This is perhaps the silliest of your arguments so far. Saying an idea is bad because outdated, inferior AI (even for the time!) isn't capable of handling a feature is just stupid, especially when the game is being developed by Stardock which has a reputation for having some of the best game AIs ever made.
lol now I know how ignorant and silly you really are. Stardocks ai isn't any better than the other ai's out there. I have stomped it's ai relentlessly and easily since it is so stupid in the diplomatic department. I have won every game buying the ai off to attack another ai and go in and get my share during each and every war until it comes down to the final two of us and that is such an easy pushover finish.
I can march fleet after fleet right up to an enemy planet and the ai does nothing to stop me. Destroy the handful of ships in space around the planet and then march in with my troup transports maxed out with infantry power and land based attack power and totally destroy any ai opposition.
Stardocks ai is just as dumb as the rest of them out there and the only way it can compete or make the game challenging is if they give it overpowering resources and income. Not one level higher than tough makes the AI any SMARTER on tactics that I've ever seen. Same old ai no matter what higher level you play it on.
Elemental ai will be no different and if you give the game such detais like most of the other ones have except Warlords you're going to find the ai in it will be the same pushover as all the rest.
There's only a handful of games that the ai is sound and actually an AI not a glob of extra resourses or things that stifle the human player. War of the Lance was one of them many many years ago.
Throughout the years and I've played many 35 years plus now I haven't seen much in the way of ai improvements only ai ADVANATAGES and CHEATS. Sorry pal but that's not ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE that's behind the scenes cheating and coverup of a lousy ai.
One of the biggest issues btw of GalCiv2 is when you're inspecting an ai down at the bottom on the MISL row it will tel you what the ai is researching and how many turns before complete WITHOUT HAVING TO USE SPYING. That's the other thing I can destroy the ai with as I will always tech up in those techs first and then sell them to the ai's when they are within 1 or 2 turns of completion. Just another way of showing you the programming was bad for the ai of GalCiv2 as well and I even brought this up on the GalCiv2 forums when patching was being done and they never did anything about it.
So don't go giving me I don't know what I'm talking about. I've probably been gaming a lot longer than you have and played more PC wargames than you'll ever see. I was a beta tester for SSI for years as well. I've seen it all and once again it's rare to see any games AI that is any good nowadays. Giving them 100x more resources or having them see the entire map vs humans is not AI it's cheats and handicaps nothing more.\
But one thing is for certain using the "kill the wizard the entire race dies" is the worst design idea ever as AOW:II and AOW:SM proved that. The single player solo game is so easy even with all the ai's maxed out because once again diplomacy rules and it is so easy to make peace, march your stacks up to the place where the wizard resides and declare war and game over for the ai. Stupidiest most retarded game design I ever saw.
Once again the idea is fine for multiplayer games to get them over quickly, but against the ai it's a horrible design idea.
And one more thing Pigeon all of your statements and comments reek of MULTIPLAYER ideals and if you've been around as long as I have you KNOW the AI will never be able to hold up to those kinds of rules and stipulations you and others want to impose in this game. It never has and it never will where DIPLOMACY is involved. The AI has ALWAYS been a pushover piecemeal when diplomacy is involved and then the rest of the issues it still has never been programmed to really adhere to the rules of the game. Like in the AOW:SM series the ai wouldn't use it's pioneers. Many of the ai's ignore the explorables. Theya re programmed with certain objectives to keep or get and they do stupid things like move back and forth up and down roads and don't attack when it is a sure win if they did or would letting the human player get away with a lone hero after a severe battle where his hero barely escapes and there's an enemy ai stack not 3 clicks from it and they just act like he's not even there.
You want to make a strong ai game stop putting so many variables in the game for players sake and demand. The Warlords series is probably one of the best at this save for Warlords IV and it allowing you to take leaders with their equiment over to the next battles or save them for skirmish mode. Well that little programming feature allowed me to build an invinsible leader vs the AI and he could take out stack after stack solo even on expert mode (although I did group him with those nice 3 headed fire dragons)
But, this proves my point about overpowering the middle or end game. Stop with the unlimited ability for a hero/wizard/leader/whatever to grow into an invincible form.
And finally if there is no change and the same comes out of this Elemental as the rest I will certainly be back to tell you "I TOLD YOU SO" But, if they can pull it off and create an AI that can handle ALL THESE THINGS YALL ARE HOPING FOR I'll be the first to Apologize and bow to Stardock, but, I haven't had to do that yet with any game or developer so I'm not too worried about this time either.
Things they must do to pass grade:
1) No grunt rush ability
2) No middle game overpowering characters/wizards/anything
3) An AI that is an AI and not full of cheats and handicaps
4) Slow play tech leveling or building upgrades (too many games bypass the low end units for the rush to the high end units)
5) The ability for the player to tweak and adjust the AGGRESSIVENESS OF EACH INDIVIDUAL AI against him. (AOW1 did this and that was a smart move. But the ai has so many other flaws it didn't really matter) (Civilization IV does this but it is for ALL AI not INDIVIDUALLY) GalCiv2 allows for these kinds of choices I believe, but, custom made AI's are pitiful compared to ingame programmed ai's I've found.
6) No ally diplomacy with the human player. Ai's can ally with each other but never with human player.
7) Ai realization that the human player is winning and allies to form a mass alliance toward the human player to take him down or out.
8) An ai that PLAYS TO WIN not to merely delay the inevitable.
Do all these things and you might have a NEW type game to deliver. Anything less is the same as the rest.