Here's some early results from adding AI colonies to freeplay! You'll be able to add them from the freeplay setup menu. In this initial implementation they're all enemies, and you'll be able to choose their species, colour and play difficulty.
In the 2nd image you can see 3 AI colonies after they've excavated their nests. You can also see one of our dev tricks here - all the underground nests are actually right next to each other! Of course this doesn't matter in the actual game, but it's an interesting detail to point out.
The AI will do all their own excavation (it won't be pre-built for them) but in this first implementation they do follow one of a selection of developer-made nest designs. Further in the future we plan to have the AI design its own nest.
They control their ants in the same way players do, by placing markers near interesting things. In the 3rd image you can see a clash between a leafcutter AI and a wood ant AI as their foraging trails crossed paths!
There's no specific ETA on this (because we're not very good at estimating times) but the systems are well underway at this point.
In the 2nd image you can see 3 AI colonies after they've excavated their nests. You can also see one of our dev tricks here - all the underground nests are actually right next to each other! Of course this doesn't matter in the actual game, but it's an interesting detail to point out.
The AI will do all their own excavation (it won't be pre-built for them) but in this first implementation they do follow one of a selection of developer-made nest designs. Further in the future we plan to have the AI design its own nest.
They control their ants in the same way players do, by placing markers near interesting things. In the 3rd image you can see a clash between a leafcutter AI and a wood ant AI as their foraging trails crossed paths!
There's no specific ETA on this (because we're not very good at estimating times) but the systems are well underway at this point.
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