80 replies to this topic

[thudo]

Dawn Of Skirmish *SOUL STORM EXPANSION ONLY* v3.1 RELEASE and Acknowledgements (December 2008)
================================================================================

** For SoulStorm v1.20 (Soulstorm + v1.10 Patch + its Hotfix) **

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
Cultist.............>> Additional Heroes Special optimizations
Corsix..............>> Coding assistance
Dark40K.............>> Coding assistance
Zenoth..............>> Beta Tester
Inquisitor..........>> Beta Tester/Assistance with camera mod
Troubadour..........>> Beta Tester
Smokeskin...........>> Beta Tester
Dreddnott...........>> Beta Tester
ThetaOrion..........>> Beta Tester
Malkor..............>> Beta Tester
FinalDeath..........>> Beta Tester
QuietDeath..........>> Beta Tester
JBird...............>> Beta Tester
Slash...............>> 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, Excedrin, and Corsix, as well as our beta testers, Malkor, Zenoth, ThetaOrion, FinalDeath, Troubadour, Slash, JBird, QuietDeath, Smokeskin, Dreddnott 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 V3.1 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 V3.1" 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 V3.1.

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 Soul Storm Expansion.


What's new in Dawn of Skirmish SS AI 3.1?
=========================================

o Some optimizations of heroes special by Cultist
o Eldar use Fleet of Foot now more efficient
o Fixed a builder teleport bug
o Dark Eldar don't use their abilities out of sight anymore
o Invisible troops are only engaged by melee troops if they are attacking
o Removed an inefficient Dark Eldar build strategy (Hellion strategy)
o Additional smaller fixes
o Some improvements to handle alternative addons for other mods by Dark40K


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!

[Actaestfabula]

thx, great work! In title - **For SoulStorm v3.20**

please change and test
in file engineertactic.ai for best work necron scarab and orc gretchin
-- Try to help finish a building
local oBuildingToFinish = cpu_manager:GetUnfinishedBuildingInRange()
if (oBuildingToFinish ~= nil) then ----> if (oBuildingToFinish ~= nil and self.squad_ai:GetNumTroopers() < 2) then
aitrace("EngineerTactic: Help finishing a building...")
self.squad_ai:DoFinishBuilding(oBuildingToFinish)
self.m_vDestination = oBuildingToFinish:GetPosition()
self.m_bBusy = true
return
end

For all races:
*strategyinfo.ai (* - name race)
--number of engineers we're aiming for want = 2 ---> --number of engineers we're aiming for want = 1
necron - 3

For tau:
in file krootcarnivoretactic.ai
"if (not self.squad_ai:IsInCombat() and self.squad_ai:IsIdle() and not сpu_manager.terrain_analyzer:HasThreat(vSquadPos, 50)) then" ----> "if not self.squad_ai:IsInCombat() then"

Edited by Actaestfabula, 09 December 2008 - 05:13 PM.

[thudo]

Soulstorm v3.20 = Soulstorm + v1.10 Patch + its Hotfix.

Btw, unsure why you quoted that part of the EngineerTactic code?

[Actaestfabula]

I detailed mine change for better effectiveness
scarabs and gretchin max speed build if in squad numbers >= 2, one squad. two squade and more not give effect.
Sorry my bad english.

Edited by Actaestfabula, 09 December 2008 - 05:20 PM.

[thudo]

Can anyone else substantiate this EngineerTactic change? Methinks it works quite fine "as is" although its kinda little late to make changes since we just released last night.

[Actaestfabula]

it is clear, thanks! i offer test.

[thudo]

Ah Acta? I looked at your script changes you modified above: what are you on about? We've kinda thoroughly tested x 10,050 such changes and not a single tester came back and said ill about the builders or the krootcarnivore tactic code you made an edit (which won't make a difference). I'm not sure what yer trying to achieve here.

[ThetaOrion]

Congratulations to the team!

I haven't been playing many RTS this year -- getting too old and having problems with the reflexes and tendons and joints and stuff. I have been mostly turn-based this year if I play computer games at all. My skirmish reflexes are down or gone. Earlier this year, I did run through the SoulStorm campaign at an average setting three times as three separate factions, but that's about it.

But now, it's definitely tempting to dust off the SoulStorm and give it a go for a bit in Skirmish Mode.

I have particularly been hoping to try a couple of the new race mods -- the Tyranids and the Harlequins when they are ready to go under the 3.10 Advanced AI -- if nothing more than for the eye-candy and to see what is there. I hope that Thud will get the Combiner Mod team back together and follow through and make sure that there is a functional Combiner Mod for Soulstorm that combines together the willing Race Mods into a functional whole under the control of the 3.10 Advanced AI. I'd like to see Thud complete the vision or the dream that he gave to me and others so very long ago!

[thudo]

Doing other Race mod's AI based around v3.10 Advanced AI is *NOT* the issue: its the mod teams themselves that need to update their AE code base in order to work and be balanced with SS. AI is easy enough now after 4+years but I cannot simply do AI for mod projects that don't wish to update their code.

[jureidinim]

Thanks to the team for another outstanding AI release.

Only got in one game so far and it was a quick and dirty skirmish (2 player) against TAU. Totally fun - yes, winning it made it sweeter, but the AI really kept me on my toes. Any slacking off on my part was quickly met with some serious pressure.

Fun stuff! Will be enjoying this one for a long time :-)

[Pseudonymn]

Huzzah! I can't wait to give this a spin!

[RobertW7928]

What? no Massive Battle or Fortress for the Campaign and the cut scenes don't even work, why can't you add an option for the Campaign? not to mention there was console errors when i tried Dark Elder about certain units having no strength.

[thudo]

not to mention there was console errors when i tried Dark Elder about certain units having no strength.

For the campaign? Can anyone substantiate this? The testers tested the campaign with the 3.10 AI.

[mdcertainty]

Great work AI team!
Big thanks for continuing your hard work to make the AI even better and better. Haven't tried the new 3.10 yet so can't confirm what RobertW7928 reported.

Edited by mdcertainty, 13 December 2008 - 02:08 PM.

[ArkhanTheBlack]

What? no Massive Battle or Fortress for the Campaign and the cut scenes don't even work, why can't you add an option for the Campaign?

There's a file kaurava.map in the directory "Dawn of War - Soulstorm\Dowai_mod\Data\scenarios\sp". In line 292 you'll find the win conditions for the campaign:

DefaultSkirmishWinConditions =
{
"Annihilate",
"GameTimer",
"Heroes",
}

You can add "Fortress" and "MassiveBattles" here to activate those options for the campaign.

The mod is called Dawn of Skirmish AI mod for a reason. We focus on the skirmish part and not the campaign. DOS AI will horribly unbalance the Campaign, so I consider it more a feature for a rare minority of the players.

[RobertW7928]

ok thank you arkhan but most of the console errors were from honor guard units having no attack strength but hero's seems to work fine tho.

[thudo]

Aaarrgghh.. we're getting reports that when 3.10 is installed, it still crashes the end of the Eldar Campaign as well as during the middle part of the SM cinematic. Thought these were all addressed? Any of the testers can explain?

[troubadour]

i played-tested AI mod in skirmish mode only and few missions in the campaign as... Tau
But honestly it is the first time i hear about these blockers, i think we shall improve commmunication when major defects are supposed to be fixed and need to be closed
I feel sorry for the ppl who are facing these issues

Edited by troubadour, 18 December 2008 - 08:23 AM.

[ArkhanTheBlack]

Actually, it was pretty clear that the problem did still exist since I requested information about this problem in one of the last betas. However, I didn't get much feedback except that the mission had the usual HQ buildings. I was thinking about shutting down the AI if no HQ is present at the start of a game, since the end missions are 100 % scripted according to what I heard. But it probably wouldn't have worked if the AI has the usual HQ buildings.
Most testers only play skirmish battles since campaign testing is usually too time consuming. The campaign also has only second priority because it messes the balancing too much up to be a serious alternative for the most players (At least that was my impression...).
Anyway, I don't think it's really a big problem, and a reliable fix is questionable. I think there's even a workaround with overwriting some file just for this mission...

[RobertW7928]

Disappointing, While playing with the mod on the Campaign on Hard as IG when versing Sisters they seemed to have increased health on most units (for example the cannoness had 1801 Hp) and When i attacked there Stronghold there was still NO Hero's or any other rule , just normal *gag*, can you guys do ANYTHING?

Edited by RobertW7928, 24 December 2008 - 04:01 PM.