Spring RTS Engine

What I'd like is some sort of maneuver helper AI which maneuvers units around when they are engaged in combat so they don't stand still all the time.

No idea if this would be of any use to TA mods but others might like it.

Anyway I thought of it like this:
Either tie it to the engine and have the modder decide (tag in UNITINFO) if that helper gets activated when a unit's behaviour is set to maneuver or have a seperate helper to manually activate.


Actually, most of it can be done with COB script so adding a variable to COB might be a good idea, shoud be set/get able with multiple states, i.e.

0 = idle,
1 = move around in a given radius (tag in UNITINFO),
2 = retreat KAI style

When the unit engages combat you may just turn one of the features on in the FireWeapon(), HitByWeapon(), etc. function and have a unit flee or panic on health level for example.

I think this might make some mods feel more alive. I was thinking of 1944 and Gundam but it'd spice up any mod.


So anyone available with some spare time who'd like to do that? Pretty please? With sugar on top.

Well, for an "intelligent manoevering warrior" AI, there are tons of things you could do - such an AI would consider the firing ranges and effective-DPS of all nearby units, and try to position itself in such a way that it cannot be fired on - and when under fire, it would manoever within that optimal space.

I don't think this is a good idea. AIs such as this would take away critical elements of gameplay.

I agree with Lordmatt. This is called micromanaging your units. Its a fundamental skill in any RTS and i think having an AI do it for you is just...wrong.

We have AIs to do a lot of other things, many of which I disagree with already. To each his own, i suppose.

At the LANs I go to, the use of the AIs is prohibited.

Those AIs you disagree with went along because colorblind couldnt find anyone who disagreed.

Sheekel wrote:I agree with Lordmatt. This is called micromanaging your units. Its a fundamental skill in any RTS and i think having an AI do it for you is just...wrong.

We have AIs to do a lot of other things, many of which I disagree with already. To each his own, i suppose.

At the LANs I go to, the use of the AIs is prohibited.

+1

That's why I mentioned to tie it to the engine, which means the descision is up to the mod maker rather than the player where and when to use it.

So if I get this right you people would like to continue to have zombie alike unit behaviour... way to go.

There's more than TA you know... anyway any takers?

this AI is pointless. to make a unit randomly move, give any number of move orders to give a pattern, then set the unit on repeat and it will move how you said, forever.
to retreat, select everything on the screen, and click somewhere away from the screen.
if you mean that units always try and stay at maximum range by their own AI, then nobody would need short range units anymore, as such micro would make all ronge range units the own.

You don't get the big picture at all...

For example:
A unit has two weapons, one long range with long reload and a short range fast firing one. When the long range weapon is ready to fire, the unit will then evade the enemy and move to maximum firing range until it finds something to fire on. Once the LR weapon has been fired it will normally pursue the enemy again. And so on...

I'm talking about a pretty basic unit AI.


No of course I could setup a random movement pattern. In a few seconds. For 100+ units. Each having their own pattern based on their locations in a certain limiter. No apparently I can't. It's just one of the things I thought about. You could make units charge enemies without dummy weapons and a lot more stuff I can't think of right now.
Anyway, I'm a bit confused why you are so against it. I never saw anyone complain about aircraft movement behavior (except for their inablity to land where you want them to).

You're so like NEW FEATURES NOOOOOOOOOOOO! >:*(
Which is sad... :P

Making an AI to micro your units for you is PHAIL. That's why you are playing the game. End of story.

Lordmatt is right...

LordMatt wrote:Making an AI to micro your units for you is PHAIL. That's why you are playing the game. End of story.

Perhaps some mods would prefer using unit numbers that can't be microed while using units that would need it?

...and I'm left. No I don't play to micro and I don't consider it much fun myself.
What ever, it's not the reason which made me bring that idea up though (thought I made myself clear). It was to give mod makers the opportunity to make their mods feel more alive. That is just one of the things which is missing for me.

Anyway you might as well do other things instead of telling me how much failure that idea is. In fact, I'd rather see some opinions from people other than the AA mob.

I guess I'm better off doing it myself, I just don't have the time for it.

.....I think it's a good idea.....

rattle wrote:What I'd like is some sort of maneuver helper AI which maneuvers units around when they are engaged in combat so they don't stand still all the time.

No idea if this would be of any use to TA mods but others might like it.

Anyway I thought of it like this:
Either tie it to the engine and have the modder decide (tag in UNITINFO) if that helper gets activated when a unit's behaviour is set to maneuver or have a seperate helper to manually activate.


Actually, most of it can be done with COB script so adding a variable to COB might be a good idea, shoud be set/get able with multiple states, i.e.

0 = idle,
1 = move around in a given radius (tag in UNITINFO),
2 = retreat KAI style

When the unit engages combat you may just turn one of the features on in the FireWeapon(), HitByWeapon(), etc. function and have a unit flee or panic on health level for example.

I think this might make some mods feel more alive. I was thinking of 1944 and Gundam but it'd spice up any mod.


So anyone available with some spare time who'd like to do that? Pretty please? With sugar on top.

I've thought about this kind of thing for S44 myself. +1

rattle wrote:...and I'm left. No I don't play to micro and I don't consider it much fun myself.
What ever, it's not the reason which made me bring that idea up though (thought I made myself clear). It was to give mod makers the opportunity to make their mods feel more alive. That is just one of the things which is missing for me.

Anyway you might as well do other things instead of telling me how much failure that idea is. In fact, I'd rather see some opinions from people other than the AA mob.

I guess I'm better off doing it myself, I just don't have the time for it.

With "It was to give mod makers the opportunity to make their mods feel more alive" you mean that you wanted units that actual look to think by thenselfes instead of just being zumbis that walk just the enough to shot their targets and then stop here doing it until dead?

I think its a good idea ... But each unit should have its own ai (if it haves one) so there would be one more atribute to consider before making a unit: intelligence...

Sigh. Do you have any idea how much more the pathfinder would hate us if we did something like this on a large scale? It'd be one thing for a DoW-style game with maybe 150 units per side, limited strictly per player... it'd be another thing entirely with NanoBlobs, even though it'd be really kewl.

On the other hand, the whole "micro is the point" people are just plain wrong. It's a real-time strategy game. Messing around with single units, while it should result in some leverage, shouldn't be the entire gameplay, and I could very well see a mod that combined units that demand micro... with units that very much do not

I don't believe that an AI which replaces manual micromanagement is a good idea, as it is an element of the genre. However, if it could be controlled for specific uses, it may have a place.

If this is implemented to be selectable by the player, or even just by the modder, won't we all be happy? Modders can have the cannonfodder come equipped with a basic movement AI, while the larger units need to be microed more.

Having an AI to micro your units would just change the focus of the game, not necessarily ruin it. In many cases it probably wouldn't behave the way you wanted it to anyway...