M28AI Devlog (v306)

maudlin27

Realised I forgot to post the v299 changelog

v299 Update

9 changes specific to Cybran mission 4's logic for not attacking the mainframe (due to it causing mission failure) to make units a bit less cautious around outlying areas and hence less likely for M28 to be stuck in a stalemate
11 other changes from Cybran mission 4, including fortifying the mainframe nodes, allowing M28 to get slightly closer to the unit cap before self destructing units, and having ACUs be aggressive if they are pushed to the edge of the map (so they dont just keep trying to run while being fired on)
2 Changes from other replays tweaking some changes made in recent updates

v300 Update
Since it's version 300, this was a very special update!

I forgot to disable debugging options when uploading v299, realised an hour later, and so v300 is just removing those debugging options...

maudlin27

v301 Update

20 changes based on Cybran Mission 5, including M28 having a chance to treat another location as its core base if its core base is destroyed (so it's not completely out of the game); Land units that outrange the enemy navy should proceed with attacking other land threats if the navy is out of range; ACUs should engage non-combat enemies in their range instead of ignoring them when building; Cybran destroyers owned by players can toggle amphibious mode when built if M28 has control of them; Land units should be more aggressive against short ranged direct fire units that they can't see (and hope they get visual of them) rather than retreating and waiting for radar.
4 fixes for games in LOUD, relating to some error messages, Seraphim unit callbacks not triggering, and recognising the range of units with a depth charge attack.
5 changes to reclaim, including fixing an issue where engineers were meant to be prioritising high value reclaim in a nearby area but were instead getting the closest reclaim.
Various changes to eliminate several error messages periodically appearing (relating to 'invalid args to yield' and 'call expected but got number') which mostly related to where I was trying to exit a function early by doing 'return nil'.

Acknowledgements

Nomander – Providing a solution for toggling amphibious mode on player controlled Cybran destroyers
Heaven1508 – Providing a log containing some error messages in a LOUD game relating to M28

maudlin27

v302 Update

New sim city mode - M28 handles giving combat units orders while you focus on ordering around engineers and deciding what factories will build. Available as part of the "M28: Combined AI-Human armies?" game settings (along with the MOBA mode)
3 changes based on AI survival replay, including making units less likely to suicide into an enemy firebase, and prompting if the players haven't allowed M28 full control of attack waves
17 changes for Cybran Mission 6, including making aircraft carriers run sooner from enemy naval threats, mobile sonar no longer receiving orders as though it is an amphibious unit, and gunships and torpedo bombers being more likely to attack a nearby enemy if it is too far forward from AA defences in the area (even if the AA defences are too much for a more general assault)

Acknowledgements

Rama - Highlighting M28 replay involving the AI survival mod

maudlin27

v303 Update

2 Updates for Aeon M1 (redundancies for an issue where naval factories could get blocked by engineers they'd just built)
3 Changes for Aeon M2 (Getting T1 PD at the start of the game, self-destructing friendly units on an island with nowhere to attack when near the unit cap)
14 changes for Aeon M3 (including various adjustments to make the ACU both retreat into water when dying, and then pop out of the water to attack nearby land units, and adding a redundancy to cover cases where M28 loses its power and doesn't realise, so doesnt build more)
12 Changes based on an AI vs AI replay, including engineers not trying to capture part-built T1 mexes, ACUs being more aggressive, and plateau factories being less likely to build units if there are no enemies on the plateau and they're stalling mass.

NomenNominandum

I love the new Sim City Mode, but not being able to control transports is a problem. Because then I cant drop islands or ship my engineers around for mex upgrades, outposts etc.
Its probably not too much of a detriment to exclude them completely like engineers but then I cant give the AI transports to drop things, I dont know how much of a problem that is.

EDIT: And RAS and Engineer Preset should probably be excluded too if possible.

maudlin27

Thanks for the feedback, I'll make a note to include transports in the units that can be controlled (hopefully for v305)

In the case of SACUs though the problem is you can switch their upgrades around at will so there's nothing stopping turning a RAS SACU into a combat SACU (other than it being inefficient) so I'll probably leave them out for now.

maudlin27

v304 Update
25 changes from having M28 complete missions 4-6 of the Aeon campaign, including:

T3 arti should consider other zones for targets if its first two fail to yield any targets (most likely where the units are outside the playable area), and should avoid firing near objectives that are to be captured (like the black sun control centre)
TML missiles should be dodged once M28 has intel of the missile
Increased pathing checks for land units to recognise when they can't path to a target location due to the playable area being smaller
Naval HQs should be upgraded sooner if the old HQ is destroyed and M28 has support factories of a higher tech level

NomenNominandum

One more thing I noticed: The AI pauses my UEF ACU shoulder drones

maudlin27

v305 Update
29 changes, mostly from getting M28 to solo FA mission 1 with a 1.0 modifier (down from 1.3 before), including:

Gunships should consider attacking nearby enemy units that have moved too far away from nearby enemy AA cover (even if the enemy overall has too much AA in the area)
If a player's base is destroyed, M28 should consider assigning their 'base' to a further away factory (most relevant in campaign missions with timed expansions as otherwise M28 would try to avoid rallying units near the enemy base that it had wiped out some time ago, and it'd previously only reassess the enemy base location when the map expanded)
Engineers shouldn't dodge a bomber if they're under a shield
Factories to be paused when stalling energy should only not be paused if they're building engineers (and more are needed), vs before (where they wouldn't be paused if more engineers were needed regardless of what they were building)
Fixed a bug that wasn't increasing stealthed ACU aggression, and increased ACU aggression more generally when high health if the nearest enemy units are a bit too far away from the main enemy army.
Shoulder drones should be treated as engineers now (and no longer paused in sim city mode)
In sim city mode players now have control of transports instead of M28

Acknowledgements

@nomennominandum Highlighting bug with shoulder drones being paused in sim city mode (and suggestion re transports being included in player control)

maudlin27

v306 Update
16 changes, mostly from having M28 complete forged alliance campaign missions 2-4, including:

Units dodging shots that would move off-map should look for alternative angles, while ACUs that don't want to retreat but who lack a factory (e.g. start of M2) shouldn't dodge away from the enemy
Expanded cases where M28 will treat its original base as lost and treat a new location as its new core base
Air factory upgrades should be obtained sooner by sub-1.0 build modifier M28s
T3 sub hunter and atlantis's anti-air threat is greatly reduced when submerged
Fixed a bug with t3 arti and mavors that meant they were calculating the angle they were facing at a 90 degree offset (which on mission 4 caused the mavor to fire 1 shot north, and immediately rotate to fire 1 shot south, causing a massive decrease in dps)
Fixed a bug where requesting an engineer from M28 could crash the game

Acknowledgements

Tollan – Replay and highlighting the game crashed when requesting an engineer.