Thanks for the feedback. I know AI is difficult, if it wasn't we'd probably be extinct by now. I'm currently using invisible units to represent cover. My thinking is along the same lines as yours, but instead of hard coding cover points, I'm thinking search for invisible cover units in range, select one at random, generate sample points in a circle (maybe 8 or so) around the cover point, determine which is farthest from the player's unit and run there. That point should be on the opposite side of the cover of the player.
I'm thinking to save resourcing to have regions attached to each player unit (each player will only have the one) and periodically check in that region for enemies, run the cover system on any that are found.
I might do grenades by having grenades place a buff on units near them which makes them run, not sure how to incorporate combat intelligence into that way though.
For their combat intelligence I'm thinking assign each unit type a value out of 100 and any action (cover, grenade flee) will just have that percent chance of happening, or a % based off that number.
So I have this map way in the back of my closet that has been on my mind. It is a third person top down wasd movement, mouse targeted shooter with a cover system incorporated; hiding behind things means bullets might not hit you. Its 4 players vs AI. So players are hopefully smart enough to use the cover, but what about the enemy soldiers? Currently they just stand where ever they are placed and shot mindlessly.
So what I want is to develop a combat AI system that will control each solider so they act in a combat intelligent and challenging manner. This will make the game 10X more enjoyable. If you have played rimworld, the AI in that is like what I need.
What I want:
Soldiers to hide behind cover properly, on the opposite side of the players and within firing range
To use and react to thrown grenades
Possibly do flanking maneuvers
To interact with each other, ex. charging together,
To have their combat intelligence based on their unit type Ex. a spec ops will be more likely to use cover and dodge grenades than a regular grunt
Possible commander units that increase the coordination of all nearby units and their combat intelligence
I already have some rough ideas of how to go about these things but have never tried my hand at an AI and wanted some input
Here's an extremely artful depiction of what I want for the basic cover system
Have a concept I've been thinking about and curious how more experienced people would go about implementing it. Here it is:
I want to create "energy" or "magic" fields that cover areas of different size and shape, and their intensity in different areas will be stronger. There will be different types of fields. For example I'm thinking the 4 elements, so say I have a river, I want that entire river to be strong in water energy, but then if I just have a puddle I want that puddle to have very weak water energy.
Ideally I would just be able to paint the map with the different fields but I don't think this is possible to set up. The idea I have for creating it is just invisible field emitters that place a stackable buff on units, more emitters = more stacks = stronger energy there.
The problems with this are:
can only place circle areas
the intensity will not gradually change, it will jump in intervals
could be difficult to properly create areas with the right intensity
Ahh I should of been more clear, for the upgrades its an independent thing per weapon, for example; you buy MG lvl 1, you can upgrade it to lvl 2 then 3. If you want another you need to buy another MG lvl 1 then upgrade that one to 2 then 3 as well, it's not a collective thing like normal game upgrades.
So here's the situation: My map has vehicles which will have up to 6 turrets attached to them. These turrets are configurable so you can buy weapons and attach them to the different turrets. I am using a trigger and dialog system to do this. The turrets are model additions directly on the unit, not trigger attached units of their own. The result is one unit could have up to 6 of the same weapon if the player chooses to buy and equip 6 of them.
As far as I know adding multiple instances of the same weapon to a unit does nothing, and even if it did I need each of these weapons to fire from and use the specific turret they are mounted on. I know I can do this by making multiple copies of each weapon, ex Heavy Machine Gun 1-6 and just add the weapons depending on which turret the player equips the weapon. But as I am planning possible upgrades (3 levels) this means each usable weapon will actually need 6*3=18 data weapons. Seems pretty inefficient, does anyone know a better way?
Well you seem pretty experienced at this so maybe you just forgot to set a field or something, here's a checklist and what worked for me, maybe you'll notice something you missed:
1. Duplicated War hound unit, actor and model and didn't change anything in them. Renamed Test Hound.
2. Created Actor with type Site Op (attachment) named Ice Block Attach
Set attachment query to -> Methods -> Direct (Target) Index : 5.
3. Created Actor with type Explicit Rotation
Set forward to 0,1,0
Set up to -1,0,0
Is local enabled
Hold position & hold rotation disabled
4. Duplicated Ice block actor and Model.
Model
left as doodad and just rescaled it
Actor
Changed actor type to model, model addition.
Removed Alias (Can be important)
Cleared events and added unit birth (test hound) -> Create; unit death (test hound) -> Destroy
Set host to subject -> Actor -> test hound
Set Site ops to (Ice block Attach) & (Test Rotation)
Which attachment point are you using? Some attachment points are static and move locations with the model but don't move in animations with the model. If you go into the cut scene editor, load up your model and go to Render -> Show Geometry -> Attachment points, the hotkey for which is just A -_- you will see all the attach points, look for the points that move with the model when it plays animations and use one of them as your attach point.
I messed around with the War hound to see if I could get it working and it seems to work fine, looks pretty sweet when he shield bashes too. I used attach point Target 05.
If you are using an explicit rotation site op this might be causing you problems that sound like maybe what you are having,
Pasted from ProzaicMuze's attachment tutorial: "Also, you must have a value for BOTH vectors even if using the default forward/facing (0.0, -1.0, 0.0) or up/axis (0.0, 0.0, -1.0). If either field is left with (0.0, 0.0, 0.0) the attachment will spin sporadically as the attachment Host moves."
So I've created a truck unit and welded a turret model addition on the top of it through data. Now, when I give a weapon to the truck directly in data it works perfectly, the turret rotates, the weapon works, the projectile fires from the mounted turret muzzle and the animations work. The thing is I want weapon for this turret to be changeable through triggers. So the problem arises when I have the truck with no default weapon and then add one through triggers; the weapon works, it fires from the correct location, the problem is the turret doesn't rotate, which looks like total crap.
My guess is when added through triggers the turret enable actor message either isn't sent, or more likely is having problems getting to the right spot. Tried to send a custom actor message but I don't know much about them and it wouldn't even let me save the map. I know its a pretty specific problem but I'm hoping someone will have some ideas.
Nice idea I never thought of doing it that way, I'm going to try this as soon as I get back into this map, this problem is the one that turned me away from it last time.
Thanks guys but the mouse moved or clicked position actions only work if the event for the trigger is mouse moved or clicked, and as I mentioned your cursor will be moving in my map without the mouse being moved or clicked, so I can't rely on these alone.
I've already checked around and there doesn't seem to be a solution to this but the last thread I found was half a year old and I don't have HotS so I thought there might be something new.
Anyway what I need is a trigger that gets the mouse location say every 0.25 seconds. I'm aware of the mouse moved and clicked event responses, but the problem is in my map your camera is locked to a unit that is moving, so your cursor is constantly changing location, whither you move your mouse or not.
If there is no direct way to do this I've reasoned out a work around I think will do quite nicely and have some questions on it. My idea is use the mouse moved event to update the cursor point variable any time you actually move your mouse, but as well have a trigger that constantly offsets the cursor point variable in the direction your unit is facing, and factor in its current speed. So my question here is how does SCII actually recognize speed, would a unit speed of 1 mean it moves 1 distance per second?
Yeah I thought about basing it off the Medivac double heal.. but come on, there are a good 20 effects in there plus the behaviors and validators, it's ridiculous just for one fairly simple ability.. I already tried copying it real quick and got nowhere, I really have no idea how that effect chain works, and don't know how switches work.. Copying that ability would he a huge headache while on the other hand the create healer effect seems like it could be made to work and would be so much easier and more efficient..
Also I don't know if the double heal needs to be channeled or not, can the Medivac still move?
Hey so the ability I want to make is basically an energy transfer ability, caster projects a beam and it's energy is transferred to the target at a certain rate. The main point and problem of the ability though is I only want it to be able to send out a specific number of transfer beams at a time, say 4, so the caster could have all 4 beams on one target to transfer energy faster, or it could be targeting 4 different things at once. I don't want this ability to be channeled as the caster may need to be doing other things at the same time.
I've used the create healer effect type and just set it to fill and drain energy and this works perfect, except the caster fires out an unlimited number of beams. I want to know how to limit the number of healers it can have active at once.. Looked through validators and didn't find a solution, maybe something in markers?
Yeah shouldn't be a problem, lol you like those wall models XD?
I did sort of offer the system to someone in my team yesterday, but I can see it being useful on a lot of maps so I've been thinking I'll just post a map with it for anyone to see/use.
If you can hang on for a little bit, prob tomorrow, I'm going to make a map with just the wall system, and see if I can improve it any as well. The map it's in now is one I might pick up again in the future so I don't really wanna give that one out to everyone.
Yeah I actually did check out the Blizzard missile mover guide for a while, maybe too much skimming. From what I read it seems a throw is the driver I want, but any time I set it to throw it invariabley shoots straight down.. Putting values in throw vector at least makes it fire in a direction reactive to my unit's facing, but no matter the numbers it seems to fire at the same weird angle like 135 counter clockwise of my unit.
Basically I want the projectile to just fire straight forward at the target point and continue on until it reaches a certian distance. Have that sort of working with arrival test set to never, guidance driver, and using fade out time to estimate distance.
Would throw be the best driver for this? Do you know what I need to do to get it "throwing" at the target point and not directly south all the time?
0
Thanks for the feedback. I know AI is difficult, if it wasn't we'd probably be extinct by now. I'm currently using invisible units to represent cover. My thinking is along the same lines as yours, but instead of hard coding cover points, I'm thinking search for invisible cover units in range, select one at random, generate sample points in a circle (maybe 8 or so) around the cover point, determine which is farthest from the player's unit and run there. That point should be on the opposite side of the cover of the player.
I'm thinking to save resourcing to have regions attached to each player unit (each player will only have the one) and periodically check in that region for enemies, run the cover system on any that are found.
I might do grenades by having grenades place a buff on units near them which makes them run, not sure how to incorporate combat intelligence into that way though.
For their combat intelligence I'm thinking assign each unit type a value out of 100 and any action (cover, grenade flee) will just have that percent chance of happening, or a % based off that number.
0
So I have this map way in the back of my closet that has been on my mind. It is a third person top down wasd movement, mouse targeted shooter with a cover system incorporated; hiding behind things means bullets might not hit you. Its 4 players vs AI. So players are hopefully smart enough to use the cover, but what about the enemy soldiers? Currently they just stand where ever they are placed and shot mindlessly.
So what I want is to develop a combat AI system that will control each solider so they act in a combat intelligent and challenging manner. This will make the game 10X more enjoyable. If you have played rimworld, the AI in that is like what I need.
What I want:
I already have some rough ideas of how to go about these things but have never tried my hand at an AI and wanted some input
Here's an extremely artful depiction of what I want for the basic cover system
0
Have a concept I've been thinking about and curious how more experienced people would go about implementing it. Here it is:
I want to create "energy" or "magic" fields that cover areas of different size and shape, and their intensity in different areas will be stronger. There will be different types of fields. For example I'm thinking the 4 elements, so say I have a river, I want that entire river to be strong in water energy, but then if I just have a puddle I want that puddle to have very weak water energy.
Ideally I would just be able to paint the map with the different fields but I don't think this is possible to set up. The idea I have for creating it is just invisible field emitters that place a stackable buff on units, more emitters = more stacks = stronger energy there.
The problems with this are:
So any better ways to go about this? Fire away!
0
Ahh I should of been more clear, for the upgrades its an independent thing per weapon, for example; you buy MG lvl 1, you can upgrade it to lvl 2 then 3. If you want another you need to buy another MG lvl 1 then upgrade that one to 2 then 3 as well, it's not a collective thing like normal game upgrades.
0
So here's the situation: My map has vehicles which will have up to 6 turrets attached to them. These turrets are configurable so you can buy weapons and attach them to the different turrets. I am using a trigger and dialog system to do this. The turrets are model additions directly on the unit, not trigger attached units of their own. The result is one unit could have up to 6 of the same weapon if the player chooses to buy and equip 6 of them.
As far as I know adding multiple instances of the same weapon to a unit does nothing, and even if it did I need each of these weapons to fire from and use the specific turret they are mounted on. I know I can do this by making multiple copies of each weapon, ex Heavy Machine Gun 1-6 and just add the weapons depending on which turret the player equips the weapon. But as I am planning possible upgrades (3 levels) this means each usable weapon will actually need 6*3=18 data weapons. Seems pretty inefficient, does anyone know a better way?
Thanks
0
Well you seem pretty experienced at this so maybe you just forgot to set a field or something, here's a checklist and what worked for me, maybe you'll notice something you missed:
1. Duplicated War hound unit, actor and model and didn't change anything in them. Renamed Test Hound.
2. Created Actor with type Site Op (attachment) named Ice Block Attach
3. Created Actor with type Explicit Rotation
4. Duplicated Ice block actor and Model.
Model
Actor
0
Which attachment point are you using? Some attachment points are static and move locations with the model but don't move in animations with the model. If you go into the cut scene editor, load up your model and go to Render -> Show Geometry -> Attachment points, the hotkey for which is just A -_- you will see all the attach points, look for the points that move with the model when it plays animations and use one of them as your attach point.
I messed around with the War hound to see if I could get it working and it seems to work fine, looks pretty sweet when he shield bashes too. I used attach point Target 05.
If you are using an explicit rotation site op this might be causing you problems that sound like maybe what you are having, Pasted from ProzaicMuze's attachment tutorial: "Also, you must have a value for BOTH vectors even if using the default forward/facing (0.0, -1.0, 0.0) or up/axis (0.0, 0.0, -1.0). If either field is left with (0.0, 0.0, 0.0) the attachment will spin sporadically as the attachment Host moves."
0
So I've created a truck unit and welded a turret model addition on the top of it through data. Now, when I give a weapon to the truck directly in data it works perfectly, the turret rotates, the weapon works, the projectile fires from the mounted turret muzzle and the animations work. The thing is I want weapon for this turret to be changeable through triggers. So the problem arises when I have the truck with no default weapon and then add one through triggers; the weapon works, it fires from the correct location, the problem is the turret doesn't rotate, which looks like total crap.
My guess is when added through triggers the turret enable actor message either isn't sent, or more likely is having problems getting to the right spot. Tried to send a custom actor message but I don't know much about them and it wouldn't even let me save the map. I know its a pretty specific problem but I'm hoping someone will have some ideas.
Thanks
0
@Charysmatic: Go
Nice idea I never thought of doing it that way, I'm going to try this as soon as I get back into this map, this problem is the one that turned me away from it last time.
@MasterWrath: Go @Mugen245: Go
Thanks guys but the mouse moved or clicked position actions only work if the event for the trigger is mouse moved or clicked, and as I mentioned your cursor will be moving in my map without the mouse being moved or clicked, so I can't rely on these alone.
0
I've already checked around and there doesn't seem to be a solution to this but the last thread I found was half a year old and I don't have HotS so I thought there might be something new.
Anyway what I need is a trigger that gets the mouse location say every 0.25 seconds. I'm aware of the mouse moved and clicked event responses, but the problem is in my map your camera is locked to a unit that is moving, so your cursor is constantly changing location, whither you move your mouse or not.
If there is no direct way to do this I've reasoned out a work around I think will do quite nicely and have some questions on it. My idea is use the mouse moved event to update the cursor point variable any time you actually move your mouse, but as well have a trigger that constantly offsets the cursor point variable in the direction your unit is facing, and factor in its current speed. So my question here is how does SCII actually recognize speed, would a unit speed of 1 mean it moves 1 distance per second?
Thanks
0
Yeah I thought about basing it off the Medivac double heal.. but come on, there are a good 20 effects in there plus the behaviors and validators, it's ridiculous just for one fairly simple ability.. I already tried copying it real quick and got nowhere, I really have no idea how that effect chain works, and don't know how switches work.. Copying that ability would he a huge headache while on the other hand the create healer effect seems like it could be made to work and would be so much easier and more efficient..
Also I don't know if the double heal needs to be channeled or not, can the Medivac still move?
0
Hey so the ability I want to make is basically an energy transfer ability, caster projects a beam and it's energy is transferred to the target at a certain rate. The main point and problem of the ability though is I only want it to be able to send out a specific number of transfer beams at a time, say 4, so the caster could have all 4 beams on one target to transfer energy faster, or it could be targeting 4 different things at once. I don't want this ability to be channeled as the caster may need to be doing other things at the same time.
I've used the create healer effect type and just set it to fill and drain energy and this works perfect, except the caster fires out an unlimited number of beams. I want to know how to limit the number of healers it can have active at once.. Looked through validators and didn't find a solution, maybe something in markers?
Thanks for any help
0
Yeah shouldn't be a problem, lol you like those wall models XD?
I did sort of offer the system to someone in my team yesterday, but I can see it being useful on a lot of maps so I've been thinking I'll just post a map with it for anyone to see/use.
If you can hang on for a little bit, prob tomorrow, I'm going to make a map with just the wall system, and see if I can improve it any as well. The map it's in now is one I might pick up again in the future so I don't really wanna give that one out to everyone.
0
Yeah I actually did check out the Blizzard missile mover guide for a while, maybe too much skimming. From what I read it seems a throw is the driver I want, but any time I set it to throw it invariabley shoots straight down.. Putting values in throw vector at least makes it fire in a direction reactive to my unit's facing, but no matter the numbers it seems to fire at the same weird angle like 135 counter clockwise of my unit.
Basically I want the projectile to just fire straight forward at the target point and continue on until it reaches a certian distance. Have that sort of working with arrival test set to never, guidance driver, and using fade out time to estimate distance.
Would throw be the best driver for this? Do you know what I need to do to get it "throwing" at the target point and not directly south all the time?
0
@LaxSalmon: Go
Oh you're right, I was thinking it would let you use the unit type function in there ><