The fear is that if AI modding and modding in general aren't brought to the fore sooner rather than later, many aspects will end up being hardcoded - i.e. locked out to modders, as with Civ5, which destroyed the mod scene, compared to how much was happening with Civ4.

I voted no, because it is counter productive to optimize the AI before all key game mechanics are working as desired.



Some basic AI tweaks like seen in release 4.2 are good of course.



Now, I understand that your question was about modding and not the core AI itself, but I don't see the logic in making something that is clearly unfinished be moddable too early. Finish the game first then add modding. Just be sure that the game is designed with modding in mind.

Stealth_Hawk wrote:
Totally agreed with all of the above posts.



Not just for AI modding either, personally I would like to see overall modding take top priority.



Amplitude, it is simply not possible to develop Endless Legend into a game every 4X player will love. As with ES, you will most likely please the majority, but with modding support you can let the community customize the game to convince the minority who won't buy the game.



Modding support is truly a marketing tool to behold for games like this.

I especially agree with this. I believe it was visible the most with Arma II and Day Z mode when the game was bought only to be able to play the mod. However I saw people buying Civilization to play various mods especially fall of gods I think. The other example would be modding community in skyrim. I



In many cases modding not only boosts sales but also increases longevity of title. I would really like if it was possible for good mod support for this game ^^. At he very least some scenario/map editor at release and then, if there is not enough time, proper modding added later.

+1'd.



Though in my case, I don't really care about the modding, I'd love to see a better AI that plays a little bit more like a human would. And if others get to make the game more interesting in their spare time, all the better.

Totally agreed with all of the above posts.



Not just for AI modding either, personally I would like to see overall modding take top priority.



Amplitude, it is simply not possible to develop Endless Legend into a game every 4X player will love. As with ES, you will most likely please the majority, but with modding support you can let the community customize the game to convince the minority who won't buy the game.



Modding support is truly a marketing tool to behold for games like this.

glutamate wrote:
Thanks for making this post.



Strategy games with modding, especially AI modding, live so much longer. Some games we have today wouldn't even have existed if it weren't for modding - out of the top 10 games on Steam at the moment, 5 are sequels/based off mods, and Skyrim can have a special mention because of how many people only got it for the mods. Similar case with ARMA2 - it sold a ton of copies (entering the top sellers while not on sale years after release) just because of that zombie mod, which became the standalone game DayZ. Just think, the platform here - a hex-based 4x - and consider how unmoddable Civ5 (another one of the top 10 played games) is - if you capture the mod scene which was abandoned by Firaxis, it could be massive.

Totally agree, Games that shoot off in popularity or live 'forever' have amazing mod communities. NWN, The ES games, Mount and Blade (and it's clones) I argue, became successful from modding communities. There are HUNDREDs of reasons why modding should be a top priority and the above posts illustrate that.

Thanks for making this post.



Strategy games with modding, especially AI modding, live so much longer. Some games we have today wouldn't even have existed if it weren't for modding - out of the top 10 games on Steam at the moment, 5 are sequels/based off mods, and Skyrim can have a special mention because of how many people only got it for the mods. Similar case with ARMA2 - it sold a ton of copies (entering the top sellers while not on sale years after release) just because of that zombie mod, which became the standalone game DayZ. Just think, the platform here - a hex-based 4x - and consider how unmoddable Civ5 (another one of the top 10 played games) is - if you capture the mod scene which was abandoned by Firaxis, it could be massive.