The Clash of Civilizations 



This is no longer the main Clash web site.  Dominic and Kull have put together a
Great new site that is mostly finished at this point.  Please go to the...

New Clash Project Web Site.
 

Want to request features, or suggest a great way to handle implementation of a concept in Clash?
Check out our Forum, at the Apolyton Civilization Site, Well over 2000 Posts!


Overview of the Project   Civilization Advances Chart (133K)   Map AI Screen Shot
 Economy Screen   Economic Development    Gaming/AI Links

...Really Old News...
 

The first discussion of... Clash's RealPolitik AI (and about Hierarchical AI in general)   Still no code :-(

The Clash of Civilizations is a computer strategy game we are developing that attempts to sketch out pretty much the whole of history in game form.  The player(s) of such a game make decisions about their civilization’s economic stance (guns vs. butter), military and diplomatic actions, and a host of other things.  Moving from antiquity into the current time, fostering technological and social progress of the civilization (civ) is generally a main concern of the player.  Arguably, the modern progenitor of this sort of game is "Sid Meier’s Civilization", now about a decade old (and its sequel, imaginatively named Civilization II or Civ II).

I started this project because, although fascinated with the general concept, I got disgusted with all the many games of this type available.  I had different quarrels with different games, but the biggest problems shared by most of these games were fairly poor AI, huge amounts of unnecessary busywork, and that they just didn't feel right in terms of the "history" they produced. The Clash of Civilizations will try to answer these defects in the others.  We are now a group approaching 20 members, with similar views, working to get a game out that fixes these defects.

The Clash project is still looking for people to join.  Especially needed are Java programmers with an interest in this type of game, since the biggest bottleneck right now is coding.  As the project gets further along we'll also need more graphics people, and playtesters.  We also need people who can criticize all the aspects of the game, from a perspective of economics, military history, AI, etc.  The criticism group is needed because I think getting Clash as close to reality as possible will make it both a significantly better game and of some educational value.  If the project works out as well as I think it will, the game will be put out as shareware (free demo, pay for full version).  Collaborators will earn returns depending on the amount of work they've put into the project (TBD).  If you're interested in participating drop me a line


- Mark Everson


  Special thanks to Dominique for doing the logo

Defects in the other Civ-type games that Clash will address

Pathetic AI
AI simply takes a lot of thought and work (modern desktop processing power does help a lot).  Either the programmers of the previous games didn’t have a good enough grasp of their own games to see the glaring problems in the AI, or weren't willing to devote even a minuscule fraction of the clock cycles to AI.  I'm not talking about rocket-science stuff here.  To write an AI that would beat someone that is very good at strategic games would be Very difficult.  I am not blaming the industry for not producing AI at That level...  Its relatively simple things, like the Glaring defects in the Civ2 AI.  Once typical games get out into the wider gaming community there are Lots of people capable of winning vs. The AI on the hardest settings every time. The current fascination with "real-time" strategy games doesn't encourage me that substantial improvements in AI of commercial games is likely in the near future.

In Clash we plan to:

Too Much Busywork
Busywork, as opposed to value-added actions that are crucial to putting one’s own stamp on the game, is rampant in these titles.  There are several general problems: Unrealistic "History"
The extant games of this variety generally model economies, cultures and cultural interactions, technological change, and changes of military power with technology very poorly.  What we're trying to achieve in each instance with Clash is to at least get the right feel of the balances of economic, military and political power throughout the ages.


Civ2 AI Comments, as an example...

Here's a brief critique of the AI in Civ2 (Based on limited information I don't think SMAC or Civ:CTP are much better).  I'll suggest a couple of obvious improvements the AI could use (IMHO anyway).  The suggestions are specific to this game, so if you aren't familiar with it, this stuff might not mean mucy...   Since I'm a programmer I'll start couning with 0... ;-)
                     0) AI needs to expand more quickly, especially at the start. It is waaaay too conservative,
                     and incurs huge "opportunity costs" in size due to slow expansion.

                     1) AI should mass units for attacks (right now the AI throws individual units at enemies)

                     2) AI should have some concept of distance and "striking range" of each civ. I chuckle
                     every time I extort money out of an AI civ half way around the world, that I'd be Very
                     fortunate to wound in the slightest way. The AI also caves into pressure Much too easily
                     IMO. It should take a Very serious threat to make it give up money or tech.

                     3) AI needs to understand the probablility of success of attacks. NO more attacking fortified
                     units on mountains....

                     4) AI should properly execute surprise attacks (rather than not attacking at all, or with a
                     single unit). When a human surprise attacks it is usually with masses of troops on the
                     frontier or offshore.

                     5) AI should build more diplomats/spies and Use Them. Even used in a ham-handed
                     manner they are pretty nasty.

                    I haven't included anything in this list that is hard IMO... I think just improving these
                     could help the AI to be a significantly better challenge.

                     When you get into difficult things I'd add: a notion of geography; with this goes fewer
                     defensive units in interior cities; using diplomats to cancel ZOC restrictions like people
                     do; having the AI build cities in niches on the shore that have only a few land squares but
                     could develop into decent sized cities with a harbor...

                     That's probably enough ranting for now.

Links

Artificial Intelligence in Games
Stendahl's Computer Game Programming Links
Amit's Game Programmer Information
Amit's Comments on the A* Algorithm
Amit J. Patel's A* Implementation (in C++)
An optimal pathfinder for vehicles in real-world digital terrain maps
Two Shortest Path Algorithms

 
Genetic Algorithms FAQ

CRAIG: Campaign for Real AI in Games - Games Domain Review
Games Domain - Games Games Games Games
GameSpot's Home Page for Strategy Games

COMPUTER GAMES STRATEGY PLUS ONLINE

Clash Forum
Apolyton Civilization Site.
The Clash Team
My Home Page


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