Greetings Lords of Rigel!
We appreciate the feedback on the initial EA2 release. This patch includes a number of fixes to issues reported by you and some minor quality of life and balance changes. Bugfixes:
• Tax slider update on scene change
• Planets menu wormhole explored system fix
• Adjusted galactic council vote display
• Reduced subsistence tech fix for lithovores and mechanoids
• Balance of power and feudal cost fixes for custom ship designs
QOL/Balance:
• Target damage number display in tactical
• Scrapping at outposts and scrapping larger ships if a starbase is absent
• Adjusted galactic council vote display
• Reduced cost for direct upgrade buildings if a lower tier version is present
• Smarter population focus use for Lithovores and Mechanoids
• Faster torpedo refire rate
EA2 upcoming quality of life improvements:
• Tactical autocombat AI orders (Chase, Strafe, Circle, Evade)
• Tactical formation rotation hotkey. (currently only right mouse button)
EA2 coming features:
• Elder Races
• Doomsday Clock
• New militia ground units
EA3 features will include:
• Custom Species
• Research Victory
• Grand Menaces
• Legendary Galaxies (1024 stars)
For our deep dive, we’ll look into LoR’s AI structure.
One ongoing joke is that in “4x games one of the Xs is for Xtremely bad AI.” In the end AI in games is an illusion for a player. The AI is intended to give the illusion of a player and one that provides feedback so that players can understand what its goals are. We didn’t want to make the AI solely designed to “win” as an AI focused on optimal outcomes can seem erratic as goals change and a more human like neural net AI is challenging to troubleshoot.
At the highest level we have species AI archetypes that get determined (Balanced, Diplomat, Honorable Warrior, Balanced Warrior, Cold Warrior, Isolationist, Spy). For example, diplomats try to be friendly and make treaties. Honorable Warriors stick to treaties and fight when slighted. Cold Warriors focus on using spies and aim for “tit for tat.” Each species is weighted towards certain archetypes. The species tooltip in diplomacy shows the leader personality and a breakdown of their high level AI behaviors.
Below the high level archetypes are personality templates that determine how the AI engages each part of the game. There’s a high level goal (Coalition, Domination, Elimination) and different approaches to Economy, Expansion, Diplomacy, Military, and Espionage. Coalition AIs try to make large alliances to win the game. Domination AIs are focused on maximizing their economies as much as possible, and Elimination AIs are focused on removing other species from the game. These are then fed to empire and colony level AIs.
The lower level AIs use what are called utility scores. They assess known data (planets explored, fleet strengths) and weigh that data with their goal type and personality. Some randomness is also added in some utility scores to help break ties. Overall, this means that decisions about picking planets to expand to might be similar (looking at minerals and what climates are best for a species) but how much to expand or where to expand (further out or closer in) will vary based on personality type.
Player automation systems (auto ship designer, autoexplore, autobuild, colony focus) all tap into lower level AI modules. So the AI uses the same tools as the player for higher level decisions.
Image 1. Basic Hierarchy for Strategic AI in Lord of Rigel
Image 2. A militaristic Human AI has the Yalkai and Selach on the ropes.Let us know what further changes you would like to see or if you have encountered any technical issues. Please post on the forums, reach out to us via Discord or send an email:
[email protected] Saved games and clear steps to reproduce the bug are critical. It helps us more quickly track down the bug and get it fixed. Additional information on bug reporting tips can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/437440/discussions/.
As always, we appreciate the feedback, conversations, and support from all of you!
Image 1. The Synth homeworld being attacked by their tyrannical creators
Image 2. Synth Concept Art
Image 3. Synth Diplomat
Image 4. Synth fleet with chase cam on in tactical in editor with AI debug displays