M28AI Devlog (v156)

maudlin27

v149 Update
27 changes, including:

New performance mode option in game settings which uses simpler approaches for parts of M28 logic to make it run slightly faster, although also not quite a strong. As a rough guide, I'd expect this makes things run 10-20% faster overall, and if combined with M28Easy and the maximum delay between land unit orders, it ends up being roughly 50% faster.
6 mod specific changes, including better support for experimental factories and the XtremeWars experimental spaceship (which should no longer idle), and more aggressive use of Seraphim bombardment ships when navy is won
Increased experimental unit variety if M28's unit prioritisation is disabled (meaning it will build a much wider range of units, but they are much more likely to not be appropriate in the circumstances)
Gunships should be more aggressive when they have a large threat and sufficient AA to handle the enemy asfs
Reduced the number of LABs built early on
Limited the number of engineers to be built on small islands

Acknowledgements

Vortex - LOUD replay highlgihting issues with the Seraphim bombardment ship and overbuilding engis on islands
WesMaggs - describing a scenario where M28's gunships were too cautious
Radde - A number of 1v1s on Xander Adaptive, whigh highlighted some early-game issues M28 had, as well as some other niche issues (such as land experimentals being overly cautious in some scenarios)

maudlin27

v150 Update
12 more changes, including:

Sub consolidation logic to try and group subs together when fighting more often
Gunships should retreat to heal up sooner if they're having a habit of dying to ground defences
Made adjustemnts to ACU aggression to only factor in friendly direct fire units
Several adjustments for dodging missiles (to make it less likely units try to dodge)
2 MOD specific changes, including improving M28's assessment of whether it will win an air fight in LOUD when inties are involved.

Acknowledgements

Radde – Several more replays (on v148)
C04spoon – LOUD replay
Vortex – LOUD replay

maudlin27

v151 Update
Smaller hotfix update with 7 changes:

Short ranged units should be less likely to attack enemies and should try and group closer together
Units whose shots are blocked should be slightly more likely to move than before.
Fixed a bug that would break all M28 ACUs for the rest of the game if M28 thought an enemy ACU could be killed. Also added in a redundancy so in future it should only temporarily break the logic if such a bug was to reoccur.
Experimentals should be slightly more likely to suicide into an enemy experimental instead of retreating (although this will need further refinement).

Acknowledgements

Radde - A number of replays
Vortex - several LOUD replays

maudlin27

v152 and v153 updates
21 changes, including:

Fixing a bug where M28 wouldnt build mass storage if player 1 was an M28 teammate who died
Fixed several issues relating to shared armies (message should only display to the person clicking the button; air staging should release M28 controlled units even if they haven't been toggled to have control; non-M28 controlled friendly units shouldnt be reclaimed for mass)
Land experimentals that cant kite should be less likely to retreat from an enemy experimental
Fixed a bug where M28 would incorrectly consider the enemy to have no naval threat
Torpedo launchers should no longer be built in response to an enemy engineer
Transports should be more likely to be built, and introduced 'engineer support' transport logic so if a plateau wants an SMD and has no t3 engineers one should be airlifted over

Acknowledgements

Radde – Various replays (which were the basis for the majority of changes)
Marlo – Highlighting issue on fort Clarke assault where some of the M28 ACUs would suicide into T1 PD
Cleo – describing some issues with shared armies mode where M28 would reclaim friendly units.

maudlin27

v154 Update

Fixed a bug that meant M28 logic relating to units damaging others wasn't triggering (e.g. relevant for determining if units aren't blocked from hitting enemies) and expanded to add a redundancy for gunships to make sure they retreat when damaged.
Island drops should no longer try and drop on islands with enemy PD
Fixed several occasional issues with M28's late-game arti template (building T3 pgens in the designated place for T3 arti; engineers owned by an M28 teammate blocking construction)
When an experimental dies, most of hte time M28 should assign an engineer from a nearby base to reclaim the wreck (in additino to its normal reclaim logic)
Fixed a rare bug that could mean a unit on attack-move being given a move order would stay attacking.

maudlin27

v155 Update
Another mini update:

Fixed a typo relating to a niche scenario where considering whether to get a novax to help with enemy naval threats
Reworked ASF support logic so they should try and stay even closer to a friendly experimental air unit than before
Fixed a bug with working out if a table is empty (that I presume has been around in both M28 and M27 for 3-4 years!)
Asfs should be more likely to engage enemies attacking restorers and czars (by including the restorer/czar anti-air capabilities when deciding whether the fight can be won)
Fixed an issue with M28's chat messages not working in LOUD (introduced in v152)

Acknowledgements

Radde - several more replays
C04spoon - Mentioning that M28's chat messages had stopped working in LOUD

MrPhalanx

Hey Maudlin! I also found out, that the chat messages do not work with the Steam Version as well now, also a small bug, when you select MULTIPLE repair drones (UEF) (For ex. at the Kennel), the UI in the left is broken (only a blank square is visible), if you select a SINGLE drone, then everything works fine.

maudlin27

@MrPhalanx Just to check, is the chat bug something that happens in the latest version v155 (as there was a bug with this in a previous version)

maudlin27

v156 Update
14 changes, including:

A few different build orders and early game approaches added to try and make M28 a bit more unpredictable (for now whether it rushes a bomber; gets no bomber at all; gets LABs or no LABs, although long term I'm hoping to add some further variation)
Adjusted how short range units support longer ranged units where they're having their retreat cut off
A team with a mix of different factions should prioritise ahwassas if they decide to build an air experimental

Acknowledgements

Jorne - 1v1 vs M28 Easy
Radde - Lots of teamgame replays vs M28

art-wiedzmin

FA Mission 6 (Overlord) with Combined human-AI armies. https://pastebin.com/yAmjETHf

art-wiedzmin

Okay It works fine if comment out these lines in M28Overseer.lua.

    elseif not(bApplyM28AI) and oBrain.M28AI then
        --oBrain.M28AI = false
        --oBrain.M28Team = nil
        --M28Team.CreateNewTeam(oBrain)
        if bDebugMessages == true then LOG(sFunctionRef..': No longer applying M28AI to brain '..oBrain.Nickname..'; assigned it to the team '..(oBrain.M28Team or 'nil')) end
    end

(2112 - 2114 lines in version 157 from git)

log with enabled debug: https://pastebin.com/yKHa4hbH
log with enabled debug (after comment out): https://pastebin.com/nNqUA4ME

I don't quite understand the logic structure itself, but it seems to be designed for an individual AI player, and breaks down with a combined AI-Human mode (player moves to the newly created team number 5 after Fletcher's betrayal).

goblinsly2

I have a question. Is there any way to make your M28 AI teammate give you a unit ? I would like his engineer/sacu or any unit/building/exp that can make an engineer/sacu. tnx

maudlin27

@goblinsly2 Not currently, no