Tim the beginner's modding thread

[Darsnan]

Based on a sample size of one

Originally posted by timsup2nothin
On tanks...if you get to that stage with the Hive or the Believers being effective powers I think you will be more likely to see defensive tanks. I had no luck getting the AIs to build designed tanks either.

I was playing as the Believers, and my two main opponents were the Hive and Spartans: neither ended up building any defensive tanks, all the way thru Shard weaponry.
Next game I played, instead of making the hovertank chassis available at Fusion, I placed a hovertank unit at Superstring Theory (tech for level 8 weapons): the AI built these np:

Chaos Battletank Mk1, Hovertank,Chaos, 3-Res, 0, 4, 0, String, -1, 00000101000000000000000110

I'll experiment around some more and see if its just this one unit, this one instance, or if the key is to giving the AIs pre-designed units only (instead of giving them the chassis). FYI in case you want to try this approach out.

D

[Darrell01]

Just a note, I like Maniac's SMAniaC mod with monopole magnets pushed way off to the end and grav tanks moved more toward the front. This makes the movement attribute way more important. I used to play straight up elite infantry and choppers. Now I play Elite Rovers and a lot of 1-1-1 Clean, Trained. SMAniaC had a lot to do with that. I'm not sure how much you have mixed up the tech tree. Just throwing that out there. Might have posted this before tho. Hmm...

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by Darrell01
Just a note, I like Maniac's SMAniaC mod with monopole magnets pushed way off to the end and grav tanks moved more toward the front.

So we're just sort of reinventing the wheel here with our experimentation? D'oh!
Does SMAniaC bring the hovertank chassis forward, or is a specific hovertank unit (or units) included in the #UNITS section of the alpha(x).txt file? Reason I'm asking is that what we are seeing is if the hovertank chassis is made available, then the AI builds very basic hovertank units (Best Weapon/ No Armor/ No Special Abilities/ Best Reactor) which are relatively easy to kill. However if designed hovertank units are made available instead via the #UNITS section of the alpha(x).txt file, then the AI will build these instead. By designing specific units which will aid the AI (such as giving them AA, Armor, and AAA for example), then this should assist the AI in how they handle human players "chop-n-drop" technique as well as other strategies.

Originally posted by Darrell01
This makes the movement attribute way more important.

Especially on a small or tiny map - that must be killer!

Originally posted by Darrell01
I used to play straight up elite infantry and choppers. Now I play Elite Rovers and a lot of 1-1-1 Clean, Trained. SMAniaC had a lot to do with that.

Hmm, I can keep asking questions, but it might just be easier to review the SMAniaC alpha(x).txt file instead: can you post just that file here so I can review?

Originally posted by Darrell01
I'm not sure how much you have mixed up the tech tree. Just throwing that out there.

This is "Tim the beginner's modding thread": we really haven't gotten that far yet I don't think.

D

[vyeh]

Originally posted by Darsnan
it might just be easier to review the SMAniaC alpha(x).txt file instead: can you post just that file here so I can review?

[Darsnan]

Hi vyeh,

I tried to open your attachment, however the file has no returns in it (i.e. its all jumbled together), and it appears corrupted as there are several entries that don't make sense. Can you attach the file as a zip which I can dl?

[vyeh]

Originally posted by Darsnan
I tried to open your attachment, however the file has no returns in it (i.e. its all jumbled together), and it appears corrupted as there are several entries that don't make sense. Can you attach the file as a zip which I can dl?

It downloaded OK for me. Remember, I have a Mac. I attached the file as a zip and was able to download it successfully, but I was able to downloaded the unzipped file as well!

[Darsnan]

Re: Tim the beginner's modding thread

SMAniaC does bring forward the hovertank chassis, so timsup2nothin is on the right track here. And of course we should give credit where credit is due, as Maniac was the first to do this.

Something I'm going to experiment with more is, instead of bringing the chassis itself forward, instead design units using the chassis and place them into key points in the tech tree. Ideally speaking these units should enhance how the AI plays, as a) the AI won't be able to design less than ideal units off of the chassis, and b) hopefully the units I place into the tech tree will counter some of the traditional strategies humans have employed against the AI. This itself will be a sub-component of a greater idea I have of generating alpha(x).txt files which are sculpted specifically to the environs in which they will be used, here again with the underlieing theme of getting the AI to play better. I'll probably open a thread and post my first attempt at this in a week or so, and will be focused on a Large/ Huge aquatic (>70% water) map. FYI in case anyone has any ideas/ wishes to critique.

D

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by Darsnan
Finally got a game to go to the point where the game was still undecided at Fusion. The following is the first AI hovertank I encountered:

OK, this has bugged me for a while, so I finally have had enough of playing on aquatic worlds and swung back to see what could be done about the AI making Arty Hovertanks. What I found was that there is a flag in the #ABILITIES section labeled "Not allowed for fast moving units". The line appears thusly:

001000000000 = Not allowed for fast-moving units

I added this to the line for the Special Ability "Heavy Artillery", as follows:

Heavy Artillery, -7, Poly, Artillery, 001010001001, Bombards

This then prevents fast units (rovers and hovertanks included) from receiving the arty special ability.

I'm going to start looking into how the AI deals with this, and see if they now build better hovertank-based units. FYI in case anyone else is interested in trying this out.


D