Speaking of BetaTesting, as a betatester for the AI Skirmish Mod, I have been looking for maps where the AI routinely gets to the final tier of gameplay during Team Play. I can't really properly beta-test an AI, if you don't get to see the AI perform through all the tiers of gameplay during the replays I provide.
I'm currently looking for the best maps for BetaTesting the AI Skirmish Mod with a human playing in the mix.
On these five following maps, each of the AI can routinely create and send two, three, or four Titan Uber Avatars your direction during the typical game.
This is what I have come up with so far and where to find them:
a) Castle Assault:
http://dawnofwar.fil..._Map_Pack;52086
b) Desert Gauntlet:
http://dawnofwar.fil..._Map_Pack;52086
c) Winter Gauntlet:
http://dawnofwar.fil..._Map_Pack;54676
d) DrawBridge aka DrawBridge Recreated:
http://dawnofwar.fil...rawbridge;58916
http://rapidshare.de...reated.zip.html
e) Black Fortress Version 0.9:
http://stud4.tuwien....579/mymaps.html
http://stud4.tuwien....ck Fortress.exe
f) 8P Winter Assault Kasyr Lutien:
http://dawnofwar.fil...yr_Lutien;50504
g) 8P Hell Lutien:
http://dawnofwar.fil...ll_Lutein;64410
Contains 8P Hell Lutien II with more resources for even larger gameplay:
http://dawnofwar.fil...Fort_Veux;73473
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I'll add other maps to this list, once I'm convinced that the AI routinely gets to the final tiers of gameplay during Team Play with a human in the mix. Of course, there is nothing to prevent the rest of you from suggesting maps that I might have overlooked.
But, I am currently looking specifically for the AI to reliably reach the final tiers during Team Play, because seeing the allied AI and enemy AI perform through all the different tiers of the game is the only way for a human player to reliably betatest the AI in all it's permutations and glory.
I eliminated Winter Castle because it seemed to paralyze the AI for a long period of time, until the user takes down the gates, although the AI does seem to get to the final tiers of the game. The Winter Castle Map can make for a long and boring game, because at points the AI just stands there and does nothing -- not the best situation for beta-testing.
I haven't had time to determine if the AI in Castle Ruosteinen routinely gets to the final tiers of the game. The game might get over too quickly for the AI to routinely reach the final tiers of the game. Castle Ruosteinen also gives Titan Perks to the Orks and the IG, which kind of makes it unfair to betatest on this map, because with the selective use of the Titans for the Orks and IG only, you don't get a pure or equal picture for betatesting purposes. Those who know me know that I take this betatesting quite seriously. Ork Alamo isn't on the list because if you play it natively as suggested, you don't get to see how your AI ally performs because you have no AI ally, and if you play Ork Alamo with an AI ally, you don't usually get to see the final Tiers of the game, at least not with a significant number of the enemy AI players. And, with some of the other maps like 6P Soul Forge and 6P Kasyr Lutien or 4P Mountain Trails or 6P Mortalis, I or the AI just don't last long enough on average to routinely see the final tiers of the game at the HARD setting of the game with a human in the mix.
I included Black Fortress on the list, even though the human player often doesn't survive to the final tiers of the game, because the human player is often being wiped out by final tier stuff when he goes down.
I added Winter Assault Kasyr Lutien, because it is a large balanced map with lots of build space, and although it is classified under 6 Player maps, it is in fact an 8 Player Map. Due to the size of the map, I tend to run into Titan Uber Avatars by the end of the game.
Of all these maps, for me, Castle Assault is the first and the best, when it comes to betatesting the AI with a human in the mix and seeing the prolonged final tier performance of the AI at the HARD setting of the AI Skirmish Mod.
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I have been asked about 8P Marinus and the 6P Bridge map keep coming up. These maps have tight passageways that change the gameplay significantly, and thus weren't the best maps for betatesting Team Play. I visualize these maps, worthy of honorable mention for sure, as being better for Free For All games and thus probably better for betatesting FFA gameplay instead of team play.
The same thing applies to 8P Somme II and 8P Neo-Martian Plains Waterlee map. I tended to find them better for FFA games due to the tight bridges and different restricted gameplay that they seemed to produce. Worthy of honorable mention, but not ones that I turned to for 4vs4 Teamplay or 4vs4 betatesting.
Whereas, many of Aralez's fortress maps or siege maps were specifically designed for what Thud calls Skewed Team Play, and thus happened to work out very well, thanks to the castles, for observing all tiers of the AI action for the most part during skewed team play, with an AI ally in the mix.
6P Soul Forge should probably be on the list, but as 1.70 of the AI Mod became more and more 'imbalanced' feeling, I found that I never lasted long enough on Soul Forge to ever see Tier 4 action. I often didn't get past Tier 2 before my base was gone and I was eliminated, not exactly the best situation for witnessing all the tiers of gameplay if that is the goal.
8P Cliffs of Carcythe is a favorite map of mine, and I do see Tier 4 action there, but it seems to give the Imperial Guard a lot of grief, almost as if it were designed to work against the Imperial Guard being made before the IG and Winter Assault existed. Also, people complain of lag and CTD's with this map. It requires a lot of computer to play it smoothly apparently.
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OLDER ORIGINAL POSTING:
First on the list (of potentially hundreds of maps) is 4P_Mountain Trail Map.
It's a good open balanced map with a few important enjoyable strategic chokepoints and plenty of space for the AI Mod to build.
The 4P Mountain Trail Map loves the AI Mod.
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The maps that Thudo repeatedly keeps suggesting that we should do our BetaTests on:
4P Mountain Trails (His Favorite)
2P Blood River
2P Fallen City
2P Battle Marshes
2P Valley of Khorne
6P Mortalis (He once told me it was his favorite 6P map)
6P Kasyr Lutien (He doesn't seem to complain when we play it)
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Korbah of DoWPro recommends for 1vs1 games:
2P Meeting of Minds
2P Outer Reaches
in addition to some of the 2 player maps that Thud recommends.
Korbah and the DoWPro Pro players don't like Valley of Khorne and tell the people to play something else.
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In some of the more recent AI Skirmish Mod Betas, the different coders were recommending the original official:
6P Testing Grounds
I, too, have had an interesting game or two on that map, and the AI gave me grief.
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During the betas, Arkhan recommended:
8P Concrete Defence
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4vs4 Team play is different than 1vs1 play. Some believe that the only way to properly betatest is 1vs1, but, I'm not of that school.
4vs4 or 3vs3 or 2vs2 gives you a chance to see how your AI ally performs.
Also, for proper gameplay and proper betatesting, I always believed that Annihilation is the only permissable win condition while playing Team Play 4vs4, 3vs3, or 2vs2. I never do take and hold, because you get a better game with Annihilation, plus you get to see the factions through all tiers of gameplay all the way up to the real end of the game with Annihilation.
A Take and Hold victory against the AI feels like cheating to a hardcore AI teamplayer like me or my friend Aralez who got me started on teamplay with and against the AI.
Edited by ThetaOrion, 18 April 2007 - 12:19 PM.