ai AI expansion priorities

**Redguy325** · September 14

So, I am not sure if it's reasonable to propose anything so close to the release, but I think that Jakowski's AI tinkering isn't over yet so here is my proposal:

The scenario creator should have the ability to set AI expansion priorities. The idea is simple: each civilization in a scenario could be given preferred directions for expansion. This would likely be based on regions (if such thing even exists in the game), allowing for more realistic outcomes. For example, Poland could be more inclined to invade and claim territories in Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Belarus, Russia), while showing reluctance to expand into Germany, Scandinavia, etc.

Here's my basic concept of how the system might work (details are not important but want to fully show my idea):

Each civilization would have an "Expansion Priority Factor" ranging from -100 to 100, with 0 as the default. This factor could be defined in a .json file or adjusted within the scenario editor. A setting of -100 would make a civilization completely unwilling to claim territory in a specific region (either in war or during peace conferences), while +100 would make it obsessed with claiming as much as it can. Values in between would represent varying levels of priority. These factors could apply to regions, continents, or even specific provinces but in Civlization's (TAG's) data. So Poland would have in its Data that it has +50 factor on Ukraine and Belarus, while -50 on western Europe.

setting would impact these behaviors of AI

- Declaring war (Unless it's joining foreign war state would have no interest in invading its neighbour)

- Claiming provinces in a Peace conference

- Less willing to ally when second state is in area of interest

This kind of system could help prevent AI from creating random and unrealistic borders. For example in Jakowski's latest video, Bohemia just annexes Poland, and Lithuania takes control of Constantinople. It's not that I really hate that outcome, sometimes chaos is really fun, but I believe it should be settable to limit.

Edited September 14 by Redguy325