[3.1+] NullBot: an adaptive skirmish AI

[NoQ]

Maybe if the force is large enough, the units should be set to do or die, rather than retreat at heavy damage.

By the time the force falls back, it's already small enough, i think


P.S. Having some progress, but don't have time to finish right now ... seems to be easy though (:

I guess I had the mod in my maps folder for some reason... it works with v1.05 aswell. I don't see a mod message when I launch wz, but I'm able to select him from the AI list.

Cool! Didn't know.
Also, good news: #3226 - sounds like injecting custom AIs into multiplayer games has been legalised (:

[effigy]

...

I guess I had the mod in my maps folder for some reason... it works with v1.05 aswell. I don't see a mod message when I launch wz, but I'm able to select him from the AI list.

Cool! Didn't know.
Also, good news: #3226 - sounds like injecting custom AIs into multiplayer games has been legalised (:

Great! It's a bit messy currently, but I'm glad it's ok

[NoQ]

v1.06.

Changes:

• Some anti-stucking workaround. He will still be stuck for a while before it detects that he is, but shouldn't be stuck forever any longer ... needs testing, of course.
• Switch ~MC~ extra personality to FRCFF (having plans on it).
• Some minor bugfixes.

[JDW]

Does NullBot adapt well when the factory limits are set? Like say No Tanks, or No Cyborgs, or No VTOLs? Perhaps it does, but no harm in asking I guess

P.S. Could you also post a link to your updated Changelog file? Would be easy to browse all the changes by version. Thanks.

[NoQ]

Does NullBot adapt well when the factory limits are set?

Not sure, but it shouldn't break completely.

Could you also post a link to your updated Changelog file?

I wonder if this link is good enough. Cause i don't have a better one. Or i could try to gather it somewhere in sf wiki ...

[aubergine]

@JDW: I was looking through nullbot source the other day and it looks like in most places it will check isStructureAvailable() and thus take limits in to account - not sure if it does that on buildings like factories though, and that could confuse the build order and get stuck waiting for X buildings of type Y before moving on to next task?

[NoQ]

not sure if it does that on buildings like factories though, and that could confuse the build order and get stuck waiting for X buildings of type Y before moving on to next task?

It should be all right, because if a structure is limited out, it is not available (!) and is therefore skipped.

[aubergine]

Yes, but in your initial build order, eg. FRCFF, what happens if user has limited to 2 factories? The third F will not get built, so your build order will keep trying to build it?

[NoQ]

Code: Select all

	if (factoryCount < 3 && isStructureAvailable(factory,me)) {
		buildBasicStructure(factory); 
		return true;
	}
	if (genCount < 2 && isStructureAvailable(generator,me)) {
		buildBasicStructure(generator); 
		return true;
	}
	if (labCount < 2 && isStructureAvailable(lab,me)) {
		buildBasicStructure(lab); 
		return true;
	}

The "if" statement will fail if the structure is not available, so the next "if" statement will be called instead of "return".

[JDW]

My concern was whether Nullbot adapts well rather than break in such scenarios, but this discussion is also interesting.

[NoQ]

My concern was whether Nullbot adapts well rather than break in such scenarios

No, not yet. It will keep researching cyborg armor even when cyborgs are switched off.

[aubergine]

Still getting traffic jams:

Click for large view

It looks like you're detecting a traffic jam and ordering units to attack, they start moving off but then the cluster regroup timer kicks in and they all rejoin the traffic jam.

So, I think when traffic jam is detected, order a mass strike against an enemy and disable the regrouping code for 60 seconds to give them a chance to at least get away from the traffic jam?

EDIT: Also, it looks like regroup timer is kicking in *way* too often, like once every 5 seconds or so, if not sooner. They should only regroup ever 20 seconds or more.

EDIT #2: Attached a savegame, there's a bug in current beta that it doesn't load up AIs properly from savegame, however it does seem to work for a few moments after the savegame is loaded, but then stalls again.

[effigy]

Is nullbot designed with "teamplay" in mind?

As usual with other AI's, he's greedy about capturing oils, yet recently in a 3v5 (5 hard NullBots) all five massed units mid game and went after one player, then the next, etc.

[NoQ]

Is nullbot designed with "teamplay" in mind?

No. Chat is necessary for this. The synchronized attacks you observed were random. On the other hand, once the AIs start multitasking (when it accumulates too many units for a single group, or fights against at least two forces), everyone of them will attack all of you uniformly.

there's a bug in current beta that it doesn't load up AIs properly from savegame

Emm, having a savegame without the other mod loaded could have made things easier as well (:
Nope, can't load

Ok yeah, disabling regroup on traffic jam management makes sense though.

[NoQ]

By the way, i do most of traffic jam testing on this map.
aubergine: is this one better?

v1.07

Changes:

• Some modifications in regrouping and traffic jam management code.