Empire: Total War

[titanvoyager]

Continuación...

WP: You've changed how the AI works for Total War. Can you explain that a little bit?

KB: Yeah. That's a massive overhaul. We scrapped the AI system and wrote it again from the start. We used to use what was called a state-based AI approach, which is very much like a chess game. It does A, then B, then C. Now we're using a system of goal-oriented action planning, or GOAP, which basically means that the AI is constantly looking at the status of forces on the battlefield, which of course, is resources, and it's got a list of jobs. Like, imagine you've got a list of post-its on your desk, and this is the number one thing I've got to do today, and this is the second. It moves those things around based on what's happening. So let's say its general is safely at the back of its army, right? And you're fighting very well and suddenly you outflank him. You come right around from the back, and there's a real chance that its general is in danger. The post-it note that says "Protected the general" goes from seventh to first, and then it looks at its resources and goes, "I've got artillery crews, I've got cavalry, I've got infantry. How do I achieve that objective now?" So what that means is you get a lot more dynamic backward and forward gameplay with the AI reacting to the things you're doing in real time, rather than going "I've got to do A, then I've got to do B," and if you interrupt it anywhere in that cycle, it doesn't get to the next step. Now, it's constantly looking at what its priorities should be to achieve its objectives and basing its movements and its actions around that exact thing.

WP: So it's more like fighting a real human.

KB: Really. Yeah, yeah. Much, much more so. In some cases, more difficult. Fighting dumb people is easier than fighting the AI, from some perspectives.

WP: Is there anything about the game that we haven't talked about that you wanted to add?

KB: Obviously we mentioned a little bit about The Road to Independence today, which is a brand new, standalone campaign mode, separate to the grand campaign. It's narrative-driven, story-driven, which we hope will bring new people into the game and also satisfy our older fans with the new experience. In addition, I think I'd like to mention that it's the biggest campaign we've ever done. You're covering three massive theatres, we've got the most detailed and largest map we've ever had, and finally, but we're now giving away the farm, we're adding multiplayer modes and doing a lot there, which our established fans have asked us for, for quite a while. So hopefully it'll certainly our most ambitious, hopefully it'll be our most successful title to date.