For Backers Only: AI building stuff

Discussion in 'Backers Lounge (Read-only)' started by Sorian, July 19, 2013.

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  1. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Gotta say it Sorian, the AI is getting better and better! Been playing it quite a bit since last patch and it's no slouch now. I've got a feeling by the time you've done with it it'l be almost unstoppable...
    cdrkf, January 27, 2014
    #401
  2. thetrophysystem

    thetrophysystem Post Master General

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    Hasn't the AI been grouping units unofficially since even before combat fabbers? They definitely seem to with combat fabbers, else their control with the combat fabbers is much more natural than human control but maybe that is a side effect of them being allowed computmatically quick actions so they do 4 actions individually on each of 30 units instantly. If it is the latter, then grr.
    thetrophysystem, January 27, 2014
    #402
  3. Quitch

    Quitch Post Master General

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    That's what fighters are for. Building mobile anti-air into your land army ensures one thing: you lose the land war.
    Quitch, January 27, 2014
    #403
  4. igncom1

    igncom1 Post Master General

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    That is not really true at all, even with significant T2 bombers my land army has endured a constant attack with artillery support.

    You just have to keep moving, and be responsive.
    igncom1, January 27, 2014
    #404
  5. stormingkiwi

    stormingkiwi Post Master General

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    You are mixing up human vs human with a human vs cpu. With early aggressive air based play, you can completely shut down the AIs ability to build air factories and MDTs.
    stormingkiwi, January 28, 2014
    #405
  6. tommybananas

    tommybananas Active Member

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    Hey sorian,
    can we have an update on how the ai is coming along? Its already impressive but its been a while since we last heard about any changes / polished bits! im currently having amazing games 1v1 against ai's with them having 2x resources, its starting to become a real challenge now :)
    tommybananas, January 30, 2014
    #406
  7. chronosoul

    chronosoul Well-Known Member

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    @sorian ,

    Been hearing and reading the chat on the latest playtest streams regarding the AI. Seems like the AI knows how to expand in all directions equally and dominate those who stop by.

    Have neural networks been put in?
    chronosoul, January 31, 2014
    #407
  8. Sorian

    Sorian Official PA

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    I have been working a lot on the AIs economy lately. Got some changes in today that should help the AI get its factory count up faster (and its unit/ fabber count up faster as well).

    I also just implemented a system to evaluate all of the specs in the game and assign threat values accordingly. This way I don't have to go back and do it all by hand every time we add a new unit or change balance.

    I changed the way the AI handles balancing the demands of trying to build up on multiple planets. It does a much better job of it now. It is also able to move its Commander between planets. It is really fun (read: frustratingly awesome) when you have the AI backed into a corner and an astraeus swoops in and saves the Commander.

    The AI is able to use more of the new units now. I will be working on orbital here shortly.

    The AI uses formations. No more long streams of units.

    I worked a lot on the AI attack platoons. They now issue attack orders when they encounter enemies and pick targets based on a priority system. Later this will be replaced by the neural networks. I have also added checks to detect if a platoon gets stuck to try to get it moving again.

    I have also been working on getting the AI to use nukes a bit better. Part one of my list of desired changes was to notify the AI when a nuke goes off so it can remove the threat in the area where the nuke hit. This benefits the AI by not having it fire another nuke later at the same location (unless it has re-scouted that area and found new targets) as well as letting the AI know that there is a lot less enemy threat in that area.

    Another big change (which is kinds AI related) was large island fields. Prior to mid January if I wanted to know if I could path from A to B the AI had to do an A* (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*) check. Not so bad if you are only doing it a little bit, but for the number of times I needed this information, A* wasn't going to cut it.

    Enter large island ids. After planet generation we go through all the nav portals (the connections between nav sectors) finding all the ones that are connected and on the same layer (land, water surface, seabed, etc). We hand out island ids so that all of the portals that are connected to each other have the same id. If all the portals in a sector have the same id then the sector gets updated to also have that id (to speed up checks later). Now, if I want to know if I can path from A to B it becomes a check of the id I am currently sitting in vs the id of my destination.

    This has enabled me to update the AI so that it can do things like filter out possible attack locations based on whether the platoon can get to the location or not and filter out build locations based on whether the fabber can get there (no more AI bot fabbers staring longingly at metal spots in the water).
    Sorian, January 31, 2014
    #408
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  9. lafncow

    lafncow Active Member

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    Thank you for the awesome write-up, really enlightening stuff to geek out on! The animations on that wikipedia page are great too.
    lafncow, January 31, 2014
    #409
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  10. cptconundrum

    cptconundrum Post Master General

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    :eek: This ai is going to be smarter than me.
    cptconundrum, January 31, 2014
    #410
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  11. nixtempestas

    nixtempestas Post Master General

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    throw the AI on a low/no water planet and the dam thing is already better than most humans.
    nixtempestas, January 31, 2014
    #411
  12. LavaSnake

    LavaSnake Post Master General

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    Well of course it will be! Sorian's planning to conquer the galaxy with that thing. ;)
    LavaSnake, February 1, 2014
    #412
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  13. drz1

    drz1 Post Master General

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    It must feel SO WEIRD working on this game, having been recruited because of your work on SupCom (I presume, correct me if wrong!). Weird and good. Real good.
    drz1, February 1, 2014
    #413
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  14. nixtempestas

    nixtempestas Post Master General

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    I went and got the sorian AI mod for FA in order to reduce the brutal leakage the in-game AI caused, only to discover that the AI mod was in fact infinitly superior in tactics as well.

    When I saw the AI livestream last January I was very excited. What we got now already exceeds my expectations.
    nixtempestas, February 1, 2014
    #414
    drz1 likes this.
  15. Sorian

    Sorian Official PA

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    What's this? Oh, just the AI using the Uber cannon.

    PA build 26.jpg
    Sorian, February 7, 2014
    #415
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  16. moldez

    moldez Active Member

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    thats brutal !
    moldez, February 7, 2014
    #416
  17. chronosoul

    chronosoul Well-Known Member

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    That honestly looks way to intimidating. I guess its only going to get worse when the AI formation bombs my base or something.
    chronosoul, February 7, 2014
    #417
  18. stuart98

    stuart98 Post Master General

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    You've killed us all.
    stuart98, February 9, 2014
    #418
  19. stonewood1612

    stonewood1612 Well-Known Member

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    We're all gonna die! Again!

    As long as the AI doesn't spam the U-gun. (#nametwist)
    stonewood1612, February 9, 2014
    #419
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  20. Quitch

    Quitch Post Master General

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    One thing I noticed from some of the playtest videos is that when the AI lands it'll treat this planet as part of its overall plan, building economy, etc. However, the AI really needs to kick off with a ground factory (several if it has the economy) so that it can take over a new planet as quickly as possible. It's no good dropping one bot on a world and then letting it expand, you're just asking for another player to come take your world from you.
    Quitch, February 16, 2014
    #420
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