Simulated Universe Intro
If you read regularly and have seen some of my blog posts or Discord messages, you will notice I've frequently mentioned the concept of a "Simulated Universe".
I've recently released a simple video showcasing nothing out of the ordinary:
This is all but ordinary. The mission itself and parameters were generated using a local large language model (LLM), passed onto the Bridge Commander (BC) via IPC, then dynamically inserted into the game. This alone isn't extraordinary either. But let's ask ourselves the question, "What am I getting at here?"
What is the point?
My ideal version of a BC game is where you just command a ship and follow orders while the politics are simulated, and you alone don't get to influence the outcomes very much. Okay, you do, but in a way similar to the old flight sim Falcon 4.0, where depending on how you perform in your missions, the overall campaign progress either goes in your favor or against you. In that simulated universe, your faction goes to war, you get assigned wartime missions, or during peacetime, you get assigned patrol, espionage, or exploration missions.
Hypothetical scenario
You get assigned a mission to fetch supplies and ferry them from Colony A to Colony B. While en route, you receive a distress call. You can choose to respond to the distress call or report it to command for someone else to be dispatched. It depends on how mission-critical your mission is. Say you respond to that distress call and find pirates attacking a ship. You help fend off the attackers, render aid to the ship, and continue on your way to deliver the supplies to Colony B. Mission complete.
Now, you report mission completion to command, which then assigns you another mission, for example, to survey system XYZ. You might or might not encounter anything there. All while this is happening, in the background (on the server), the geopolitical situation unravels. Imagine that during your mission, your faction goes to war. Your mission is canceled, and you are assigned a combat mission. Or imagine there is a Borg incursion, and you must assemble at system XYZ to intercept and destroy the Borg vessel.
This is what I see as a simulated universe: all the politics and other AI actions happen on the server (a separate app outside the BC process) while you do your thing in the game.
Is such a thing possible in BC?
These days, yes. Will it ever be implemented? I am working towards making that happen. Though this poses another question: "Will this ever actually be done?" No promises. The whole goal of this post is to clarify what I'd like to see.
Will there be limitations?
Yes, there would be limitations. For example:
- Voiced dialogues might not be possible (maybe too taxing on the system or no open-source libraries).
- The number of factions; you'd probably be the Federation, and we’d probably want to include most major Alpha Quadrant powers.
- Mission types (fetch quests, combat, exploration).
- System variation (these would probably be prebaked).
Will it be possible to overcome some of these? It depends on time and resources.