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[thudo]

Dawn Of Skirmish *SOUL STORM EXPANSION ONLY* V3.0 RELEASE and Acknowledgements (April 2008)
===================================================================

Main Download Link (Fast!)

Meet the Cast:
==============

Thudo (Thudmeizer)..>> Team Lead/Coder/Gfx/Bonafied Cheerleader
ArkhanTheBlack......>> Lead Coder/Scripter
LarkinVB............>> Lead Coder/Scripter/Beta Tester
Corsix..............>> Coder
Inquisitor..........>> Beta Tester/Assistance with camera mod
Zenoth..............>> Beta Tester
Smokeskin...........>> Beta Tester
Dreddnott...........>> Beta Tester
Malkor..............>> Beta Tester
Troubadour..........>> Beta Tester


Introduction
============

Prepare for a more enhanced Dawn Of War - Soul Storm skirmish experience!

This project started after the release of Dawn Of War with the intent to bring to the global DoW community a more intense and satisfying AI opponent on the field of war. We hope you will agree that has been achieved with the understanding more is to be done in the future. Our work continues to evolve and in the coming months will make current efforts pale in comparison. However, you have to start somewhere and hot damn what a jumpstart!

Its been a slice from start to, well, continuing! We're so looking forward to enhancing the AI even further in the coming months!


A Personal Thanks
=================

At this time I would like to personally thank all the participating members of the team:

ArkhanTheBlack, LarkinVB, and Corsix, as well as our beta testers, Zenoth, Smokeskin, Dreddnott, Troubadour, Malkor, Inquisitor, and all who keep our work "in-perspective" and "on-track" with our ultimate goals of achieving the most competitive DoW AI opponent we can create!.

Its through your dedication, patience, and technical expertise that allowed the work to commence and prosper. Without you fellers, there'd be a pittence of work compared to the greatness this project has become. We've come a long way and do sincerely hope to continue our expert correspondance into the future of the product.

CutterShane (Original idea and implementation of the Heroes mod)

Alex Gnome (Original idea and implementation of the Camera mod)


Disclaimer
==========

This is to acknowledge that we take no personal responsibility for any hardware damage or data corruption brought forth by the use or installation of this DoW modification. As used, this modification works "as is" and has been thoroughly tested and should not cause any major problems. In the event, however, that something serious does occur, it is up to the user(s) of their computer(s) to make appropriate backups before any attempt is made to install the following DoW modification. Use at your own risk.


Whats In The Package?
====================

o Main Installation Package containing the Enhanced DoW AI scripts (contains ONLY those .ai files that our team altered)
o Dawn Of Skirmish SS V3.0 dowai.txt (what your reading)
o Doc folder containing information how to add your own faction to the AI project.


Installation
============

Piece of Cake! Run the executable and it will extract to where your <installed Dawn Of War folder> is.

Once installed, run the newly placed shortcut on your desktop "DOW Skirmish AI V3.0" or from StartMenu/Programs/"Dawn Of War Skirmish AI Mod". You will know if the modification is running when on the top-left section of the Dawn Of War Main Menu it will display: Dawn Of Skirmish V3.0.

To uninstall this modification, go back to StartMenu/Programs/"DOW Skirmish AI Mod" and choose "Remove Dawn Of Skirmish AI Mod" to remove the modification from Dawn Of War.

**NOTE**

This version of the AI mod will only work with the Soul Storm Expansion.


What's new in Dawn of Skirmish SS AI 3.0?
=========================================

o New AI's for Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle
o Old races ported and optimized for SS
o AI harassing improved
o AI attacks more often
o AI upgrades heavy weapons and leaders more often
o Builders can assist with building and repair friendly buildings and vehicles
o Heroes Special Mod updated with new races and campaign
o New Massive Battles Mod to increase army size of all players
o New Fortress Mod to increase strength of turrets, mines and posts if you want more defensive battles
o Countless smaller fixes

Issues: Unfortunately, the unit jumping got a bit unstable in SS. We've fixed it as far as possible,
but we can't give a 100 % guaranty that it's stable on all machines since it's a hard coded
problem, which only Relic can fix.


Extended camera zoom modes
==========================
Optional installation feature which adds two files camera_high.lua and camera_low.lua to the Dowai_mod\Data folder.
If you dislike them you can deselect them during installation or just delete them if you already installed them.
The default view is almost the same like vanilla therefore you shouldn't notice much difference until you start
to zoom in or out. Thanks to Alex Gnome for the original discovery of the camera settings.


AI Highspeed Setting
====================
Option set in the game mode panel at the setup of a game.

People who experience heavy lag and sync problems in multiplayer should try this option.
Some AI calculations are simplified or skipped to increase performance.
But beware, the AI could be slightly weaker because of that.


Heroes Special Mod
==================
Option set in the game mode panel at the setup of a game.
Activates the Heroes Special mod which is a rework of CutterShanes exceptional Heroes mod, that specializes
only on the unit experience system. Have a look at the Heroes Special readme file for further information.
There's also a Heroes Special modding document which describes the inclusion and modification of Heroes Special
for other mods.


Massive Battles Mod
===================
Was also part of Cuttershanes original Heroes Mod. Increases the squad and support cap maximum by 50%.
Therefore all players can build squads and vehicles up to 30 squad and 30 support cap. (Except Orcs)


Fortress Mod
============
Use this if you prefer defensive games with stronger turrets, mines and fortified listening posts. The AI will
also build more turrets and mines as in normal games.


AI Donation System
==================
Option set in the game mode panel at the setup of a game.

- All races donate requisition if they own more than 800

- All races demand requisition if they own less than 200

- All races donate power if they own more than 600 (Necrons: more than 1100)

- All races demand power if they own less than 200 (Necrons: less than 400)


AI Config Panel
===============

There are several options you can change for each difficulty level to adjust the AI behaviour to you liking.

1.) Dancing
~~~~~~~~~~~
Dancing is the ability to run away with ranged units if they are attacked in melee.
There are three possible settings:
a) Off => Dancing is not used at all
b) Standard => The AI is restricted to only dance with one unit at a time
c) Godlike => The AI will dance with several units at a time if necessary

2.) Attack Delay
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This forces the AI to wait with an attack until a specif time has passed.
You can adjust this time in two minute steps from 0 to 20 minutes.

3.) Tech Speed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With an increased teching speed, the AI will spend its resources more on teching than on building troops.
With a decreased teching speed, the AI will spend its resources more on building troops than on teching.

4.) Teching Handicap
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A handicap will slow down the teching of an AI. It will also hoard more ressources
instead of spending it immediately for units or buildings.
You can give allies an handicap or opponents. If you give allies a handicap, all
AI's allied with a human player are affected. If you give opponents a handicap, all
AI's not allied with a human player are affected. You can use this behaviour for
example to weaken AI opponents if you don't feel good enough to face them at full
strength. Or you want the exact opposite, a real challenge, and weaken your own
allies, so you have to do more yourselve.

5.) Allow alternative strategies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All AI's have 4 different strategies:

- A solid allround strategy
- A special ranged strategy
- A special melee strategy
- A vehicle fast tech strategy

If alternative strategies are activated, the AIs will choose one of those strategies at the start by
random, though the chances of each strategy are influenced by opponent and map size. If deactivated,
the AI will always choose the solid allround strategy.

6.) Early Harassing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This allows commanders and combat troops to make an attack at an extremly early state to
avoid opposing scout capturing strategic points. If successfull, this can severly cripple
the opponents ressource income and decide the game at a very early state. On the other side,
harassing can also lead to a quick sacrifice of troops, which gives the opponent an advantage.
Harassing is only possible in the first 4 minutes.

7.) Dynamic Production Buildings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The AI normally builds more troop production buildings if it has excess ressources. This allows
often an outproducing of the opponenr who can't replace its losses fast enough.
Bear in mind that the AI might still build more troop production because of other reasons. IG for
example need to build them to increase their squad and support caps. In this case those buildings
are normally only built a bit later. This can also hurt the balance between the races since some
of them are affected more and others less of it.

8.) Build Relic units
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If deactivated, the AI won't build any Relic units like the Baneblade from the Imperial Guard or the Chaos
Bloodthirster.

9.) Build turrets
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If deactivated, the AI won't build any turrets (except Orc Waagh Banners).

10.) Build mines
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If deactivated, the AI won't build any mines.


Script Changes (from the original game to what we have today)
==============
Available upon request.

Comments?
=========
Visit us at our home base
You can also drop by the official Relicforums here: http://forums.relicnews.com/

Cheers DoW Community and prepare for some serious ownage!

[divad8]

Thank you so much for this work!

[thudo]

All our team's pleasure in building it.

[minoru]

Thank you very much! This is just amazing!!

[mdcertainty]

Thank you so much skirmish AI team... your hard work brings the AI to a never known challenge. I´m happy the AI will kick me around now *smiles*

[jureidinim]

Wow.. Sorian just released his new AI for Supreme commander: Forged alliance

.. and now the DOW:SS AI is ready.

RTS gaming just got better

Now if I could just find a way to leave work early..... hmmmm...

[Actaestfabula]

Thanks big, guys! It is perfectly made!
But against necrons de and sob - wrong tactics. DE - mass Warrior Squad+mass Reaver Jetbike, sob - Battle Sister Squad+phosphor_grenades+Inferno Pistol also will be gg!

[Looper127]

Hello. I've been watching and using this mod ever since it came out for the original Dawn of War. So, I've decided to make my first post and thank the Cast for their amazing efforts to improve the AI for the Dawn of War series. The Soulstorm vanilla AI was truly pathetic.

I also have a question for you guys. I am an avid Imperial Guard player and enjoy watching and playing against the Imperial Guard AI in your mod. I understand that, with the increased requirements for tier 1, resources tend to be rather scarce for the computer. I am noticing that the computer will almost never produce a commissar until late tier 2 where they might produce 1, maybe 2. I'm sure that all the guardsman being saved from summary execution (the AI commissars are pretty trigger happy when it comes to the execute ability) are praising your name, but I was wondering, is the lack of commissars intended?

Edit: Also, Datarius Pits seems to have some major pathing issues that I never noticed in DC.

Edited by Looper127, 09 April 2008 - 09:59 PM.

[danuker]

Woohoo, time to give it a good spin!

Kudos to the entire team to help make the game better.

[ThetaOrion]

Well, it's not complete until ThetaOrion, the Bonafied Cheerleader, steps in to say congrats!

Downloading and installing now.

--

Oh, and as jurei says, Sorian has indeed released 1.0 of his AI for Forged Alliance. It is indeed a good day for RTS.

[ThetaOrion]

Okay, I had a chance to give it a go.

Thud, Arkhan, Larkin, and Zenoth seemed to indicate that we would be pleased; and I am.

I have only had time for a couple of games so far on Mountain Trails at the HARD setting, and I haven't won yet.

I started with me as Dark Eldar and Necron AI allies against the Sisters and Tau; and we got overrun rather quickly. Those enemy Celestians were brutal and in great abundance, just as Arkhan predicted.

So, I figured I would turn it around for an easy win.

Me as the Sisters with Tau AI ally, against the Dark Eldar and Necrons on Mountain Trails at HARD setting. And, we did really well there at first, due to a quicker start capturing strategic points, but we still got overrun in the end. My Celestians didn't seem to be nearly as effective as the AI's Celestians, getting wiped out in seconds instead of lasting for forever; making it all truly hard to get the win.

The AI ally seems to be nerfed in SS like it was in DC, so that if you get the win, you feel like you did it all by yourself and really deserved it. Anything I select as the AI ally seems to go soft, where it was previously tough. I think that's the way it was intended, and with the AI allies being slightly softer than the AI enemies, and it usually works out to be a challenge.

The new improved SS AI you made really tiers up nicely; and if I ever do get a win, it will be because I have truly figured out how things work, tier up properly, and/or get lucky, as any RTS AI skirmish game should be.

This whole skirmish thing seems to be better all around than the stuff we were working with back in the Winter Assault days. Good work!

Thank you.

[thudo]

I also have a question for you guys. I am an avid Imperial Guard player and enjoy watching and playing against the Imperial Guard AI in your mod. I understand that, with the increased requirements for tier 1, resources tend to be rather scarce for the computer. I am noticing that the computer will almost never produce a commissar until late tier 2 where they might produce 1, maybe 2. I'm sure that all the guardsman being saved from summary execution (the AI commissars are pretty trigger happy when it comes to the execute ability) are praising your name, but I was wondering, is the lack of commissars intended?

Keep playing - you'll find most IG AI Buildorders will build Commissars early. The one you experienced did not, obviously.

[poisty]

Just had a few games-they played well as I have come to expect from your dedicated team-hards were easy enough but above that they really had me running.

[McCloud]

AWESOME!!! Props to you guys for your hard work. If relic/iron lore had any any clue they would offer you all jobs. Your work is greatly appreciated.

[Psychobabas]

First of all, THANK YOU for this mod as it is the only reason that I personally play this game.

Just a little sidenote though, I played a 1v1 vs a Dark Elder (me Tau) and it really didnt stand a chance. The map was Moonglade and I basically just made Tau commander and 2 sets of Firewarriors, backed with Vespids for detection. I consider myself to be an average player but the Dark Eldar AI got beat really easily (Hard difficulty). I actually never moved from t1. I dont know if other Taus feel the same way but maybe you could adjust the DE AI in future releases as it seemed to base its strategy too much on stealth units, which got annihilated easily with the Vespid help.

[thudo]

Just a little sidenote though, I played a 1v1 vs a Dark Elder (me Tau) and it really didnt stand a chance. The map was Moonglade and I basically just made Tau commander and 2 sets of Firewarriors, backed with Vespids for detection. I consider myself to be an average player but the Dark Eldar AI got beat really easily (Hard difficulty). I actually never moved from t1. I dont know if other Taus feel the same way but maybe you could adjust the DE AI in future releases as it seemed to base its strategy too much on stealth units, which got annihilated easily with the Vespid help

1) Play a different map or 2 or 3 (same result)?
2) Try HARDER and up if you want a challenge
3) Doesn't sound like the AI I've come to playtest for years and years.

Your observation doesn't coincide with the many who are offering feedback of a very satisfying experience - you need to play more and on different maps to form a more well-rounded opinion.

[Psychobabas]

Just a little sidenote though, I played a 1v1 vs a Dark Elder (me Tau) and it really didnt stand a chance. The map was Moonglade and I basically just made Tau commander and 2 sets of Firewarriors, backed with Vespids for detection. I consider myself to be an average player but the Dark Eldar AI got beat really easily (Hard difficulty). I actually never moved from t1. I dont know if other Taus feel the same way but maybe you could adjust the DE AI in future releases as it seemed to base its strategy too much on stealth units, which got annihilated easily with the Vespid help

1) Play a different map or 2 or 3 (same result)?
2) Try HARDER and up if you want a challenge
3) Doesn't sound like the AI I've come to playtest for years and years.

Your observation doesn't coincide with the many who are offering feedback of a very satisfying experience - you need to play more and on different maps to form a more well-rounded opinion.

By no means am I saying the mode is weak! On the same map I get my ass handed back to me nicely by necrons, spacemarines and especially Sisters. But it just seemed like the DE AI gets pwned by Tau 1st tier. Seems to me that when the DE lose their stealth it just takes firewarrior spam to beat it no problem at all. Just something I would like to point out. But I will post a replay soon I promise.

[Kontuz]

... But it just seemed like the DE AI gets pwned by Tau 1st tier. Seems to me that when the DE lose their stealth it just takes firewarrior spam to beat it no problem at all. Just something I would like to point out.

I don't usually play 1v1 with the AI, except for testing. You may have hit on a weakness that makes this particular combo unsatisfying.

You might enjoy a 4 player map FFA, or my favorite, 8 players, 4 teams.

[LarkinVB]

Good players (not me) can pawn the AI on hard, every map, every matchup. It is ... artificial ... and DoW is not chess.

Edited by LarkinVB, 10 April 2008 - 07:03 PM.

[jureidinim]

Good players (not me) can pawn the AI on hard, every map, every matchup. It is ... artificial ... and DoW is not chess.

Agreed.
I usually play 4 player FFA or teams. Not a good player so I usually lose (comes down to me and one other AI) - but it's insane fun

But it just seemed like the DE AI gets pwned by Tau 1st tier. Seems to me that when the DE lose their stealth it just takes firewarrior spam to beat it no problem at all

Spamming one unit (espescially a tier 1 unit) is pretty much rushing, which is something most AI's can't handle anyway. Maybe DE is just more susceptible to rushing tactics.

If its a tactics issue, I'm sure the team will tweak it on the next round of tests/improvements.
The AI does use the DE mandrakes and their damn stealth very well though. My eco got crippled in my last 4 player FFA game because of them.