DualGap AI v3 — a team command and a new Master bot
Version 3 is now in the mod vault. Enable DualGap AI in the mod manager and pick a level in the lobby: AI: DualGap Easy / Normal / Hard / Expert / Master (or the AIx versions with extra resources).
v2 made the bots work as a team. In v3 the team has a command, and every bot plays from scouting only. There is also a new top level, Master, that fights on the move.
Difficulty levels
Level
Lobby rating
What it means
Easy
300
Slow reactions, no team commands, no ACU tricks
Normal
500
Team commands with a rough estimate of the enemy, ACU tricks
Hard
700
Nearly full speed, air sweeps, bomber follow-ups
Expert
850
The full v2-style bot with the team command
Master
1000
Expert + attack on the move and contact tactics
The ratings are for Dual Gap's 20x20 and lower on other maps. They are my best guess so far, so tell me if they feel off.
What's new in v3
Team command
Each team has a general staff. It compares our forces with what we know of the enemy's, zone by zone: upper mid, lower mid, water, air. Then it sets attack / hold / defend for each zone. It remembers enemy forces that went out of sight and doesn't flip-flop.
Land, air, naval and strategic commands turn that into jobs. The upper AIR backs the land with gunships, the lower AIR backs the navy with torpedo bombers. A mid that is winning helps the one that is losing. The strategic command picks which enemy game ender to kill first and drops plans that can't work (no nukes into 3+ anti-nukes).
Plays from scouting only, on every level
A unit's type is known only once it has been seen. Radar blips are just blips. Shields count as up unless they were seen down. Blind nukes only go at a base the team has actually scouted.
Master: fighting like a player
Units attack on the move: direct-fire units walk and shoot instead of stopping in front of the enemy. Artillery still stops, and structures still get attack-moved. Fleets strafe back and forth across their target.
In contact, a wave compares everything of ours around it with what it sees, including weapon range, then picks a tactic:
push through when much stronger;
a concave arc in an even fight;
kiting when its weapons outrange the enemy's;
holding a fortified line and baiting the enemy onto it;
splitting around an enemy land T4;
pulling back when the fight is lost.
Artillery and battleships stand off behind the tanks. Units standing still focus fire. Damaged T2/T3 units go back for repairs.
The Mavor can hit a hidden ACU under water with splash.
Land war
Defence lines across the land mid: the base passes, a second line, the mid defensive points and the centre. Each GROUND holds one line, moves up when it is stronger and falls back when it is weaker, unless the line is fortified.
The upper bases close their own passes with T2 point defences.
When the army at the line is overwhelming, it goes all-in and clears the enemy bases of its group one by one.
Experimentals never retreat with the wave. A Ythotha dying among the enemy is a bomb.
Defence
Every role defends its base under siege: point defences against land, TMD against ships and tactical missiles, torpedo launchers against ships.
If a base is getting shelled by artillery, it puts shields over the spot that is being hit.
If a base is wiped out, the hidden ACU comes out and rebuilds it.
Artillery, nukes, satellites
The enemy anti-nuke comes before mexes when the team has a nuke. No lone missiles go into anti-nuke cover.
Artillery and Novax burn the engineers that keep rebuilding a game ender or anti-nuke.
Finishing the game
A beaten enemy whose ACU hides under water gets hunted right away. Torpedo bombers fly in groups along the river, and fleets with nothing in sight sweep the enemy's deep water. Nukes can go after a seen hidden ACU.
Variety
Each bot rolls its own habits every game: timings, factory count, unit mix.
Every land wave picks a manoeuvre: straight in, along the cliffs or the shore, down the middle, or waiting to go in as a double wave.
Small raids hit unguarded mexes, and the bombers' focus rotates between the enemy's T3 economy, upgraded mexes and static defences.
Economy
In an energy stall, engineers drop non-urgent projects and build power.
Far jobs go to the nearest free engineer, so there is less running across the map.
Feedback
Replays and logs are very welcome, especially games where the bots did something dumb. The bots log what they decide, so a game log usually shows why. Master is brand new, so reports on how it fights are the most useful right now.
Full changelog: https://github.com/jaxxtrend/faf-dualgap-ai/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
Release: https://github.com/jaxxtrend/faf-dualgap-ai/releases/tag/faf-v3
Source: https://github.com/jaxxtrend/faf-dualgap-ai
