Duel AI v2.7
Released: 12th October 2007

Please note: You must have SC patch 3269 or later installed to use this mod.

This mod is not compatible with Forged Alliance. For my FA AI fixes see this thread:
http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?t=23929


This Supreme Commander AI has been tweaked for play for 1v1 games on 5km and 10km land maps such as Winter Duel and Open palms.

I mostly play ranked games rather than custom and Winter Duel and Open Palms are common ranked maps. I wanted an AI to practice against on these maps to I could try different tactics that might cost me a lost points if I tried in a ranked game. At the same time I wanted the AI to act similar to how a ranked human may act. I found that Sorians Rush AI was better after the 10 minute mark and once tech2 was reached. So I took Sorians Rush AI and added some tech 1 platoons and other tweaks and Duel AI was born. Since then Duel AI has seen many improvements and unless you are a top 1000 player I expect it will give you a strong challenge in a 1v1 on WD and OP and should go okay on other ranked land maps as well such as Theta passage and Fields of Isis.

Also I always wanted to include a number of advanced player tactics such as the T1 gunships and engineer drops. Starting from version 2 I have found a way to get the AI to do these kind of transport based tactics. Currently this AI will try a "Ghetto Gunship" style tactic 30 percent of the time on small maps.

This AI is heavily based on Sorians AI pack and uses a number of files from his release. A big thanks goes to Sorian for all the work he has put in on both his AI and his mod guides!

To install copy the file "01_DuelAI.scd" to THQ\Gas Powered Games\Supreme Commander\gamedata under your install location. Please remove all other AIs in the gamedata folder before installing.

NOTE: This AI does receive a resource boost in the game, but it drops off in late game to give the player a clear chance to win.

You can download the last stable release at:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~dionysus/m ... AIv2.7.zip

Current ranked maps: Open Palms, Seraphim Glaciers, Theta Passage, Syrtis Major, Finn's Revenge, Roanoke Abyss, Arctic Refuge, Crossfire Canal, Saltrock Colony, Blasted Rock and Ambush Pass

Good ranked maps for Duel AI: Open Palms, Theta Passage, Syrtis Major, Arctic Refuge, Saltrock Colony, Blasted Rock and Ambush Pass.

Good non-ranked maps for Duel AI: Winter Duel, Summer Duel, Fields of Isis

Version History
===============

V2.7
Release: 12/10/07
Added Engineer drops!

V2.6
Release: 07/10/07
Added in patch 3269 units
Adjust T3 power/mass fabs

V2.5
Release: 26/09/07
Fixed early build order

V2.4
Release: 23/09/07
GG not built if civs on map
Build shields earlier
Less engineers heading to "suicide" spots
Improved early base defense to prevent com rush
Improved fighter production

V2.3
Release: 16/09/07
Reduced GG probability to 30% on small maps
Minor changes to Navy priority
Improved ACU assisting factories
Improved T1 unit production at T2
Fix issue where Duel AI was being selected for Surpreme AI

V2.2
Release: 01/09/07
Fix regression issue with units not attack on maps with civilians

V2.1
Release: 28/08/07
Integrated Sorians transport code for easier AI merge
Speed up T1 Gunship initial production
T1 Gunships now move around their target

V2.0
Release: 26/08/07
Misc improvements to T1 gunship forming
Sends T1 gunships in formations
Only tries T1 gunships 50 percent of the time

V2.0 BETA
Release: 23/08/07
Ghetto Gunships now working!

V1.8
Released: 18/08/07
Units now built while first T2 engineers come out
Fix attack forces on Ambush pass so units dont get stuck in the AI base.

V1.7
Released: 11/08/07
Better mix of tanks and arty at T1
More T1 units at T2 built
Better use of engineers eg T2 engineers dont go out to mass spots
Reduced number of T2 power built as AI was wasting time on these

V1.6
Released: 06/08/07
Improved unit attack formations so not in a long line
Added in Sorians latest code - minus the T1 PD choices which I dont agree with
Included new T2 bombers (again thanks to Sorian)

V1.5
Released: 27/07/07
Reduced resource waste
Fixed lull when moving to T2
Increase attack group size based on player defenses

V1.4
Released: 25/07/07
Turned off resource sharing so can be used as an ally.
Improve T2 variety so MML and AA produced

V1.3
Released: 21/07/07
T1 rader now built.
Commander will run away sooner.
Early T2 tank production.
Reduced the number of factorys built.
Improve engineer guards.

V1.2
Released: 14/07/07
Made T1 platoons more aggressive.
Fix so correctly moves to tech 2 and produces units.

V1.1
Released: 11/07/07
Reduced econ waste and resource boost in long game.
Changed early commander build order to include extra land fac.
Changed early platoon to new Duel type.
Changed PBMSetCheckInterval to improve build times

V1.0
Released: 07/07/07
Initial Release
Includes increase priority land platoons on small maps

*

You also use some files from Giscard

So, can you tell us a bit about your A.I?

Aralez, In terms of the Giscard files... I had a look and I did find a reference to Rommel in the AIpersonality files, but I checked the original Supcom Lua files and it was there too... odd. Any other files I should check? I don't think I'm using any of his stuff although I did grab many of the files from Sorians AI pack so might have pulled something in....


ChrmnMa0, I mostly play ranked games rather than custom and Winter Duel and Open Palms are common ranked maps. I wanted an AI to practice against on these maps to I could try different tactics that might cost me a lost points if I tried in a ranked game. At the same time I wanted the AI to act similar to how a ranked human may act. I found that Sorians Rush AI was better after the 10 minute mark and once tech2 was reached. So I took Sorians Rush AI and added some tech 1 platoons. Unless you are a top 1000 player I expect it will give you a strong challenge in a 1v1 on WD and OP and should go okay on other ranked land maps as well.

Great job

Any plan to upgrade your AI in the future?

I played several games with your AI and found out that the AI waste to much resource so I still can beat it under 15 mins.

vashi,

Yes Im working on some improvements. I agree it still wastes far to much in the early game.

I'd be keen to see a replay if you have one? What map did you try it on?

could u make it a harder

but it's the best ai on small maps

Ha! The holy grail of all AI makers.

A truly difficult AI is tough to do - usually the most effective way is to make an AI cheat on things like resources and build time - which, based on Sorian's code, this AI should do. (It should recieve a bonus of 50% to all of its' income.)

But yeah - Sorian's a DAMN good AI, and I've only been beaten by it once. (Beaten by an AI! The SHAME!)

viperj,
Thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear it does well on small maps. Yes I will try to make it harder

Im in the process now, but the only real way to test it is to play against it which even if I just try 3 maps 3 times its a good couple of hours... and I have to do that each change I make!!! (Again this highlights how much work Sorian has put in).

Lurkily, Yes this AI does cheat. It was by accident in version 1 as I used a bunch of Sorians functions which included the resource bonus, but the v1 wastes most of the excess. Im currently deciding on removing the resource boost altogether or just it reducing to the first few minutes (where it has the biggest effect).

And your other points about AI's are well taken. Im hoping that by focusing on 1v1 ranked maps I can produce a certain style of AI that will complement Sorians longer game AI.

To all, please post/send me replays. I really want to see anyone who has beat DuelAI on Winter Duel.

Okay... Ive done a minor update (v1.1).

I spend ages playing with the early platoon AI, but went back to same AI I started with. Thats the pain with AI changes ... you have to play test every change which takes at least a couple of hours

I have reduced the resource boost it gets after about 5 minutes. Its really just to get it started.

Also I changed the early comm build order and tweak the platoons.

Anyway give it ago and let me know ;-D

well after i had a look at the replay i found that the units got stuck and i played again and i got my *** handed to me
it just builds to fast on small maps and the way it takes from every side is insane

well leasts it good for practise even if i dont win xD

viperj.....

... you have made my day

Glad to see its a challenge. I will hold off releasing 1.2 which is even more brutal.

Any one else?

Well, I just tried your AI for the first time, on winter duel. It was a really fun game . I've never seen so much t1 artillery lol, I won in the end mostly by microing my acu to keep his artillery horde distracted while I got some PD up in the middle. Once I'd secured the middle with PD I was able to hold him off just by pouring a constant stream of t1 tanks into his arty while the PD did the killing, until I hit t2 and then started wiping him out with mmls and t2 artillery. I am not including a replay simply because I was using quite a few sim mods, for the same reason I can't really comment too much on the balance, I just wanted to let you know it was a fun and challenging game .

Goom... thanks for the comments... Can you let me know if you were playing 1.0 or 1.1 ... I just ask because i think 1.1 isnt going to tech 2 ...

Glad to hear it was fun... thats what its all about

I was playing 1.1, but I was also using Recon/Pawz's big rebalance mod which makes t2 much harder to reach. It did tech 1 factory up to t2, but the game was over shortly after so I didn't see it build any t2 units.

Just played 1.1 on Winters Duel.

Pretty bad game for me, I haven't played much for the past week, so made quite a few errors, but I must admit it is the best 1v1 small map AI I have played against.

Took me 20mins to beat it

I can email you the replay, don't have anywhere to host it.

I was Cybran, AI Aeon.

My comments :-

AI built 2 air factories teched them both to 2, but only managed to put out one gunship. Decided to tech the 2nd to T3.
Too much concentration on arty, this is too easy to dodge.
Built a transport but loaded nothing in it, looked like it was trying an arty drop.
No Tech 2 land at all. Need to try to focus AI on T2 land fast tech.
Early engineers not accompanied by troops, not sure if you can do much about this.
No radar built so couldn't target my troops, would have made the game ten times harder.


All in all, tho, a really good attempt and will certainly provide practice for those ranked 1800 and below!

Sinz3r,

Thanks for the feedback and the offer of the replay.

I have experienced the issues you mentioned in my testing, but am still keen to see how you beat it in the end... Ill send you my email in a PM.

All of the problems you mentioned occurred in 1.1. It was teching correctly in 1.0 so something I have changed must have broken it. Im working on an update to correct it.

It should still be a challenge for most at this stage...

really good job with the ai, duncane. i played against it on winter duel and it was noticably more challenging than the sorian ai. very fun game, i ended up beating it at 23 minutes when it sent its commander to the front of its base (with quite a few mantises and medusas though.) some feedback: i don't know if you consciously made it this way, but the AI never began producing tech 2 units. it did make a huge amount of tech 1 bots and artillery, but only built engineers out of its tech 2 factories. also, this is small, but the ai built a few air transports early in the game, which it didnt use, and were destroyed by my tanks.

Faz422,

Thanks for the feedback. No the lack of T2 units is not on purpose, but I have found the issue - it keeps building some T1 units until it has 4 land facs at T2 which is a bit silly. I will fix in the next version.

The AI builds transports occasionally, but doesnt seem to use them on WD - oh I just found that too, units will only use the transport if the target is far away which is not going to happen on WD. I will fix this next version too.

Next version should be later today or tomorrow.

Okay I finally managed to get it to tech 2 correctly again.

New version 1.2 is to address this and also makes the early T1 units more aggressive as well.

Please give it ago - you should find it substantially harder at t2.

i'll try it tonight

Thanks... Im really keen to get feedback....

Um ... just a bit of a plug...

Sorian has included the Duel AI 1.2 in his latest 2.5 release merge pack. So you can give it ago just by downloading that too....

Thanks Sorian!

well, in difficulty the newer version is about the same as the old one, but it's now producing tech 2 units correctly, so all is well

Version 1.2 is my first time playing this AI but I found it to be quite challenging

I played it on Open Palms and managed to stave it off for a while with a steady stream of mech marines dancing near its base and a fast t2 with pillars. Not being able to finish it off by the 6 or 7 min mark was what did me in though, as even with a t3 of around 11 minutes its econ was outpacing mine enough to make that ineffective. Siege bots weren't able to take it out of the entrenched middle position where it was steadily building shields, point defenses, and t2 artillery pieces that chipped away at my base.

Overall, the ai did really well with tactics of sneaking units around my defenses, attacking from all sides, destroying unguarded resources far from my base and so on. Not sure how it does after the 26 minute mark (where I held on to), but up until then it does quite well.