Hoffman wrote:The test galaxy is just like live IC, the code has to be rewritten to make the changes happen. The bigger the idea the more work is put into rewriting. Before doing big changes it's usualy a good idea to check that more than a few people want the change before investing time and resources in doing it. And i dont see this change happening anytime soon.
The idea I think people want implemented they probably don't know, because there isn't anything like it. It's new.
The idea is what comes after the development of the providing players the option to automate various functions of their game play.
What comes after this OPTION to activate different forms of automation is the IC I think players really want to play. But because there simply isn't anything like it people don't know what to think about it.
The idea I have is only now being imagined, and it is difficult to articulate:
Start by considering what happens after each of the following levels of automation are provided as OPTIONS to the player:
Degrees of automation:
Level 1 - Single action queuing, single action tick-delayed actions, etc..
Every player has their own activity level and this changes over the course of the round for various reasons. Players might be active, but not be able to log on to accomplish a particular task at the particular time required. A feature such as queuing or tick-delaying certain actions would be helpful for those players. For instance, queuing sending aid to a family member with pre-selected percentages of their GC and / or resources at a certain tick in the future (for instance when they know their partner is going to be logging in) would be helpful.
Other examples of queuing actions might be queuing expo building so that they build continuously. Of course, this would only be an option that players could deactivate whenever they want or need to.
Level 2 - Ongoing, continuous frequent action queuing
A lot of players can't be as active as they would like and yet would still like to be successful, contributory members of their fam. These players might like to have the option of sending regular shipments of various percentages of their GC and resources at specific intervals (for example, each tick or each 10 ticks, or any other frequency).
A lot of people only have 5 to 10 minutes when they log, and all they do is send aid. They don't bother opping or sending retake fleets because the way it is set up, attacking is too time-consuming and cumbersome. You need to check fam news, do IPs, PIs, hopefully get aid from fam members to build fleet - not enough time to do it in 5 to 10 minutes.
So they spend their time, aiding in, maybe checking the fam forum, and that is it.
With regular aiding, players can use the limited time they've got to do some ops or maybe even send some fleets! In essence, auto-aiding would increase activity in other respects.
Now, some players would want to use the auto-aiding function regularly not because they don't have time but because it is more efficient. A lot of players might choose to auto-aid each tick because their fam is making use of the auto-building function.
Auto-building function might be used by pop-bankers to creep build according to their pop-growth needs, and so paired with auto-aiding, pop bankers could grow more efficiently, especially larger empires. We know that manually building 100+ planets is ridiculously cumbersome and time-consuming. Auto-aiding could be used effectively by CF bankers as well. For instance, they could select to build so as to maintain their ratio of 2:10 Tax Offices. For resources as well it could be useful, for they select to build automatically so as to maintain a certain ratio of resources (iron:oct:end) for their purposes. Or players could select to auto-build only on portalled planets of a certain resource bonus type and only with a certain infra type, up to a certain threshold of OB percentage, and only as resources and GC are available according to their upkeep needs.
Auto-building could also be used to auto-build fleet by attackers who want to shore up losses / maintain fleet size in relation to auto-aided GC income / resource production, perhaps to shore up the regular losses they incur due to using the auto-attacking feature.
Auto-attacking would send mass fleets to pre-selected targets (by system, by player, or by family), all according to a perceived probability of success as determined by the computer via an auto-opping feature.
Auto-opping would be selected not only for offensive ops such as to continuously op a fam's food production, or CF banker's income, but also to continuously update the PI and IP intel on planets for the whole family, for all members who use PIs and IPs regularly would have the intel posted automatically to the map for all family members to see.
There could also be an auto-market function, whereby certain percentages of a player's GC / resources would be allocated to market activity according to pre-selected thresholds.
This level of automation would require synergy between various forms of automation, as their effectiveness would be mutually inter-dependent.
Level 3 - Full automation or 'simulation' mode - basically the activation of all of the above forms of automation and more, essentially handing-over your empire to AI to handle.
The aim of all of this is to support players who want to interact in the game in more dynamic ways, a step toward transcending IC towards its potential, helping it become a game that would appeal to millions if not billions of players. For after providing for full-automation mode, the player would then be freed to spend their valuable time interacting in the IC universe in different gaming modes:
a) Strategic command mode: a strategy component whereby the player would command units in specific battles for planets / entire systems (played-out over the course of the hour-long tick). This mode would allow the player an opportunity to use their creative and strategic aptitude to 'beat the odds' that would otherwise just be determined by math. It would be a cross between EU4 and Starcraft2, Simcity, etc. - only better. This mode is already automated currently. The process of developing this mode would be to de-automate it. Essentially, it would provide the option for players to manually participate as strategist for battles for planets and systems.
b) First-person, RPG mode: The player could create and maintain characters (soldiers, droids, fighter or bomber pilots, defense station commanders, agents, wizards. The player they could step into, perceive and interact in the IC Universe first person like in World of Warcraft. These characters might have special upgraded abilities, such a as an epic soldier who can command droids through a telepathic interface, or a fighter-pilot with his fighter suited up with a cloaking device or other various special abilities, or a commander of bomber crew, carrier vessel, defense station, etc.. Players could create characters as agents tasked with special missions beyond current operations such as infiltrating or planting nukes, but others, such as discovering and assassinating other players' special characters. Or players could play in first person as wizards, selecting special missions beyond current available spells, but new missions that could be conducted against their enemy's special characters. And perhaps along the way discovering such characters discover 'ancient rune artifacts' that present video segments of new releases of parts of the IC Universe history, essentially an epic tale of epic battles of the past, background to the IC game universe, as well as video segments of current events in the IC game universe, and changes to the game.
c) galactic command mode - After the development of AI, IC as it currently is becomes one of the modes of IC. It doesn't change much from what the game is today, except for the automation that provides the player the option to have the time to play the other modes. The galactic command mode remains free, thereby attracting players, whereas the other modes players have to pay for.
d) inter-galactic command mode - to be discussed, but essentially involves the player interacting in the IC gaming community as a whole - like on this forum but to a greater, more dynamic extent, including inter-galactic war between families and factions, the Overlords, Overseers, Celestial Guardians, Sentinels, etc..
As for the test galaxy, we can start small, perhaps just testing an auto-aiding feature. It's important, however, to understanding where small innovations in automation could take us, and keep that in mind. This game could become awesome and attract millions if not billions of players if we as a community continue developing it.
I just want to express the the magnitude and the potential of this game to branch out and reach a wider audience in the event AI is developed for it.
To just dismiss the development of AI as not 'IC' or not what IC 'should' be, is doing a disservice to what IC 'could' become, as well as a disservice to the players who have invested more than just their time into this, but also their heart, their ideas, and their hopes for its continued development and future success.
