AI-Uveso (v112) - AI mod for FAForever

@axel12

Thanks for your opinion about pvp games!

Back to topic:

1. Feedback about the AI
2. Posibillity to add a game option for start building a T3 Arty
3. Posibillity to add a game option for start building game enders in general
4. AI is wasting units on Aircrash. (too predicable, wasting mass, wrong targets)
5. Adjusting AI for better player experience.

@Radde

Thank you for you kind and helpfull feedback.

Yes it is possible to add a game option like "no rush" for gameenders.
I have never thought about that because i use unit mods like Total Mayhem and my own nuclear repulsor shields. Those shields can easily defend against T3 arty and can be build right after the first T3 pgen.
Take a look at the shield mod, maybe this is already what you are searching for, or at least it can help for a while.

You can find the shield mod and some others here:
https://forum.faforever.com/topic/364/updated-mods-for-faf-and-vanilla-steam

The Aircrash function is not well developed, and was the first attempt to make suicidal experimentals.
So there is much room for improvement and adjustments like target priority and so on.
I will have a look on it.

Btw, did you also test the other AIs for FAF or only AI-Uveso?
Do you know AI-Swarm, RNGAI, SCTA AI, SorianEdit, M27AI, DalliAI, SACUAI ?
Have you ever heard about the LOUD AI project?

If not, join us on the AI-developer Discord for more information:
https://discord.gg/ChRfhB3

[Edit] Radde, please do me a favor and post a game.log from your last game.
I just want to check your game options and debug information from my AI.

i have a smalls issue with this mod, my game got slower when running 4vs4

@rifqy321 said in AI-Uveso (v98) - AI mod for FAForever:

i have a smalls issue with this mod, my game got slower when running 4vs4

Please post your game.log
(use https://pastebin.com/ and only post the link)

Update 29.Mar.2022(v99)

• New: Added lobby option and buildconditions for gameender build start
• Opt: Strategic missile defense will now also be build in case the AI can't see any enemy nuke launchers.
• Fix: fixed a cache bug inside the mass and hydro CanBuild function.
• Fix: fixed a bug in case the cdr.LastDamaged variable is not set
• Fix: excluded OPERATION units from ACU platoon (uec0001 UEF Civilian Truck)
• Fix: fixed a bug in removing a naval factory from mainbase manager and assign it to naval base manager

@uveso said in AI-Uveso (v99) - AI mod for FAForever:

Update 29.Mar.2022(v99)

• New: Added lobby option and buildconditions for gameender build start
• Opt: Strategic missile defense will now also be build in case the AI can't see any enemy nuke launchers.
• Fix: fixed a cache bug inside the mass and hydro CanBuild function.
• Fix: fixed a bug in case the cdr.LastDamaged variable is not set
• Fix: excluded OPERATION units from ACU platoon (uec0001 UEF Civilian Truck)
• Fix: fixed a bug in removing a naval factory from mainbase manager and assign it to naval base manager

Great to see the SMD will be built anyway. Most human players would build one after some time when the eco allows it even without any SML scouted, because you never know and you definitely do not want to be nuked from a unit/structure you missed.

@v_k said in AI-Uveso (v99) - AI mod for FAForever:

Great to see the SMD will be built anyway. Most human players would build one after some time when the eco allows it even without any SML scouted, because you never know and you definitely do not want to be nuked from a unit/structure you missed.

Nuke subs are the reason why we need to do this.
You can easily build a nuke sub without the AI seeing it.

Hey @Uveso, I just wanted to say that my friends and I love this mod! You did a fantastic job and I really appreciate all the work you've done developing and updating it.

@Matthus

Many many thanks.
I am glad that you and your friends like my mod.

Did you also tested the other AIs that are available for FAF?
We always try to keep our AI mods compatible to each other, so you can also use different AIs together.

@uveso Yes, my friend and I just did a 2 v 2 versus an AIx-Swarm (Eternal) and an AIx-Uveso (Adaptive). Both mods worked perfectly! I got rushed by the Eternal and lost. 10/10

Does AI-Uveso currently work with Total Mayhem and the BlackOps mods? For the last 3-6 months only the Aeon AI plays well. Aeon builds plenty T4 of all types). UEF builds almost no T4 land. Very rarely I'll see them build a single Fatboy. It's definitely not a mass issue. This has been repeated across many games.

@bsee

Thanks for reporting this.
I am not aware of any faction related bugs.

in case you have played online can you provide me a replay ID where this happened ?

https://replay.faforever.com/16710956
Total Mayhem & Blackops enabled. Cybran plays normal. UEF only builds T4 structures. We disabled teleporting, nukes, satellite, and a couple more. I can find more replays if needed.

@bsee

Thaks a lot!

Well yes, the AIs can have wheird behaviors when you disable single units.

On the UEF side unit xeb2402 is always forced to build first. (Experimental Satellite System)
With no Satellite the UEF will not build the fatboy (or other category 3+ experimentals).

Also having the nuclear repulsor shields mod on and blocking the city and metro shield is also not advised.
They have a buildpriority of 12000 and 13000. Most builders have a priority of 1000 or less.
So in case the platoonformer selects a new building it will always select the shiled platoon first, but
can't start build because they are restricted.
The problem is, if the mod finds the village shields then its clear you can build shilds.
Restricting the upgrade will not be recognized by the mod.

@uveso I've played a few more games and the AI definitely plays better with all units enabled. Enabling nukes seems to make them smarter too. We've been able to disable cybran metropolis shields and have Cybran still play well. However, UEF seems to need everything enabled.

Would it be possible for the AI to know if city/metropolis shields are disabled?

Other odd quirks:

• Cybran drives the experimental artillery into my base.
• Nuke subs don't launch nukes?
• AI builds way too many stellarators. This makes their base very explosive.
• Sometimes UEF builds satellites and never moves them.
• I've never seen the ai build the experimental nuke. Not sure if this is a uveso-ai problem. Sorian doesn't seem to build it either.

@bsee

thanks for the great feedback!

i try to fix some of the issues with v100

Update 27.Apr.2022(v100)

• New: ACU will now evade from nuke blast area
• Fix: nukes fired after 35 minutes, not respecting option for gameender
• Fix: excluded URL0401 (Exp. Mobile Rapid-Fire Artillery) from mobile platoons
• Fix: fixed a bug in T4 Artillery platoon that was not building Seraphim T4 Nuke
• Opt: decrease braveness of ACU in case an experimental or T3 units are detected
• Opt: decrease braveness of ACU for enemy air units
• Opt: increase detection range of pointdefenses by 10
• Opt: increase threatweight for low tech enemy land units
• Opt: changed targets for land experimentals

We've been playing with that update for a while. The AI is much smarter and harder now. Great update. Thanks! The game has slowed down significantly, but I think that's just the AI building a much larger army.

@bsee

thanks for the feedback!

the new version is already finished and will be released this or next week.
Should be a bit better in performance and has some significant enhancements.

@Uveso
Hello There!
I've been testing other AIs for a while.
M27AI is the most impressive when it comes to eco management and great placement of structures but it lacks naval logic.
There are a few things that you could implement to improve the Uveso AI.

1. Always placing a t3 shield that covers a t3 arty and a group of t3 engies supporting it.
   It's a great defensive thing that M27AI does and it makes any AI extremely hard to crush in arty wars.
2. I've noticed that Uveso likes to use gunships while M27AI is more bomber focused.
   Spamming t1 bombers to counter incomming land experimentals would be a great thing.
   Also using t2 and strategic bombers to kill unprotected mexes would make games more challenging.

Since the no rush for game enders option Uveso struggles to pump all of his available eco into units. It's always overflowing alot, not making a good use of mass untill it can start making experimentals, arties and nukes. I would suggest improving its behaviour before the game ender timer, making it swarm players with everything it has (t3 land, air, navy).

I've also noticed a strange behavoiur with walls. It feels like the AI doesn't know how to counter it and gets stuck. The AI is piling lots of units outside of the walls and doesn't attack it or change path to overcome the obstacle. Unfortunately i don't have a specific replay that i can post to show the problem... it's something that I forgot to mention when I gave my feedback the first time. To fix this I would suggest simply making the AI treat walls like a standard enemy with low priority. Simply getting rid of it by attacking may work well.

I also have a suggestion regarding no rush for game ender option.
Could you split the option into 4 categories?
One for land and air experimentals, second specifficaly for nukes and nuke subs, third for t3 static arty and last for the t4 game enders.
It may get rid of the eco problem that i've mentioned before, because if we let the AI to make the land and air experimentals earlier, before other game enders, it would pump mass into them.
It also would make the game more fun for the players if we can decide about the flow of the game. For example if the AI can start making land and air experimentals min 20, we know what to expect and it's possible to get prepared, then the next phase would be nukes by min 25, then static arties after 30 and t4 game enders late in the game 35~40 min.

I'm looking forward for the future improvements!

Hey radde!

Thanks for the good feedback. Is always a pleasure to read it.

I have alrady an update for the AI since end of may.
Sadly i suffer from long covid since may (need to sleeping all the day)
So all the time I'm awake I spend doing my job

nevertheless i will try to bring the update as soon as possible
(need to write the patchlog and remove some debug lines)