Re: [TuxKart-devel] Ideas for AI

[Steve B. <sjb...@ai...>]

Aly Merchant wrote:

> What I mean is how much knowledge it actually requires to do whatever it
> needs to do.  The way I see it the AI will probably only care about the
> track it will reach in the next 5 seconds, or maybe it will track up to
> the next 2 turns in the road.  It's not going to be doing a full search
> on the entire course -- so what does it need to know about to be a
> decent AI?

Certainly, when you are racing for real (which is something I've actually
*done*!) you need to consider the entry to the NEXT corner when you plan
your entry to this one.  So certainly two turns ahead would work.

You might find that really good drivers would be looking further ahead -
but in this case, your choice of the perfect racing line becomes more
and more eclipsed by the other people on the track (who may NOT be
following a good line) and by the needs to dodge missiles or collect
items along the way.

I'd be rather suprised if you could usefully plan further than two turns
ahead.

> In my opinion considering the entire track on each decision would be a
> waste of time...

Yes - I agree.

The thing is that a TuxKart track is a dynamic place.  You could possibly
save a few tenths of a second by planning three, four turns ahead - but
by the time you get there, everything will have changed and all that early
planning would be wasted.

With this genre of games, it's MORE about the gadgets and collectibles
than it is about racing perfectly.

---------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------
HomeEmail: <sjb...@ai...>    WorkEmail: <sj...@li...>
HomePage : http://www.sjbaker.org
Projects : http://plib.sf.net    http://tuxaqfh.sf.net
            http://tuxkart.sf.net http://prettypoly.sf.net
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