AI stupid, or is it a bug?

[Feda]

i cant find the map editor with display of energy bar when adding buldings to map .

Its the one from the toolkit, v. 0.3 I believe.

[Nuclear_harvester]

i have it - no display

[THE AQIB]

Mvinetwork or something was tha name.

[Nuclear_harvester]

ahh got it - thanks

[THE AQIB]

Nice.

[THE AQIB]

Is there any way to implement dune2 ai in dune 2k??

[Feda]

Lol?

We cant edit the actual AI, implementing dune 2 AI is a dream . Also dune 2 AI was in .ini format if I remember well , and was a bunch of teamtypes / taskforces . Nyer can explain more about this. Why would u want that anyway?

[X3M]

Are you sure? Dune2 AI <<< Dune2k AI.

Anyway, I suggest to start with scratch. And make sure you can create AI that also works with smaller groups of units with certain goals in mind. It can depend on the map as well.

I got a whole wish list for AI in RTS games.

Some I created myself with triggers in SC/BW; my C&C maps. I could tell you some as idea's.

But real scripting in C format, I don't know.

Depending on the map, I could give suggestions.

[THE AQIB]

no i just heard that dune 2s ai is better thn dune2ks.

[X3M]

I hardly doubt that the AI of Dune2 is better then Dune2k, unless someone else can verify it.

In Dune2 however, you are limited to 25 units until you reach the starport levels. So the game is slower and feels harder to beat.

The AI also doesn't sell buildings in case of giving up. The units have no difference in types of weapons, they are just stronger when they are more expensive. In Dune2k the units have weak points, we recognise these and act accordingly on it. So the units are easily defeated.

Perhaps that's why Dune2 > Dune2k in difficulty.

But the AI is not.

If you have been playing a remake, maybe the creator has increased AI or difficulty. And with difficulty I mean, the computer sends twice or three times as much units as it usually would do.

[THE AQIB]

if you made an ai how will you make it?

[X3M]

I only can explain it with starcraft triggers. After all, I am not a programmer. So I can't tell you how to do it, but give you an idea.

I designed the triggers in such a way, that the AI would actually make "human" decisions. And they would be orders to small groups of units of a type. Of course the AI was based on the unit designs that I used.

It is best explained with examples. But basic you need to keep track of what the player has for units, and what the AI has. Then, there should be area's around the units for checking for other units.

Scouting:

If the map is not explored yet. Or if there is a fog of war. Then the AI should pretend to be scouting you out first. This is done with fast units that immediately retreat after discovering some units. After this, the location is remembered, and the AI builds, or sends in the appropriate units to deal with it. You could put in a random force for this.

Unit versus unit choices:

In battle situations: Anti infantry units, should get the message to aim for infantry, then vehicles, then tanks in a combat situation.

Anti tank units the other way around. For both weapon types, you put buildings last. Of course with the exception of turrets.

There are also units that are good against buildings, they simply attack the buildings after dealing with target units.

This trigger should happen within a fighting radius. I used 9 back then, but that's experimental and might be different for all kind of units. The Terran siege tank had range 7, so 9 worked nice. The Terran Marines had only 4, so I created a separate trigger with checking range 6.

Unfortunately I had only 1 trigger per unit. And I was limited in triggers. So to counter this, I checked with one unit, and ordered all other units in the same range to do the same.

Retreating of damaged units:

Those that can be repaired and have a free retreat option. Should retreat. Normally the path would not be blocked by players. But to make sure, I putted some trigger boxes around for checking how many units there are from the player. If there are almost none, the damaged units might try to retreat. This could be done with a percentage. Of course you could also put in different percentages for different units. So that they can get 1 or 2 more shots from something lethal on their way home. Once home, they should be repaired.

Special missions:

On this attack, it is do or die for the force. An example would be, the AI discovered your construction yard. So it builds like 9 Missile Tanks and 1 scout. The scout goes first and checks for enemy units, all the way to the construction yard. If there are to much. Once again, see the first explanation. If there are no real treats, the missile tanks go. You might decide on putting a random option in for retreating or not. But if not, they will aim for the construction yard and notching else until the goal has met.

Infantry crush:

Ow, and everyone is forgetting, in Dune2k, tanks actually try to flatten your infantry. That's a plus over Dune2. So, tracked unit check for infantry to be crushed. If possible and in range without cliffs that are in the way, crush crush crush. You don't have that in SC :(.

Harvester bashing:

Checking each field from time to time. And those that are easy to reach by the AI, well, the harvesters of you get killed by Quads. Even closer to the AI base, and other units might help as well. You could even do that the AI starts to guard those fields. And only retreats once you try to kill those quads. With SC, the AI dropped snipers(ghosts) close to the Harvesters(SCV).

Double team:

This is for 2 AI 's that are specialized in something. I had on my map a tank specialist and a air specialist. The air specialist made the first move. Once it discovered AA turrets, it retreated. Then the tank specialist moved in, with a specific goal to deal with the AA turret. Infantry that moved along was trying to deceive you by attacking you. But how to do this for Dune2k, I don't know.

[THE AQIB]

hm.. this is interesting.. but hard to make..

[X3M]

Start with giving each unit a secondary range. And depending on speed, its higher then the default range.

But for this we need some sort of ini file ^^.

Anyway, once a better target appears in the units secondary range. The unit will try to reach that target and shoot it.

Including path finding in the calculations, the unit should know if the target is away on a cliff or not. I still can abuse this with C&C3 :) Where the units don't check the path they take. :)

If this is done, the game will automatically be harder since the AI will try to reach 100% damage.

[Gruntlord6]

The site includes only the editing tools lol, there are no tuts.. On a side note, there are no tutorials regarding dune modding at all, except my 2 d2k+ map/mission editor tuts. You'll need to ask him stuff in PM if u want more details.

Hey! I made a tut back when we had to use shai halud lol.

[Feda]

Hey! I made a tut back when we had to use shai halud lol.

Oh ya, forgot :D