Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 543 - 526: Two Bugs

Chapter 543: Chapter 526: Two Bugs

Gu Fan knew very well that at this time, speed was of the essence. He had to explain everything as quickly as possible; otherwise, it would be very easy for Lilith to take advantage of the situation.

"President Li, there are actually two bugs this time.

"The first is the bug where fake-AI replaced the Governor in carrying out construction.

"The second is the bug where the game did not automatically settle once players finished their matches.

"These two bugs look indeed very absurd and completely different from our originally designed core mechanisms. I was also very puzzled at first."

Lilith had an "I’ll-believe-that-when-pigs-fly" expression on her face.

You were puzzled at first?

Ha, let’s see if I believe that.

Unfazed, Gu Fan continued, "After a more in-depth investigation of the code, I’ve realized that this issue is indeed much more complex than we originally thought.

"First, the issue of the fake-AI replacing the Governor to carry out construction.

"In principle, such a situation is highly unlikely. But to say it is completely impossible isn’t 100% in line with the underlying code mechanisms."

This beginning alone shocked Lilith, "Wait a moment, Gu Fan, when did you start minoring in Mao Dun literature!

"Do you not see the contradiction in your statement?"

Gu Fan kept on explaining, "President Li, please hear me out.

"In principle, such a situation is unlikely because when we were designing the game, we did not deliberately create gameplay mechanics where `fake-AI replaces Governor players to perform construction operations`.

"Therefore, if players follow the normal gameplay flow, it can be confirmed that this situation is almost 99% unlikely to occur.

"The remaining 1% is actually due to your request."

Lilith was stunned, "How is it my request?"

Gu Fan explained, "I remember that in the initial concept draft of ’Star Plan,’ there was a requirement:

"’We hoped to create an unstable trinary system involving two players and a fake-AI as much as possible,’ wasn’t that your request?"

Lilith paused for a moment, then asked, "But what does this have to do with the bug!"

This point was not actually raised by Lilith but by Qin Fengliang.

The reason was simple. Lilith had been repeatedly defeated by the fake-AI and therefore wanted to find a way to suppress the fake-AI and even use it against itself.

However, it was impossible to directly remove the fake-AI module.

Because the official system had already embedded it into the editor, it was deeply integrated and complex, touching one part would affect all others.

And the officials were still constantly updating it.

Lilith dared not develop their engine for fear that her underlings would dig even bigger holes during the self-developed engine process, so she could only make do with the official engine.

At this point, Qin Fengliang suggested that players and fake-AI could form a chaotic trinary system to interfere with each other.

According to the original architecture, this system was perfect.

The Governor and the leader, these two players, would game against each other, being the absolute dominators of the game.

But the fake-AI was not idle either; it would mess things up now and then, like sneaking an out-of-spec part into the production line or secretly stopping construction on a key building that was underway.

In the process of plotting against each other, the Governor and the leader might not particularly care who did it or even realize that the fake-AI could cause such trouble.

In such cases, conflicts would naturally arise.

Imagine this: the two players are arguing, and suddenly they discover an extra part on the production line, causing the entire industrial area to shut down.

At this point, the leader would definitely blame the Governor for screwing up, but the Governor would feel wronged and insist that he wasn’t responsible. The leader would then retort, "If not you, could it possibly be me?"

Back and forth, the negative feelings would arise, wouldn’t they?

That is to say, when the Governor was working normally, the fake-AI could not play a leading role; any action it took would become sabotage and disruptive.

Also, when the leader player allocated technology points, they would most likely not mix them randomly but specialize in certain lines. Therefore, Gu Fan said that there’s only a 1% chance of this system having a problem, and in the remaining 99%, there wouldn’t be issues.

However, this 1% situation required two prerequisites:

First, the Governor player must be completely inactive, not making any operations, allowing the fake-AI to actually take the highest priority of control rights, without interference between the two authorities;

Second, the leader player purposefully allocates all the Public Opinion Technology Points related to the Governor’s line and the leader’s line, continuously expanding the fake-AI’s actual authority and intelligence level within the game.

Upon hearing this, Lilith furrowed her brow and quickly interrupted, "Wait a minute!

"I got the previous part, but why, when the leader players allocate these technology points, does it enhance the fake-AI’s authority and intelligence level?

"And why, when the fake-AI’s authority and intelligence level reach a certain degree, does it start to build automatically?"

Gu Fan had long been prepared, "President Li, because this design actually makes sense!

"In the normal course of gameplay, we surely want the leader and the Governor to encounter more and larger unsolvable problems as they get further into the game, right?"

Lilith nodded; that was to be expected.

If they clashed right from the start, the players would easily be dissuaded from playing and not generate much negative emotion.

Only when victory is within reach and then lost will their mutual recriminations peak.

In principle, that’s correct.

Gu Fan continued, "So, we designed it with that goal in mind.

"In the beginning, the fake-AI is in a completely dormant state and cannot be exposed right away.

"Because at the start of the game, the leader and Governor are more inclined to cooperate, and there are not many buildings on the map. At this time, if the fake-AI makes a wrong move, it’s especially easy for players to detect.

"How could we allow it to get exposed right out of the gate?

"So, we have to gradually increase the fake-AI’s disruptive abilities.

"Only when the game moves into the middle and later stages, and the contradictions between the leader and Governor become apparent, and when more buildings have appeared on Comet, that’s the time for the fake-AI to flex its muscles.

"However, if this fake-AI enhancement mechanism was related to time, it would lack flexibility and could be easily exposed because we can’t determine whether there are any conflicts between the leader and the Governor.

"So we came up with a method: we linked the advancement of fake-AI intelligence to the technology points in the technology tree.

"There are two advantages to this:

"First, when players allocate technology points, it indicates that the game has entered the middle and later stages, which aligns with our original intentions;

"Second, the more Public Opinion Technology Points players allocate, the sharper the conflict between the leader and the Governor tends to be.

"Whether the leader wants to establish a dictatorship to eliminate the Governor, or the Governor wants to increase their own prestige to override the leader, allocating Public Opinion Technology Points is essential.

"Furthermore, we conducted precise calculations and found that even if a player only allocates Public Opinion Technology Points from one line on the tech tree, it only frees up a little more than a half of the fake-AI’s intelligence and computing power. In the case of two players who are gaming normally, this can only cause disruption, without causing other issues."

Lilith’s eyes widened like bells; she had probably grasped it.

Obviously, this design also stemmed from the idea of "letting the fake-AI cause trouble for the players".

To make this disruption more natural, they gradually increased the fake-AI’s in-game authority, effectively granting it the functionality to build within the game.

The development team also intentionally imposed a dual restriction:

Firstly, as long as the Governor does not slack off, their frequency of operations and priority of authority are still higher than those of the fake-AI.

So as long as the Governor is building properly, no matter how intelligent the fake-AI becomes, its actions will only cause disruption, severely interfering with the Governor’s building efforts;

Secondly, if a player only allocates Public Opinion Technology Points from a single tech tree, then even if they complete that branch, the fake-AI’s intelligence won’t develop to the point where it can build independently.

But who could have imagined that the situation encountered by Gan Di would completely bypass these two restrictions!

The Governor slacked off and didn’t make any effective moves.

And Gan Di, out of curiosity, hopped around allocating Public Opinion Technology Points related to both the leader and the Governor on their respective tech tree lines, resulting in the total unleashing of the fake-AI’s intelligence, allowing it to replace the Governor in building.

Lilith interjected again, "Wait a second!

"Then, there are two new problems!

"First, why not directly limit the intelligence cap of the fake-AI, for instance, set the cap at around 50%?

"Second, why not design the fake-AI’s intelligence only to cause trouble, and not to build?"

Gu Fan fell silent for a moment, "President Li, who said we didn’t set a limit?

"We certainly did limit it.

"But the issue is that the fake-AI program is constantly being updated and iterated by the official team, and the AI itself is also continuously learning and evolving.

"And restricting the fake-AI isn’t as easy as you think, as if there’s a progress bar that can be dragged down to 50% restriction.

"Because the AI’s system is particularly complex, and it’s easy to trigger a cascade of changes, we have already imposed certain limits on the fake-AI’s intelligence.

"Otherwise, what we would see in the game now would be a monster comparable to a script, not an AI which, even when at its limit, is only equivalent to an ordinary Governor.

"President Li, can you imagine how terrifying that scenario would be? It’d be many times worse than the situation we have now!"

Lilith’s mouth twitched slightly, as if she had already seen a version of herself in a far more collapsed alternate timeline.