A* is not as hard is it's made out to be. It's just a tad more involved than most simple pathfinding algos go. But it's a great way to find the best possible path, deadends or not. Plus once you've established a good routine then adding features like terrain, influence, etc is a snap.

My little game here can not only find the most direct path to the desired tile/node, but it also can take into account the the amount of robot deaths in specific spots which is great to give the aspect of learning from other enemies mistakes or simply some kind of advantage that the player may have over the computer.

There are other tricks that I will be trying aswell. So far the AI that I've implimented is a hybrid of A*, Finite State Machines and a few other tricks... perhaps even Neural Nets with Genetic Algorithims. Depends how much fun I plan on having with it.

Of course I plan on making this one multi-player via TCP. Can't hurt to have a buddy or two to help fight off your collective impending doom.

Of course a compliment of EMP and Rocket launchers on top of your already handy handgun helps too.

When I get home I'll probably write up a little A* tutorial. After settling in and sorting out other PGD-based issues.