Total War - How AI Can Deliver Entertainment

Explore the intricacies of AI implementation in grand strategy games through this ACCU 2018 conference talk by Duygu Cakmak and Guy Davidson. Delve into the complex execution environment of the Total War series, examining the challenges posed by time and memory restrictions on game AI. Learn about the decision-making processes dependent on the current world state and the techniques used to analyze a vast search space with limited resources. Discover how Monte Carlo Tree Search is applied with restricted tree building, branching, and pruning to enhance game AI performance. Gain insights into profiling techniques that contribute to AI optimization. Examine the campaign side of Total War, including game mechanics, turn sequences, and AI subsystems. Understand the evolution from old systems to data-driven approaches in diplomacy and goal generation. Explore resource allocation and coordination systems, and how they impact gameplay dynamics. This comprehensive talk provides a deep dive into the challenges and solutions of creating sophisticated AI for complex strategy games.

Introduction
Campaign overview
Game mechanics
Turn sequence
Seasons
Wind conditions
The model
Perfect information
Expose information
Personality
Team
AI subsystems
World information
Optimization
Analyzers
Analyzer Base
Financial System
Financial Analyzer
Validation
Summary
Diplomacy
Goal generators
Old system
Datadriven approach
Generators
Treaty Keys
Conditions
Condition
Target Group
List Limit
Faction Priority
Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Value Function
Associated Criteria
Difference in the Game
Dynamics
Task Generation
Generator Task
Test Generator
Resource Allocation
Resource Allocation System
Resource Coordination System
Problem
Implementation
Top Places
Order of nodes