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[thudo]

Dawn Of Skirmish *DARK CRUSADE EXPANSION + v1.2 PATCH ONLY* V2.6 RELEASE and Acknowledgements (Feb 04, 2008)

Main Download Link (Fast!)

Or Download Attachment Below!!!!

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
Malkor..............>> Beta Tester
Troubadour..........>> Beta Tester
ThetaOrion..........>> Beta Tester
FinalDeath..........>> Beta Tester
QuietDeath..........>> Beta Tester
JBird...............>> Beta Tester
Slash...............>> 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, Malkor, Zenoth, ThetaOrion, FinalDeath, Troubadour, Slash, JBird, QuietDeath 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 pittance of work compared to the greatness this project has become. We've come a long way and do sincerely hope to continue our expert correspondence 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 DC V2.6 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 V2.6" 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 V2.6.

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 2.6?
=========================================

o AI forces should attack more reliable now (They shouldn't get stuck anymore during attack gathering)
o Defense behaviour improved
o Some bug fixes
o AI donations are automatically deactivated in multiplayer mode to avoid sync problems
o Note: No update for the Witch Hunters necessary since they already use this version


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 de-select 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
==============
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 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
===============

Access this through the START/PROGRAMS/THQ/Dawn of Skirmish/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 resources 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 yourselves.

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

- A solid all-round 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 extremely early state to avoid opposing scout capturing strategic points. If successful, this can severely cripple
the opponents resource 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 resources. This allows often an outproducing of the opponent 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.

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

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/

Cheers DoW Community and prepare for some serious ownage!

Attached Files

•  Dawn_Of_Skirmish_v2.60_DC_AI_Mod_Install.exe   832.55KB   92 downloads

[mdcertainty]

Many thanks for another polished version to kick the human players butt .

Hopefully I don´t get burnt by asking this hehe, but lets say I´d like to update Steel Legion or another mod with this new shiny AI version.

I would take the AI+scar folders from 2.6 and copy it into the Data folder of Steel Legion overwriting the existing ones? That´s all to have 2.6 within the SL (with the exception of an updated AI controlled SL) right?

And If SL already has 2.6, the way I described it should work?

EDIT:
2.6_Conversion
1.) Replace core folder
2.) Replace AISCARSupport_local.lua file in the Data\scar\winconditions directory
3.) Replace aisupport_manager.scar file in the Data\scar\AISupport\core directory

So says the info .

Edited by mdcertainty, 05 February 2008 - 09:12 AM.

[Sûlherokhh]

thudo, you da man!

This couldn't have been released at a better time for me. I am just reacquiring a taste of DoW, and the improved AI is the cherry on top!


Edit: After several fair games on HARD AI, i have not yet won a single skirmish. I guess i start to suck a soon as i micro battles (and forget all about squad and structure building)

Edited by Sûlherokhh, 05 February 2008 - 04:45 PM.

[danuker]

Thanks for another update to this great mod!

[Rommel013]

This is an amazing mod, I was turned off by the DoW Skirmish, mostly due to the insane rushing that the AI does. Thank you very much.

I have encountered some problems on a few maps where my AI Allies will rush the AI Enemies (who are not rushing) when I set the no-rush time. It appears to only happen with 8 player maps, do you have any suggestions?

Thanks Again.

[thudo]

I have encountered some problems on a few maps where my AI Allies will rush the AI Enemies (who are not rushing) when I set the no-rush time. It appears to only happen with 8 player maps, do you have any suggestions?

Try the same map BUT with only 2vs2 ? Same difference.. I found some real odd issues with the AI when I went above 2vs2 so lets say in 2vs2 or lower games the Eldar AI would properly build aspect stone addons for the ALL portals BUT when the Eldar AI is in a 3vs3 it only builds ONE different aspect stone addon per portal. Thats right: instead of building all addons for all aspect portals in a 2vs2 it only builds ONE aspect addon per portal in a 3vs3. Screwy or what? I doubt this is AI script-related as it totally sounds like the game engine to me.

[Quitch]

This is still the best AI for an RTS I have encountered yet. From such humble beginnings...

Great work, chaps!

[Quitch]

Isn't it time this got stickied and the old thread dropped?

[thudo]

Thanks Quitch! Done!

[Zenoth]

Thudo, I'd like to know something about this version. Was the relocation behavior changed? By that I mean relocating the base when the primary HQ is under attack and about to be destroyed. Because I've played a couple of 2 Vs 2's and 4 Vs 4's on Hard, both on official and custom maps, and I noticed that whatever amount of resources I give to the concerned A.I team(s) (the one(s) that is/are about to die) doesn't result in a base relocation, even though they always had a minimum of one (if not more) worker unit left, and after giving the resources the builders don't move an inch.

I can't remember seeing such a thing in the previous version.

So was it just pure coincidence?

[thudo]

I cannot remember but I believe the AI does try to build an HQ in an ally's base when its own is about to be totally overthrown. However, the builder units might have problems getting to your base to build itself back up again. Also, what Tier was the AI in when its base on almost killed? I think a certain tier level must be reached for this to happen.

[Zenoth]

I cannot remember but I believe the AI does try to build an HQ in an ally's base when its own is about to be totally overthrown. However, the builder units might have problems getting to your base to build itself back up again. Also, what Tier was the AI in when its base on almost killed? I think a certain tier level must be reached for this to happen.

It was at Tier 3 most of the time.

[LarkinVB]

Here is for example the code for chaos :

-- Restrict dynamic builds to hard difficulty or higher
	if (CpuManager.AISettings.bMultiBuildings) then
	
		-- Dynamic buildings
		-- Item-Syntax: BuildingName, BuildingCount, MinTier, MinRequisition, MinPower, MinSquadCap, MinSupportCap
		self:DynamicBuild("chaos_temple", 2, 1, 800, 0, 0, 0)
		self:DynamicBuild("chaos_machine_pit", 2, 2, 200, 600, 0, 0)
		self:DynamicBuild("chaos_sacrificial_circle", 3, 3, 1500, 500, 0, 0)
		self:DynamicBuild("chaos_machine_pit", 3, 3, 500, 1500, 0, 0)
		self:DynamicBuild("chaos_hq", 2, 2, 1500, 0, 0, 0)
		if (self:CountSquads("chaos_squad_obliterator") > 0) then
			self:DynamicBuild("chaos_greater_sacrificial_circle", 2, 3, 600, 200, 0, 0)
		end
	end

Seems it first tries to build lots of other stuff at T3 before starting a secondary HQ with at least 1500 req.
If you want it to build a secondary more reliable AI should check if HQ is damaged and/or under heavy threat and start to build as soon as possible.

Edited by LarkinVB, 05 March 2008 - 07:55 AM.

[ArkhanTheBlack]

Thudo, I'd like to know something about this version. Was the relocation behavior changed? By that I mean relocating the base when the primary HQ is under attack and about to be destroyed. Because I've played a couple of 2 Vs 2's and 4 Vs 4's on Hard, both on official and custom maps, and I noticed that whatever amount of resources I give to the concerned A.I team(s) (the one(s) that is/are about to die) doesn't result in a base relocation, even though they always had a minimum of one (if not more) worker unit left, and after giving the resources the builders don't move an inch.

I can't remember seeing such a thing in the previous version.

So was it just pure coincidence?

The only race which really tries this are the Necrons. The other races aren't destroyed if the HQ falls, and therefore they only build a new HQ if the old one is destroyed, they have 1500+ req in tier 2 or they reache the point in tier 4 where they are forced to build 2 HQs. This behaviour hasn't changed in ages.

[Zenoth]

Thanks for clarifying guys.

Then it must have been pure coincidence.

It'd be nice if the player could see how much resources his A.I allies have, to better understand their tactics and decisions. If I noticed for example that my ally who refused to relocate only had 800 Requisition and was busy building Predators to defend what little he had left then I wouldn't have wondered why he wasn't relocating. But with that said, I remember giving at least a thousand Requisition to my dying A.I ally when it happened, I just thought "c'mon man you've surely got enough for a new HQ? do it before it's too late!".

But now that you affirm that the relocation behavior hasn't changed in ages then it was just bad luck. I need to play more to see if I can see it happen again more often.

Will the relocation code remain the same for Soulstorm?

[LarkinVB]

I'd like to see a DC 2.61 version with a just fixed MoveToDisengage(). It really makes a difference. Other mods which take 2.6 as their foundation should fix his bug too.

Edited by LarkinVB, 23 March 2008 - 08:11 AM.

[thudo]

That could be arranged.

[thudo]

We're @ 3.20 of the AI btw + you'll find the absolutely majority of players even on HARD cannot win against it so to each their own. Thanks for the feedback.

[BagaturKhan]

https://yadi.sk/d/b5qpUawG3RqsoA

Uploaded this mod to Yandex.disk

 

I think, its will be useful for people.