I'm using similar systems. However there is a problem with the unit strength calculation. The unit strength can depend on the surrounding army or terrain. A group of colossi escorted by gateway units is a lot stronger then the gateway units and the colossi separate.
My AI is already ranking his own units according to your style (scout, attacker, defender). But I haven't ranked buildings yet. Which I might have to at some point, because when an army attacks a base, it simply destroys the buildings it first encounters.
Although you should keep in mind that rushing forward to target the highest ranked building could be dangerous for the attacking group. They need to squeeze themselves between buildings, and are allowing themselves to get surrounded more easily.
When it comes to targeting units of the enemy, I'm going to use the bonus damage and health status of the enemy units to determine who is targeting what. Only in special cases will the entire army focus fire on a single unit (f.e. Colossus).
The production buildings are placed in the center of the base at the moment. And with center I mean the center of the base "platform". This center position is calculated once as soon as a base is claimed. If that center is too close to the main building, it moves a bit away from the main building. I used to place production buildings half way between the main building and the choke (which worked great on Steppes of War), but this produced bad results on maps like Lost Temple.
Thanks for the link. When I have time I will read some more. But why are waiting for a 4-man FFA? Those are hardly epic battles. I prefer a good 1v1 or 2v2.
What's the point, if I may ask? If a medium player wants to play he'll most likely play versus other players. I really respect AI creations and innovations and I think you should be concentrating on an AI that is not cheating and is beating top SC2 players.
The point is that I am not building this AI only to try and beat top SC2 players. The reasons people like to play against an AI apply to players of all skill levels. If I manage to make the AI a challenge to top SC2 players, 95% of the SC2 community will not want to play against it, because they don't stand a chance.
I want to create a product that offers entertainment for as much people as possible. And with not much time (compared to the entire project), I can add a feature that will offer this.
abilcmd AbilityCommand (string inAbil, int inCmdIndex)
order Order (abilcmd inAbilCmd)
void OrderSetPlayer (order inOrder, int inPlayer)
void OrderSetTargetPoint (order inOrder, point inPoint)
void OrderSetTargetUnit (order inOrder, unit inUnit)
void UnitIssueOrder (unit inUnit, order inOrder, int inQueueType)
The string in the ability command constructor is the specific order. This can be "move" but also "Rally" or "ZergBuild". "BuildInProgress" is used to cancel a constructing building. If you check UnitData.xml, you can find all possible ability commands a unit can receive.
All this choke detection is done only once for all the AI players on the map. No point in analyzing the map more then once. :) And if I figure out how to actually save banks, I might be able to reduce the detection to once per map, per computer.
And please note, I will be adding functioning difficulty settings to my AI. That way, everyone can select a difficulty that will challenge him/her without getting stomped.
The Insane SC2 AI uses cheats (50% more resources and full map vision), so in my eyes, it disqualified itself from the comparison between AI's to determine which is better.
If you want to ask if my AI will be better then the SC2 Very Hard AI, then the answer is a big YES. I wouldn't be working on this project if I couldn't realize that goal.
Yes, my AI will check the area around the enemy army to see if a surround is possible before it charges in with zerglings. This check includes buildings. But the first version of the AI that will be released in a few weeks will only have support for Terran. Protoss and Zerg will be released early 2011.
This code is to find choke points. It will help my custom AI defend and attack properly. The original AI completely ignores terrain advantages and will always try to break a position with brute-force when attacking.
My AI will be able to recognize when the opponent is dug in at such a position and will instead try a different attack strategy.
I know I am reinventing a lot of functionality that is already available to the original AI, but that is not available to me when writing custom scripts. Instead of having to rely on internal engine code which could produce unwanted results, I have chosen to write everything myself so I know exactly what kind of results to expect.
For my AI project I have developed a method for the AI to analyze the map to see where the base locations and choke points are.
For a demonstration, please watch the video on Youtube:
If you have any questions regarding the process, feel free to ask.
Some may recognize me from a few months back when I was looking for opinions and strategies regarding the AI in SC2.
For those who don't know me, I am working on an AI project for StarCraft 2 as my graduation project for school.
This project includes a complete study of the available AI functions and a complete replacement of all AI scripts in the game.
Currently, I have finished all research tasks and am now full time on development.
I have created a site where I publicly keep track of development: http://www.blackward.com/eagleai
I also have created a video where I demonstrate a basic AI (with minimal features) which I created from scratch in 2 days.
Gyo, your replays are the main reason I am doing this project. I get really upset when I see an AI do stupid things over and over and over again:
1. Regrouping the army for the attack INSIDE THE RANGE OF SIEGE TANKS
2. Sticking to squishy ground units when the enemy has 10+ tanks
3. Refusal to tech up to Brood Lords or Ultralisks
4. Not coordinating attacks with allies (hey, you are attacking with lings/banes/roaches/hydras, i'll just wait till you are done... oh, you lost everything without killing anything? well, maybe I'll have better luck...)
Argh, those make me cringe so hard... I'll make a promise with you right now, if you (try to) do that against my AI when it's finished, you will get your ass kicked. :P Because if that will not be the case, I will consider this project a huge failure...
Kelv, your replay is more interesting. The mistakes by the AI in that game are a little more subtle.
When he was attacking your expo at the gold, he could have easily destroyed your nexus, but instead decided to go after your cannons which lost him his army because he got stuck between your buildings.
He was also not defending his own expo properly. He kept his army at the top of ramp giving you free access to snipe his Nexus every time it was under construction.
When attacking your base, he wasted a lot of time with attacking your production facilities. Destroying the single pylon that was powering them all would have been sufficient.
As you said, he couldn't understand the Colossus ability of walking up and down cliffs. He kept suiciding his army against the cliff edges, trying to reach your Colossi, while those tore it to shreds...
In order to build a better AI, I would like to have control over some behaviors that are pretty annoying to watch.
For example, the scouting AI. When the AI sends out an early scout (a worker) it will attempt to scout the enemies base, but it will flee when something looks at it funny. But we all know that zerglings or zealots are useless for chasing away those early scouts. I would like to teach my AI not to flee when there is only one or two zealots at the enemy base because the chance of a successful scout is still pretty high.
However, when I check the AI scripts, all I can find regarding the scouting is:
AISetFlag(player, e_flagsScouting, enableScouting);
Anyone knows where I can find the logic that tells the AI how to scout?
The native function list has again changed a lot with the release of the game. The current one can be found at the same link vjeux provided.
I would appreciate it if someone could update the function list on the wiki so I can update the individual function descriptions as soon as I figure them out...
Doing both myself would take a lot of time that I would prefer to spend on my AI research.
0
I'm using similar systems. However there is a problem with the unit strength calculation. The unit strength can depend on the surrounding army or terrain. A group of colossi escorted by gateway units is a lot stronger then the gateway units and the colossi separate.
0
@yukaboy: Go
My AI is already ranking his own units according to your style (scout, attacker, defender). But I haven't ranked buildings yet. Which I might have to at some point, because when an army attacks a base, it simply destroys the buildings it first encounters.
Although you should keep in mind that rushing forward to target the highest ranked building could be dangerous for the attacking group. They need to squeeze themselves between buildings, and are allowing themselves to get surrounded more easily.
When it comes to targeting units of the enemy, I'm going to use the bonus damage and health status of the enemy units to determine who is targeting what. Only in special cases will the entire army focus fire on a single unit (f.e. Colossus).
@zeldarules28: Go
The production buildings are placed in the center of the base at the moment. And with center I mean the center of the base "platform". This center position is calculated once as soon as a base is claimed. If that center is too close to the main building, it moves a bit away from the main building. I used to place production buildings half way between the main building and the choke (which worked great on Steppes of War), but this produced bad results on maps like Lost Temple.
@Keldrif: Go
Thanks for the link. When I have time I will read some more. But why are waiting for a 4-man FFA? Those are hardly epic battles. I prefer a good 1v1 or 2v2.
0
The point is that I am not building this AI only to try and beat top SC2 players. The reasons people like to play against an AI apply to players of all skill levels. If I manage to make the AI a challenge to top SC2 players, 95% of the SC2 community will not want to play against it, because they don't stand a chance.
I want to create a product that offers entertainment for as much people as possible. And with not much time (compared to the entire project), I can add a feature that will offer this.
0
You need the following to give units orders:
abilcmd AbilityCommand (string inAbil, int inCmdIndex)
order Order (abilcmd inAbilCmd)
void OrderSetPlayer (order inOrder, int inPlayer)
void OrderSetTargetPoint (order inOrder, point inPoint)
void OrderSetTargetUnit (order inOrder, unit inUnit)
void UnitIssueOrder (unit inUnit, order inOrder, int inQueueType)
The string in the ability command constructor is the specific order. This can be "move" but also "Rally" or "ZergBuild". "BuildInProgress" is used to cancel a constructing building. If you check UnitData.xml, you can find all possible ability commands a unit can receive.
0
@SouLCarveRR: Go
All this choke detection is done only once for all the AI players on the map. No point in analyzing the map more then once. :) And if I figure out how to actually save banks, I might be able to reduce the detection to once per map, per computer.
And please note, I will be adding functioning difficulty settings to my AI. That way, everyone can select a difficulty that will challenge him/her without getting stomped.
0
The Insane SC2 AI uses cheats (50% more resources and full map vision), so in my eyes, it disqualified itself from the comparison between AI's to determine which is better.
If you want to ask if my AI will be better then the SC2 Very Hard AI, then the answer is a big YES. I wouldn't be working on this project if I couldn't realize that goal.
@progammer: Go
Yes, my AI will check the area around the enemy army to see if a surround is possible before it charges in with zerglings. This check includes buildings. But the first version of the AI that will be released in a few weeks will only have support for Terran. Protoss and Zerg will be released early 2011.
0
This code is to find choke points. It will help my custom AI defend and attack properly. The original AI completely ignores terrain advantages and will always try to break a position with brute-force when attacking.
My AI will be able to recognize when the opponent is dug in at such a position and will instead try a different attack strategy.
I know I am reinventing a lot of functionality that is already available to the original AI, but that is not available to me when writing custom scripts. Instead of having to rely on internal engine code which could produce unwanted results, I have chosen to write everything myself so I know exactly what kind of results to expect.
0
Could you be a little more specific? What is the result you want to know how to get?
0
For my AI project I have developed a method for the AI to analyze the map to see where the base locations and choke points are. For a demonstration, please watch the video on Youtube:
If you have any questions regarding the process, feel free to ask.
If you are interested in the development of the AI, visit the main site: http://www.blackward.com/eagleai
0
Some may recognize me from a few months back when I was looking for opinions and strategies regarding the AI in SC2.
For those who don't know me, I am working on an AI project for StarCraft 2 as my graduation project for school. This project includes a complete study of the available AI functions and a complete replacement of all AI scripts in the game.
Currently, I have finished all research tasks and am now full time on development. I have created a site where I publicly keep track of development: http://www.blackward.com/eagleai
I also have created a video where I demonstrate a basic AI (with minimal features) which I created from scratch in 2 days.
0
Thanks Gyomalin and Kelv
Gyo, your replays are the main reason I am doing this project. I get really upset when I see an AI do stupid things over and over and over again: 1. Regrouping the army for the attack INSIDE THE RANGE OF SIEGE TANKS 2. Sticking to squishy ground units when the enemy has 10+ tanks 3. Refusal to tech up to Brood Lords or Ultralisks 4. Not coordinating attacks with allies (hey, you are attacking with lings/banes/roaches/hydras, i'll just wait till you are done... oh, you lost everything without killing anything? well, maybe I'll have better luck...)
Argh, those make me cringe so hard... I'll make a promise with you right now, if you (try to) do that against my AI when it's finished, you will get your ass kicked. :P Because if that will not be the case, I will consider this project a huge failure...
Kelv, your replay is more interesting. The mistakes by the AI in that game are a little more subtle. When he was attacking your expo at the gold, he could have easily destroyed your nexus, but instead decided to go after your cannons which lost him his army because he got stuck between your buildings. He was also not defending his own expo properly. He kept his army at the top of ramp giving you free access to snipe his Nexus every time it was under construction. When attacking your base, he wasted a lot of time with attacking your production facilities. Destroying the single pylon that was powering them all would have been sufficient. As you said, he couldn't understand the Colossus ability of walking up and down cliffs. He kept suiciding his army against the cliff edges, trying to reach your Colossi, while those tore it to shreds...
0
In order to build a better AI, I would like to have control over some behaviors that are pretty annoying to watch.
For example, the scouting AI. When the AI sends out an early scout (a worker) it will attempt to scout the enemies base, but it will flee when something looks at it funny. But we all know that zerglings or zealots are useless for chasing away those early scouts. I would like to teach my AI not to flee when there is only one or two zealots at the enemy base because the chance of a successful scout is still pretty high.
However, when I check the AI scripts, all I can find regarding the scouting is: AISetFlag(player, e_flagsScouting, enableScouting);
Anyone knows where I can find the logic that tells the AI how to scout?
0
Could you please copy/paste your exact code? There is a good chance there is a problem with your syntax.
0
The native function list has again changed a lot with the release of the game. The current one can be found at the same link vjeux provided.
I would appreciate it if someone could update the function list on the wiki so I can update the individual function descriptions as soon as I figure them out...
Doing both myself would take a lot of time that I would prefer to spend on my AI research.
0
I'll do what I can with the tools that I got :) I'm currently digging through the official Blizzard AI files to learn how it works exactly...
Cheers for the opinions so far, though I still need more. Keep them coming :)