"A.I. Colonies Only" Option for Freeplay

Mr_Ced

Colony
I thought it would be cool to see an A.I. colony grow and defend itself from other colonies and bugs. It would also be fun to watch a couple of colonies fight for resources and territory and not need to worry about your own.
 

A cool guy

Worker
LOL. MrCed2003. That would be very cool. Maybe you can control an A.I colony (so it's not A.I anymore xD) by making choices, like: Narrator: "As the tide recedes, it brings with it, an abundant source of food. Do you want to scavenge the beach, or stay underground to replenish your numbers?" And then you would have to make a choice. Then you would see how your colony would turn out after you make the choices. xD It would be like simulator(Ha! A simulator in a simulator) that allows you to make the better choices.
 
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Seally

Larva
Historically, I think I've watched the AI play RTS more than I've actually played them myself (I suck at RTS multi-tasking), so this should be fun if it's added.

A couple of related ideas:
1) Ability to place enemies into the battlefield (like in post-formicarium 2 challenge or battle arena) and watch how the AI responds.
2) Partial AIs. For example, I can make it so that the AI handles setting pheromone markers while I handle nest building, and vice versa. This feature should be easier if the AI's decision tree (or whatever it is you're using for the AI) can be modularized somehow. Another method is to allow the player to override AI decisions (but not the other way around).
 

JCL

Larva
I agree with both suggestions here. I spent endless hours playing the old SimAnt game where I would create and place all sorts of edits into a freeplay and watch what would happen immediately afterwards. I would do that even after I got bored of the campaign and normal freeplay as an actual colony. There is much replay-ability there and a large part of the customization desired out there in the gaming community at-large. The battle arena is an interesting twist on that, but I'd say take it to the next "level."

I also support the idea of watching the AI do it's thing unhindered by the player if desired. Half of the fascination of ants in real life is just watching them. It's amazing how you can pass that time away and get lost in what you're observing. Part of the reason I think the Ant Farms were a popular item for children, albeit very temporary.

Both great added values to an already fantastic game.
 
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