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Meet the Cast:
==============
Thudo (Thudmeizer)..>> Team Lead/Scripter/Bonafied Cheerleader
ArkhanTheBlack......>> Lead Coder/Scripter
LarkinVB............>> Lead Coder/Scripter/Beta Tester
Corsix..............>> Coder
Zenoth..............>> Beta Tester
Malkor..............>> Beta Tester
Markoso.............>> Beta Tester
Troubadour..........>> Beta Tester
Serpentofshadow.....>> Beta Tester
Introduction
============
Prepare for a more enhanced Dawn Of War - Dark Crusade 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, Excedrin, and Corsix, as well as our beta testers (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.
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 DC V2.2 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 V2.1" 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 V2.1.
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 Dark Crusade Expansion.
What's new in Dawn of Skirmish DC AI 2.2?
=========================================
o Rework of large parts of the code to increase the performance, get rid of lags and and fix the MP sync problems
o IG bunkering (Only with activated 'AI SCAR support' option in the game options)
o Transport code (Only with activated 'AI SCAR support' option in the game options)
o Units enter buildings for deepstriking
o Improved capturing, jumping, harassing, attack and defense behaviour
o Race specific build order and tactic improvements
o Lots of bug fixes
o Includes Heroes Special mod, which allows units to gain experience levels (Activate 'Heroes' in the game options to use that)
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.
AI SCAR support
===============
Option set in the game mode panel at the setup of a game.
Activates AI donations, IG bunkering, support for transport vehicles
Heroes Special
==============
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.
AI Donation System
==================
Option can be toggled in the AI Config Panel
- 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.) Multiple Troop 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.) Allow Relic units
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If deactivated, the AI won't build any Relic units like the Baneblade from the Imperial Guard or the Chaos
Bloodthirster.
9.) AI donations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Allows the AI to donate resources.
Comments?
=========
Visit us at our home base: http://forums.revora...p?showforum=478
You can also drop by the official Relicforums here: http://forums.relicnews.com/
Thanks to everyone on the team for you incredibly hard work getting this compatible with all the major balance changes in WinterAssault and thanks to you, the community, for your patience!
We'll be watching for your general comments and experiences. Enjoy everyone and get some serious battlefield ownage going on!
