I'm still really excited for Age of Empires 4 but the idea that it could possibly end up being used to make military AI is so fucking sad. I just want play a game I loved since I was a child....

This is all speculation so hopefully nothing like that actually happens.

Anyone else here excited for Age 4?

  • GenderIsOpSec [she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    Imagine how much good we could do with an AI, instead of wasting them on this shit and targeted ads.

    Also yeah, I've been following the game, I like how you can finally put dudes on top of the walls and how each side is visually distinct now. Definitely won't get it on release though, still have a lot of AoE2 remastered to play :meow-floppy:

    • PlantsRstillCool [des/pair]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      Great point. It's not just sad that they're doing bad shit with AI but they could be doing so much good with it and aren't because they're too busy to evil shit.

      I'm definitely going to play the game in release. My brother has gamepass and it'll be on there so it's not gonna cost anything so why not.

      I like the guys and the wall too. The campaigns look awesome too. I love the way they have incorporated historical documentary into them. It seems like they're really leaning into the educational aspect of the age games and I love that.

      • GenderIsOpSec [she/her]
        ·
        3 years ago

        educational aspect

        Always a cool thing, and the series did spark my interest in history. Although I did think for the longest time that William Wallace won the Battle of Falkirk because of AoE2 and other assorted historical stuff that is swept under the rug for the sake of a satisfying story in the campaigns. It did teach me to be hella sceptical in regards to popular media history, eventually, so it's not all bad.

        I wish they'd release an actual full gameplay like a skirmish or a multiplayer game, instead of those short heavily edited trailer pieces, so we could actually see how it works. Like I want to see if the town generates those sweet looking roads on their own or if that's all scenario editor doodads that they add in to spice it up.

        • PlantsRstillCool [des/pair]
          hexagon
          ·
          3 years ago

          Yeah the age games were always better at sparking interest in history than actually teaching it lol

          There are some long let's plays of the recent beta out there if you want to see more long gameplay. I haven't seen multiplayer yet tho

  • Mardoniush [she/her]
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    3 years ago

    "It says here if we focus all our resources on getting 10,000 guys in robes to walk up to the Taliban saying "Wahnana!" we'll be unbeatable!"

    • PlantsRstillCool [des/pair]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      Lmao at least that strategy would waste 20 years and they'd get the losing done right away

  • Galli [comrade/them]
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    3 years ago

    Pretty pathetic stretch.

    AI is already being trained on games but in simulations of AI vs AI. Any application would need to be then trained on military data, not video games.

    • PlantsRstillCool [des/pair]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      I agree it's very speculative. But I think they make a good point that AI needs to be trained against humans and strategy videos games would perfect for that as the massive amount of data would be 1000s if not 1000000s times more than thru pretty much any other method

      • Galli [comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        You can generate more data from AI games than human games. The majority of human games are not useful data since the average human player is definitionally of average skill and most games will be played along the lines of a defined meta (humans are playing for their rank, not to explore the gamespace). AI games can generate considerably more data since the games are played much faster (they are not played out at human observable speeds), every game is played by an AI at the top skill level so far achieved by AI and the evolution of the AI will include a level of fuzziness that results in a greater range of strategies being explored many of which would be unintuitive for humans. It doesn't really matter though since the AI will not be transferable to other applications, even similar games will require restarting from scratch.

    • PlantsRstillCool [des/pair]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      Age 4 is medieval again but it looks like it's own game. I'm pretty impressed with what I have seen so far.

      People do remake chess and it's a lot of fun. Really Bad Chess is really fun. So is Kung Fu chess where there are no turns but each time you move a piece is has a cool down. Also the rules of chess have changed drastically over time so idk not a great example

        • PlantsRstillCool [des/pair]
          hexagon
          ·
          3 years ago

          Yeah I see your point. I wouldnt considerAge 4 a remake tho, it really looks like it's own game it is just set during the same time period as 2.

          We'll see when it's released how good it is

          I like the art... Other than the scaling between units and buildings which is kinda wonky

        • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Instead of making more AoEs and repeating eras and stuff, they should just make AoM sequels.

          There's SO much potential out there. Also there's a strategic variety/divergence that means you can't predict everything about a faction intuitively.