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PaperclipPerfector  23hr ago (text post)   854 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 18, 2026

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Video-game thread

People are doing incredibly cool things with LLM integration in Rimworld.

It started off with "journals" where an AI would look at the game state and recent event, and write something about it (RimLegend, RimChronicle). Then came mods that let you "talk" to pawns, taking direction from their personality and relationships (RimDialogue, RimTalk, EchoColony).

That was fun enough, but didn't directly affect gameplay. Well, what I wanted the most is coming to fruition: the AI storytellers the game has being supplemented by actual AI. Or at least significantly more intelligence than dice rolls with various degrees of randomness (RimAI, Rimteller, Claude Storyteller, Tales from the RimWorld). That's somewhere where Rimworld falls flat compared to a much more simulation-oriented game like Dwarf Fortress - your actions have remarkably little impact on the wider world, forcing a lot of dirty scripting to give an impression of responsiveness, and trusting the player to make a coherent narrative out of it.

That means events in the game can be directly impacted by what an external LLM dictates. I haven't tried it yet, but we're about to start a golden-age anytime now, significantly easier in games where you don't need low latency instant decision-making.

No more five quadrillion rabid crows because you made your floors too shiny, or a group of orphans wanting enough medical supplies to stock my hospital in order to ransom their friend (at least in theory). Events can (hopefully) start to make sense in context. Just imagine what you could do in terms of diplomacy - there's already a semi-viral standalone geopolitics sim out there, where instead of a Paradox style interface, you just say what you, as the leader of a simulated nation, want to do.

Or quests that are truly unique. Base building made easier by telling an LLM what to do (RimAgent). Giving pawns a mind of their own.

As always, token pricing remains the biggest barrier, but $/unit of intelligence continues to drop precipitously.

The thing I'm most looking forward to are 4X games getting okay LLM AI by default. Doesn't even need to be great, just passable; So many 4X games are imo unplayable beyond the first few playthroughs bc the AIs are just completely dysfunctional.

They'd be a good candidate. Especially when you can get away with an overarching strategic AI that either writes scripts or queues tactical actions for "normal" game AI to implement.

Could be done even in Paradox games, as opposed to more discrete turn based strategy games. "Ah, I'd like to organize a naval invasion, this is the current map layout, order all units to move to X port" and it just happens.

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