Hey there everyone, long time lurker and first time poster here. I'm a huge fan of the Endless Space project and design ethos. I'm a veteran 4X strategy player with thousands of hours across GalCiv2, Sins, Star Ruler, CIv and Distant Worlds to name a few



I'm a firm believer in the ethos that the body and soul of any great strategy title will always be built on a solid AI foundation. GalCiv's complete edition enjoys its 93 on Metacritic thanks in large part to an incredibly immersive and complete AI package which serves to envelop you into the IR interplay between empires. Now AI is obviously difficult, and to elevate a system from functional to flawless is in GalCiv's case the work of several expansions and countless patches but some basic design choices can go a massive may to crafting a believable experience. I don't want to sound condescending, obviously Amplitude are the real experts here and my design pedigree is limited to some TW AI mods I worked on with a friend but I honestly feel I have some suggestions which would have an immediate and beneficial on the ES metagame.



All these ideas are just numerical alterations to the modifier system currently in place and would be easily implemented. Don't worry, this isn't a "MY SUgGEstiern : MAK AI beTTAR" post.



Okay first basic principle crucial to a successful 4x ai system is a recognition of power balance and bandwaggoning. The central principle to diplomatic interplay in any sphere is ensuring the scales of influence remained tipped in your favour. This is usually achieved by attempts to balance the arena between opponents. In practice what does this mean? Here are the modifiers I'd propose.



Area 1: Make Alliance Viable





Alliance: +200 (starts at 50 grows)

Obvious change, alliances should be solid commitments with real implications on the galactic geopolitics.



Military Weakness: -40 [-60for'evil'factions] (variable modifier which starts at 0 and peaks at -40)

People don't crush every power weaker than them, that's just stupid. Indeed the aquisition of comparitively feeble allies has clear economic and geopolitical advantages in both real life and strategy gaming. Borders can be padded, causes furthered and finances bolstered. An unlimited penalty applied for either fear or arrogance is totally contrary to these aims and warps the discourse weirdly.



Military Strength: +40 [-40forfactionsofopposingmoralstandpoints] (variable monitor peaks at +/-40, disappears if war begins between two factions)

A military strong ideologically consistent neighbour is clearly a desirable ally and as such the relationship bonus should reflect this. Fear is of course likely if the neighbour is totally opposed to your politics hense the variable



Distance: +200 (dependant on location, drops by 10 for every star links you are from the person, so if you are 20 link away you get the full modifier)

This is a cool one. It reflects and recreates the 'somebody elses problem' concept that permeates modern IR. If an invasion or genocide is happening, you will care less if its a billion lightyears away. This exists to allow neutrality between diametrically opposed but totally removed factions despite the huge negative modifiers accrued by instigating an aggressive occupational conflict.





Area 2: Balance of Power Politics





Warmonger: -50 [-10foreviltoevilfactions] (hits immediately)

A nice little tweak which applies upon declaring an offensive conflict. All factions would have this hit applied to their relationship with you, imagine this serving a little like infamy from paradox games.



A Common Enemy: +50 (Stacks immediately, doesn't change)

Pretty self explanitory, but shared opponents are historically hugely influential in shaping alliance and cooperation. +5 is a gross misrepresentation of the psychological reality. This also would lead to more bandwagoning where clearly dangerous empires with massively expansionist policies suffer at the hands of a united coalition which has evolved to face them from this modifier.



Genocide: -100 (Immediate hit which decreases over time)

This is a cool one (though I say it myself). When you or an AI player wipes out an opposing faction this modifier hits. This is in recognition of the inevitable shock that would follow the eradication of a government that has stood for centuries. What does it do? It means that diplomatic insanity paired with manic expansion results in concrete repercussions from more restrained AI peers. This also is more likely to result in organic and effective defensive coalitions and alliances, the creation of which will alter the metagame for the immersive better. Lastly, it makes the pursuit of red peace more likely. With awareness of this modifier, players and AI opponents will certainly consider allowing the continuation of a weakened opponent (perhaps as a trading partner) instead of just wiping them off the face of the universe.



Trading Partner: +50 (Starts at +5 and grows consistently over time)

An obvious suggestion, if trade is massively beneficial economically it will (and has) always been a crucial modifier in influencing IR politics and decisions.



Attacked Trading Partner: -30 (flat hit)

Another cool one. The idea behind this modifier is to increase the likelihood of allies and trading partners conspiring together to bring down an aggressor which threatens their economic interests. It also increases the likelyhood of realistic galactic conflicts between coalitions as opposed to congo lines of conflict with A fighting B fighting C fighting D etcetera.



Rapid Expansion: -50 (Starts at -10 and grows depending on scale of expansion)

A basic modifier used to punish colony rushing a little, not exactly revolutionary.



Occupationist: -100 [-10eviltoevil] (-10 for initial occupation stacking 10 times up to a limit of -100 then decreases over time no matter how many more you claim. Resets if you declare war on fresh opponent)

This modifier would apply to all factions in contact with you when you (or they) invaded an enemy system and claim it for your empire. Actually annexing an opponent is always a big step in politics. Clearly its less of one in 4x strategy :P but still the modifier serves to increase the likelyhood of AI interfering to prevent the steamrolling of a neighbour for example.





There are others I'd considered but I don't want this to be to long (thanks for reading!). I'd love to hear an amplitude opinion on these, (you heard me, im cashing in my emperor edition for a reply :P ) but this was mostly for the community. Feedback, ideas and criticism welcome!

All your ideas seems nice, and I feel that they give a more realistic perspective to IR. Personally I would up the importance of trade, but maybe that is just because in general it seems a bit unimportant at the moment. My hopes for the game is that they, in the future would enable something like the galactic senate in Star Wars, may represented ingame in the same way the UN was in Civ IV?

Thats a pretty solid idea, although it seems hard for senates and the like to elevate themselves above being gimmicks. Definitely something to consider though! I buffed trade a fair bit, but I agree it definitely deserves more weight than these kind of games seem happy to give, another quick idea is taking the 'expanding fleets' thing they implemented on node lines and putting it on your fleets around your planets. Click on them and watch them fan out around the system would be really cool and useful.