was an interesting read on the original GC.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The original Galactic Civilizations (OS/2, 1993) was the first PC game to have a multithreaded AI.


So yes, the AI is calculating while you are taking your turn. At the time, it was discussed how chess AIs would benefit from using the same model as Galactic Civilizations.



That it is multi-threaded does not imply it thinks while you play, does it ? As a matter of fact, my opinion was the same as Skyjack (AI does not think while you play), because the AI replies at the same speed no matter how long your own turn lasted (just play two tunrs in a row and see). But maybe I get it wrong.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
-8 megs of ram
-No sound card

That was a long time ago. Looking at some of the pictures, you can tell that some of the races recieved a make over at some point in time.

By the way,
Stardock Systems even claims that if you can beat the game at its hardest level (five alien civilizations, all set to 'Incredible!', and 'Evil') they will re-write the AI to beat you at your own strategy and provide an update for free. This is something I don't think is available with DOOM.


Just wondering, If I were to beat GalCiv 2 like that, would you re-write the AI for me?