In response to Emirkol's previous comment: Then we must have been playing different games because I never found the ai to be messing up nearly as much as what you seem to describe. My characters always fought the target I told them to fight with with weapon I told them to use, except or until they killed a target and switched to a new one. They always cast the spell I told them cast at the target I gave them. Then when their target died they switched to the next closest target and used the weapon I had told them to use. Characters that had ranged weapons set as their priority always used ranged weapons when there was no enemy within melee range, just like I wanted them to do. The only time they might do something I think qualifies as messing up is when they killed one opponent and then moved to the next. Sometimes I might prefer to have them attack a different target, and sometimes I might prefer to have them fall back and switch to a ranged weapon on a different target. Making those changes ONLY at the end of a turn is no different than making exactly the same changes during a turn by being able to pause. The only real difference is WHEN those changes are made but not IF those changes are made. My characters had as much or as little autonomy as I wanted them to have by choosing how much they had.
The thing is, IF the ai is going to mess things up it is going to mess up in exactly the same ways regardless of whether it is messing up in a TB mode or in a RTwP mode. If the ai is going to mess up the ai is going to mess up. Whether the ai is messing up in TB mode or RTwP mode is irrelevant. In both cases the player can still fix whatever the ai does or doesn't do. The only real difference between the two modes is WHEN the player can respond to what the ai is doing.
So yeah, frankly I don't get it. You seem to be describing different games from the ones I played. More importantly, you are implying that the ai messes up in RTwP mode but doesn't mess up in TB mode. But that is far from reality. The ONLY real difference between the two modes is the interval between the times when the player can respond to what the ai is doing. In RT mode both the game turns and the functional turns are exactly the same length of time every time. In RTwP mode each game turn is exactly the same length of time with the computer handling that transparently in the background, and the functional turns of when the player can issue new orders is variable depending upon when the player chooses to end the previous functional turn and then begin the next functional turn. In BOTH modes the ai is going to do what the ai is going to do.
Last edited by Vlad the Impaler; 20/08/2004:06 PM.
