Simple AI Wishlist

[Freyberg]

I've been trying to learn the AI (using Black Sea, because I enjoy creating modern maps)

I want to create a fairly simple AI that does more than simply sit passively or attack aggressively - in particular I want to have tanks relocate from time to time to create more of a challenge, doing 'shoot and scoot' in effect, rather than just wait for the player to hunt them down (which commonly happens in QBs)  - and I'm trying to do this with QB maps, because they are more reusable.

At the moment, the AI allows you to do one of the following:

a single action based on a terrain trigger
an action or series of actions that happen immediately in sequence, with a pause of only a few seconds*
an action or series of actions that happen according to a strict timetable (based on the game clock)

(* using a Russian tank crew: regular , -1)

I would love to have a series of timed orders, each triggered by the enemy reaching a certain phase line, but this is not possible - terrain objectives can only usefully trigger one order.

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My wishlist, most of which doesn't seem extremely complicated, would be as follows:

SIMPLE THINGS

Basic changes

• Armour should not turn around and face the rear unless given a dash order - but should remain facing the enemy's friendly edge or the last known location of enemy

Orders:

• to be able to include pauses, instead of timing only by the game clock
  (this is huge - it would make the AI much easier to use for a non-expert.)
• a withdraw action that doesn't make a tank automatically pop smoke
• a hunt order (the advance order for a tank, even in 'careful' mode moves forward quite quickly)

Triggers:

• a casualty trigger, so infantry can withdraw after a certain % of casualties - this could be unit-based or as a % of the whole force

Other

• Let the designer of a QB map specify in the AI, which types of units will belong to each AI group (e.g. Infantry, weapons teams (e.g. grenade launchers & HMGs), AT teams, observers, light armour, heavy armour) - this would allow much better QB AI

 

LESS SIMPLE THINGS

• allow an order to be skipped (i.e. 'can skip' option in order screen), to enable simple conditional branching
• triggers on enemy behaviour (e.g. on enemy fallback or enemy tank/s destroyed)
• triggers on intangibles/morale (e.g. trigger when 'overmatched')

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Personally I've found it hard to get a reasonably 'active' defence from the AI. If there were pauses and a 'skip order', it would be relatively easy to get some moderately realistic behaviour from the AI without being such an expert as can predict what the player will do.

This experience has made me respect the map and scenario designers all the more, having seen how difficult it is - but if the AI were a little more flexible and intuitive it would help long-term noobs like myself contribute useful content to the community

 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Some of the things on your list can be achieved by workarounds, for instance pauses can be created by simply scripting more orders, tedious but it does the job.....However I can't argue with the general gist of your thread. 

I'd like to see 'Reinforcement by Trigger' (activate the trigger, get the reinforcement, or the other guy does) and a 'Hold For' objective (hold the objective for a certain duration or until a certain time on the game clock).

[Freyberg]

41 minutes ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Some of the things on your list can be achieved by workarounds, for instance pauses can be created by simply scripting more orders, tedious but it does the job.....However I can't argue with the general gist of your thread. 

I'd like to see 'Reinforcement by Trigger' (activate the trigger, get the reinforcement, or the other guy does) and a 'Hold For' objective (hold the objective for a certain duration or until a certain time on the game clock).

I was testing CMBS - which seems to be a much quicker game in terms of AI - and for a tank even 5 repeated orders only resulted in a pause of about a minute.

I agree with the reinforcement by trigger though

[Sgt.Squarehead]

One of the things I learned from the more experienced designers here is that you only need to create the appearance of a plan, from the players' perspective. 

You do not need to attend to every detail and eventuality, firstly it's not possible, secondly if it were, you would go gibbering mad writing a single AI plan! 

 

[Freyberg]

Yeah - I'm not trying to do too much - I just want a slightly active defence.

Having played literally hundreds of QBs (what I play most of), I feel quite sure changes of the sort above - none of which are particularly extreme - would improve QBs significantly.

Reasonably often, QBs end because the AI defender does something completely daft, like a Panther turning its rear armour to attacking Shermans, or a tank sitting completely stationary for the entire game while I sneak up on it.

The times AI works well, I think the designer must a genius at guessing what direction and timing an attacking force will take.

Triggers are a great idea - but I firmly believe a little bit more should be added, which would make the AI enormously more satisfying to play. This is particularly true for QBs.

Edited January 14, 2018 by Freyberg
spelling

[Sgt.Squarehead]

2 hours ago, Freyberg said:

The times AI works well, I think the designer must a genius at guessing what direction and timing an attacking force will take.

Highly recommend you read @Combatintman's tutorials if you didn't already. 

While this is for CM:SF, the principles covered apply to all of the games.....Planning is part of the process, sometimes this involves getting down into the game and finding out, the old fashioned way, how long a given likely course of action takes, then adjusting your AI plans accordingly.

2 hours ago, Freyberg said:

Reasonably often, QBs end because the AI defender does something completely daft, like a Panther turning its rear armour to attacking Shermans, or a tank sitting completely stationary for the entire game while I sneak up on it.

As often as not that's the TacAI having a moment, rather than the scripting itself.

Edited January 14, 2018 by Sgt.Squarehead