Modding the AI

[discodowney]

Hi,

Stuck this in the Mods forum and was told to try it in here, so....

Im a Masters of Computer Games Technology student. I am doing my dissertation on the use of an SVM as a controller for RTS AI.
I need an open source RTS for this. I was wondering if people would tell me what Glest is like to work with. I wouldnt be modding any information of the game as it is. Its just the decision making process of the AI.

There doesnt appear to be too many units which is good for my purposes.
Has anyone else tried tinkering with the AI? If so how was your experiences?

Cheers for any help.

[wciow]

I need an open source RTS for this. I was wondering if people would tell me what Glest is like to work with. I wouldnt be modding any information of the game as it is. Its just the decision making process of the AI.

Silnarm or Titi would be the best people to speak to.

Silnarm has done alot of work on pathfinding and scenario scripting. He also has a great all round knowledge of the engine.

Titi released two new AI strengths a while back so he probably has a better idea of how the AI mechanics work. His CPU 'Mega' AI certainly seems more intelligent than vanilla Glest.

There doesnt appear to be too many units which is good for my purposes.

Glest has a small number of units but you will find that most work in very similar ways due to the command/skill relationship.

[titi]

Which parts of the AI are you interested in?
The decision making part in general or the the pathfinder part ?
I don't fully understand the decision making part yet, but it looks like there are different rules which are simply called from time to time based on the current frame.
Rules like:
- produce worker
- produce warriour
- build building
- harvest ressources
- attack
- ultra attack ( when an enemy attacks the base )
...

Every single rule decides for itself if for example a worker will be produced or not.
I think thats the main thing cyclic called rules.
I for myself just modified some of these rules so they work different for easy/mega CPUs

For pathfinders you better ask silnarm.

[discodowney]

Id be interested in the decision making.
What i had hoped was that the SVM i develop would be used to control more the battle strategy in fights and learn and update itself with better ones as a human is played.

Ill download the code and have a look later.  Im not really familiar with that rule set type AI, im not sure it will work with what i want, but ill have a rummage around later and if i have any more questions ill stick em up here and see if ye can help me. Cheers.