Community Update #1
Community Update #1
As Destiny of the World gets closer to completion, I wanted to start providing some status updates to let you know where we are at. The game has been feature-complete for several months now. The current focus is on tuning the AI and balancing the various game systems.
The game is simulating all aspects of World War II (Production, Research, Espionage, Combat, and Trade). Military units are modeled at the division level for land units, Air groups of 300 aircraft, and naval units are modeled as individual historically-named ships (for Aircraft Carriers, Battleships, and Cruisers), and 6-ship squadrons for destroyers and submarines.
I spent a couple of years just researching the data used by the game. As such, there is a tremendous amount of data. The data is stored in about 30 database tables with thousands of records. I want the game to provide a good simulation of World War II, but at the same time this is a game, so I will use creative license to ensure it is fun to play while still remaining true to the historical themes.
When I first started testing the early AI, there were a number of amusing bugs that I encountered. In a very early test, Germany was invading Poland. They had captured a Polish port containing two ships. When the port fell, the two ships escaped to sea. The German AI was determined not to let them escape and sent several infantry divisions in an attempt to chase them into the sea. This did not end well for the German Infantry. To my surprise, the Germans continued to send wave after wave of divisions to pursue the ships. I will emphasize that the AI and game was in a very early raw state at the time. 😊
Currently, the AI uses a multi-layered approach to managing the war. There is an overall AI that attempts to manage the resources of the country as a whole. There is a theater level AI that manages the Strategy for each theater in the war. And there is a tactical level AI that attempts to implement the plans set by the Strategic AI.
Production AI starts with historical data, and adapts it based on inputs from the combat AI, Trade AI, and Research AI.
For testing the AI, I am using several computers. I install the latest build on a PC and set the AI to play all countries. I have extensive logging in the debug builds. After the game completes, I can examine in detail what happened during each week (game turn) of the game and make adjustments as necessary.
I also wrote a post-mortem program that allows me to load the historical data into a modified version of the game that allows me to graphically view the game state on the map each week of the war.
The strategic AI for Germany, Japan, and Italy are executing their plans of world domination pretty well, and so far, have been able to equal or exceed their historical performance against the Allied AI. I am currently focusing on the Allied AI (China, France, UK, USSR, and USA).
Once the Allied AI is working as intended, I will be balancing the game further, by tightening the economies, adjusting production costs, adjusting combat losses, etc.
As I test the Strategic AI, I continue to tune the tactical AI as well.
Going forward, I will be providing further updates on different aspects of the game. If you have any areas of interest, please let me know, and I will try to address them in a future update.
I’m having a lot of fun building the game. I think you will enjoy it.
As Destiny of the World gets closer to completion, I wanted to start providing some status updates to let you know where we are at. The game has been feature-complete for several months now. The current focus is on tuning the AI and balancing the various game systems.
The game is simulating all aspects of World War II (Production, Research, Espionage, Combat, and Trade). Military units are modeled at the division level for land units, Air groups of 300 aircraft, and naval units are modeled as individual historically-named ships (for Aircraft Carriers, Battleships, and Cruisers), and 6-ship squadrons for destroyers and submarines.
I spent a couple of years just researching the data used by the game. As such, there is a tremendous amount of data. The data is stored in about 30 database tables with thousands of records. I want the game to provide a good simulation of World War II, but at the same time this is a game, so I will use creative license to ensure it is fun to play while still remaining true to the historical themes.
When I first started testing the early AI, there were a number of amusing bugs that I encountered. In a very early test, Germany was invading Poland. They had captured a Polish port containing two ships. When the port fell, the two ships escaped to sea. The German AI was determined not to let them escape and sent several infantry divisions in an attempt to chase them into the sea. This did not end well for the German Infantry. To my surprise, the Germans continued to send wave after wave of divisions to pursue the ships. I will emphasize that the AI and game was in a very early raw state at the time. 😊
Currently, the AI uses a multi-layered approach to managing the war. There is an overall AI that attempts to manage the resources of the country as a whole. There is a theater level AI that manages the Strategy for each theater in the war. And there is a tactical level AI that attempts to implement the plans set by the Strategic AI.
Production AI starts with historical data, and adapts it based on inputs from the combat AI, Trade AI, and Research AI.
For testing the AI, I am using several computers. I install the latest build on a PC and set the AI to play all countries. I have extensive logging in the debug builds. After the game completes, I can examine in detail what happened during each week (game turn) of the game and make adjustments as necessary.
I also wrote a post-mortem program that allows me to load the historical data into a modified version of the game that allows me to graphically view the game state on the map each week of the war.
The strategic AI for Germany, Japan, and Italy are executing their plans of world domination pretty well, and so far, have been able to equal or exceed their historical performance against the Allied AI. I am currently focusing on the Allied AI (China, France, UK, USSR, and USA).
Once the Allied AI is working as intended, I will be balancing the game further, by tightening the economies, adjusting production costs, adjusting combat losses, etc.
As I test the Strategic AI, I continue to tune the tactical AI as well.
Going forward, I will be providing further updates on different aspects of the game. If you have any areas of interest, please let me know, and I will try to address them in a future update.
I’m having a lot of fun building the game. I think you will enjoy it.