In beta 2, the AI was able to start using all the new features.  But post beta 2, i.e. the builds that aren't publicly available, the serious AI work starts going in.  And that's where tons of AI analysis, vs. AI gaming, AI vs. AI gaming, and so forth really gets going.  Getting the AI better at using transports, better technology handling, etc. are all very important.

Of course, to do all that, the AI bugs in beta 2 have to be fixed too (such as accidentally nulling of military prioritizing leading to researching of defensive techs but not offensive technologies -- i.e. slow researching of weapons).

The Setup: Drengin AI vs. Terran AI vs. Torian AI vs. Altarian AI

The Map: equally balanced for all sides

The results:

Game #1: Drengin Empire wins.

Final designs:

vs.

Notes:

Drengin dominates. However, no capital ships appear -- even though they have the tech. Still poor handling of transports.

Other AI faults noticed: Lack of Morale buildings on planets. Spotty technology research. Spotty use of galactic resources.

I play and I play and I play.

And every tiem I play, I still see stupid AI stuff. Which is bound to happen because, realistically, unless one hard codes it, the AI will make mistakes.  The challenge is always one of making sure that the AI is considering as many variables as possible and then tune it over and over and over and over.

Tonight's game I won easily.  Here were the results:

Technologies researched (and in order):

Wars:

First War: Player (Terran Alliance) vs. Torians

vs.

Result: Torians destroyed

Second War: Player (Terran Alliance) vs. Altarians

vs.

Result: Altarians destroyed

Other Ships:

Thalans:

Attack: 4 Defense: 4

Attack 2: Defense 2:

Player ships: 3 attack, 0 defense.

Changes made, next game...

CES is winding down but before it's all gone, check out the link below for some of the sights from CES 2007!

And so another Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has come to a close. What a show it was too. I think I'm ready to sleep for a week!

Here are some of the highlights...In Pictures!

Yahoo showed off their Windows Vista specific version of Yahoo Instant Messenger.

PowerUser.TV's Kristin Hatcher outside the Microsoft partner tent

http://qna.live.com looks very interesting. You basically go on and can ask questions and see (hope) that someone has an answer. Similarly, you can also try to answer other people's questions and people will vote on the best answer.  Your questions are stored as part of your account so you can go back and look at them.  In some respects, it is like getting help on Usenet taken to the next level. Whether it will work or not remains to be seen.

Microsoft really pushed their Home Server solution. It's designed to let your various home computers work together.

Microsoft IPTV looked very interesting as well.

Crysis, a new game for Windows Vista looked absolutely incredible. I've never seen a first person shooter look as good as this.

CES is huge and was packed.

LG was showing off appliances that will let users use both HD DVDs and Blu-Ray DVDs on the same drive (either a computer or for your living room).

LG was also showing a real live 3D monitor. No special glasses. If you were looking straight on on it, it really did look 3D!

The 100 inch LCD monitor. I need this...for...um..testing

Infocus showed their impressive SP777. A high-definition digital projector. It was incredibly impressive in action. It can do a 5000 to 1 contrast ratio. Uses the DarkChip(TM) with 3 DLP processors.

Samsung has this really cool little music player.

You can see all the CES coverage from this year plus the latest happenings with Windows Vista here at www.vistablogging.com.

As for me, I'm going to sleep for a week as soon as things calm down..

Mary Jo Foley knows Microsoft.  She's been covering them for the past decade.  Blogger Robert Scoble and his wife sit down and interview Mary Jo Foley. Check it out, definitely worth the watch.

Windows Vista comes in several different incarnations. But essentially there are two pathways -- the home user and the business user. However, at the very top of the pile is the Windows Vista SCU that gives you everything that is in both the top of the lines business editions and home editions -- Windows Vista Ultimate.

The main attraction of Windows Vista Ultimate is that users get all the professional features of Windows Vista Business like domain logon, full backup, full Remote Desktop support, and so forth as well as the full feature set of Windows Vista Home Premium such as Media Center, XBox 360 integration, etc.

But Microsoft sweetens the deal for Windows Vista Ultimate users in the form of Windows Vista Ultimate Extras. Ultimate Extras is an on-going series of downloadable content that allows Microsoft to deliver some outstanding new features to Ultimate users even after release.

This week at CES, Microsoft unveiled the first set of Ultimate Extras including Windows DreamScene, a game, bit locker support, a photo manipulation application, and multi-language on a single PC support.

Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley has more details on this below.

View: Ultimate Extras revealed

View: Windows Vista Editions

CES is just about over.  It's been a long week. If you're interested in seeing what I've been posting, visit my official work blog here:

http://frogboy.joeuser.com.

Yesterday I had a rare opportunity to talk to Microsoft founder Bill Gates.  I was able to ask him a number of questions ranging from where Windows has gone and where they think it is going.

Amongst the things we learned from Mr. Gates is that he's still the master developer with detailed knowledge of hardware and software.  We also learned that contrary to reports from Gartner and others, Windows Vista is not the end of the line. Rather, Mr. Gates stated unequivically that there will be another "major" version of Windows within 2 to 4 years.

Read the whole thing to hear about Mr. Gates's view on 64-bit computing, hardware integration, and more.

Never let it be said that Bill Gates doesn't know his stuff.  Today at CES I had the opportunity to speak to him on a variety of issues.  His technical knowledge impressed the onlookers as he expertly detailed the transition from 32-bit computing to 64-bit computing and made the distinction between the bit-ness of the computing and the number of bits in addressing.

As some may recall, last year I talked about how users were quickly coming up against the 4 gigabyte limit in Windows XP (really 2 gigabytes as a practical matter).  This has to do with the 32-bit address space in today's 32-bit CPUs. Bill Gates said that is why 64-bit Windows is going to be so important going forward -- 64-bit addressing lets users access a lot more memory "and it'll be awhile before we hit that limit" said Mr. Gates.

Three points Mr. Gates brought up that I found of particular interest were:

1. He "guarantees"  that there will be a major new release of Windows in the next 2 to 4 years. This runs contrary to some of the analysts who have said that Windows Vista will be the last major release of Windows. 
    
2. Windows Vista has helped bring hardware and software together.  Microsoft has made a great effort to work with hardware vendors to make sure Windows Vista and new hardware devices work seamlessly together.  Historically, Microsoft had been at a disadvantage compared to Apple because Microsoft only controls half the platform.  But with Windows Vista, it has teamed up with hardware vendors to create a more seamless experience.
    
3. Microsoft made sure to get ahead of the memory limit curve this time. 32-bit Pentiums were 32-bit in addressing as well. It started the work during the XP time frame and even now, servers are moving to 64-bit platforms (WinCustomize.com runs 64-bit MS SQL Server on an AMD64 box).  The challenge of 64-bit computing right now is getting the driver support. And "Windows Vista is our way of pushing the hardware vendors to strengthen 64-bit support now rather than later."

One other interesting note, besides Mr. Gates being clearly familiar with the in-depth technical aspects of Windows Vista, his switch-over to foundation work in 2008 won't be the end of his involvement at Microsoft.  Mr. Gates explained that after 2008, he will be as involved in Microsoft post-2008 as he is involved with the Foundation today.

Ah Las Vegas. Land of gambling and honeymoons.  At least, the latter I assume is what explains the noise coming from the room next door (or there's a lot of torture going on).

I got my CES pass without a problem.  I am a rare breed. I'm a software developer, Microsoft MVP, Featured Community Leader and a journalist all at the same time.  Having gone to these shows now as a software developer and a member of the press now, I can honestly say -- better to be press.  Lots of free goodies.

The Verizon 3G wireless card that I bring with me has continued to save the day.  You'd think that hotels would have nailed wireless access but you'd be wrong. Even in Las Vegas I'm surprised at how difficult it is to find a reliable hotspot. And when you do, it's $10 for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, the Verizon card has been acting like a champ.

There's been a lot of cool stuff shown to us and I havne't even gotten to the show floor. 

A few highlights:

• Yahoo was showing off their next-generation instant messenger client.  If it ends up half as good as the demo, I'm switching to that.  Made explicitly for Windows Vista, it's slick, it's got great UI, it's powerful, and it looks clean.  In other words, quite unlike most IM clients.
• A big trend at the show is making Windows Vista much easier to deal with hardware.  Microsoft really does seem to have a nice combination with the Xbox360 and Media Center.
• I'm half tempted to get an Xbox 360 just to get to high-def content.
• You already read about Windows Ultimate so I won't go more into detail here.
• ATI showed off a really cool cable card HDTV tuner for Windows Media Center. Look up OCUR on Google to learn more on it.
• And Buffalo showed off a DUAL N wireless router.  Fast enough to stream HDTV content.

Hopefully today I'll get to actually go to the show. I'm in meetings until nearly 3pm PST.

More to come...