About AutoPlay. This feature is probably the easiest to explain, since once you select it, AutoPlay takes over. This procedure was originally designed as the computer opponent, and later modified for player use. hence it can do most of the things a player might wish to do. The computer opponent (also known as Arti) evaluates options available in each of his quadrants for each of his ships, then he moves the fleets to the desired locations, and conducts explorations, combat, and development. During the ordering phase of the turn Arti orders ships, system defense, and technological research. After I created the computer opponent, I thought it might be nice if the human players could have access to his "brain." After I had made that possible I found that I had at my disposal a very useful debugging tool. By letting AutoPlay run I could easily track down a bug since Arti's brain was bound to turn it up for me in no time. I removed all stops and made Autoplay a continuous feature, it will cycle through each players turn as well as each players order. As far as the game is concerned this feature is an abomination since it removes all player interaction. Nevertheless AutoPlay does have it's redeeming qualities. A computer opponent allows a single player to have a challenging game. Certain game strategies require the human hand to see them implemented properly, others can be delegated to AutoPlay in order to make the best use of your game time. In moderation AutoPlay can greatly enhance your game. As a result I strove to make AutoPlay available on a more piecemeal basis. At the beginning of each players order you are prompted for either Auto Order or Manual Order. If you pick Auto Order you will be prompted for an ordering strategy between -5 through 5, with 0 (default ). In general the lower number selections are conservative with more resourses going to ships and system defense. The higher number selections invest more resourses towards Technological advancement. Negative numbers, however will insure that only immediate orders are placed (Pi ships.) There is an exception in that the default selection is somewhere in between. +1 and +5 Specific percentages are listed below. During the players turn there is also the Finish Turn option this will combine fleets on the same hex, (provided the auto consolidation toggle is on,) move programmed fleets, as well as activated or sentry unprogrammed fleets, conduct explorations, combat, and develop. This will allow the player to set specific destinations for a given fleet and expect it to behave reasonably on the way and upon arrival at the specific destination. Programmed fleets upon reaching their destination go into sentry mode until given a new destination. Finish turn automatically stops at the next players turn. Finish turn, as well as AutoPlay can be interrupted by either typing: 'q' or click the right mouse button. A new addition to the AutoPlay options is the Automatize toggle. it can be found under the Player Prefs Menu. this allows you to effectively place any player under autoplay mode. This is useful if you would like to say play one human versus two or more computer oppenents. simply wait for the players in questions turn to come up then select the automatize toggle, the player then becomes a computer opponent. the only difference between this type of computer opponent and ArtI is one can interrrupt his turn if you desire, and play him as a normal player.. once again to interrupt an automatized players turn type 'q' or click the right mouse button. to resume automatization pick the automatize toggle again for that player. Following is a listing of the Strategies used for Auto Ordering: -5 : defense 0% ships 100% tech 0% -4 : defense 20% ships 72% tech 8% -3 : defense 23% ships 60% tech 17% -2 : defense 5% ships 45% tech 50% -1 : defense 10% ships 40% tech 50% 0 : defense 10% ships 30% tech 60% 1 : defense 10% ships 40% tech 50% 2 : defense 5% ships 45% tech 50% 3 : defense 7% ships 23% tech 70% 4 : defense 2% ships 8% tech 90% 5 : defense 0% ships 0% tech 100% * 0 is default strategy ** negative strategies build only ã ships *** non negative strategies build balanced fleets (both ã and ì ships, resources permitting)