AMAI 2.2

Originally Posted by Augster

Hey peoples. Been using AMAI for a few days now and I must say it is awesome how the AI macros (building and teching quickly) and its micro aint too bad either. However, there are some things I wanna address to better improve the AMAI.

First off, for NE, the DoTC needs to change into bear form during battle aside from roaring and rejuvenating because bears kick a lot more ass than DoTC in its normal form. Furthermore, aside from MGs, bears are the only good meat for NE.

For UD, in a 2 v 2 AMAIs game on Lost Temple Classic, I ran into a game bug. I saw an AMAI UD not re-summon his mine after all his acolytes at the mine died and his mine destroyed as well (this was during his tech to tier 2). Now once he reached tier 2, i think his comp partner gave him some resources, and he rebuilt all 5 acolytes but he didn't resummon his mine at all, instead he built a few more ghouls instead. He soon ran outta money, causing the loss of the game. So that needs to be fixed up. Also, much more emphasis is needed on destroyers. They are actually great against tier 3 heavy armor units, flying units (attack speed and magic dmg), casters, and towers. They are great all around, so it'd be good for the AMAI to get more of them and at a quicker pace. Banshees are also amazing in possessing expensive tier 3 melee units, so some emphasis should be put on there too as maybe on the side counter heavy tier 3 melee strat.

For Orc, emphasis needed on catapults (demolishers), raiders and witchdoctors. AMAI needs to research Burning Oil upgrade for the demolishers, cuz it jus adds that extra punch. Also, raiders needs to become a main anti-air strategy, aside from the usual mass headhunters and shamans/wyverns. Ensnare is a wonderful ability that raiders have and must be upgraded as soon as possible which is at tier 2 not at tier 3. Raiders are not just for seige and they are VERY capable to take down fast speed air units like destroyers/dragonhawks. To strengthen the grunts and catapult/headhunters and catapult strats, raiders must be in both of them as well because of its awesome ensnare ability. This would make the 2 strats waaaay more effective. In any battle, simply have the AMAI ensnare the casters/range at the back with the raiders and focus fire on them with the catapults. Massive wyvern strat needs to be changed to include more batriders. I had a friend take out a [AMAI]chick3n because he refused to change his mass wyvern strat. All my friend had to do was mass batriders+a few raiders and when the comp attacked with his 15 wyverns in a close group, my friend concoctioned his batriders, easily gaining the exp and finishing off the computer. Have AMAI mass batriders when it detects mass air units (such as dragonhawks and other batriders) which can easily take out the mass wyvern strat. Witch doctors which have become almost non-exsitant surprisingly needs to be put back into all orc strats mid game and on. Stasis Traps are amazing at stunning and healing wards own BIG time. AMAI wont have to ALWAYS dance all of their injured units back to townhall, waiting for a healing salve anymore, with such healing wards.

For human, more hawks in their mass air strategies, so that they can easily take out heavy air units such as frost wyrms with their aerial shackles and attack destroyers (immune to gryphons). Also for human, if possible, have the AMAI call the lumber peasants to arms first in case of a harass, instead of calling to arms the whole thing right away because gold is more of a necessity than lumber.

For the overall part, I was wondering if its possible for AMAI to learn how to strategically place their towers and lumbermills. Sometimes, the lumbermill is put too far out of the base and the towers too far in of the base. Another thing, during early harasses, I notice AMAI constantly rebuilding the buildings (towers and shops) at the same places when the opponent take them out. If possible, have them build such buildings at different positions instead of having one permanent building spot. For orcs and humans, dancing injured units all the way back to town hall is a great micro manuever but an even better way is having them dance all the way behind the gold mine. When they do their healing stuff, simply gather them together again. This would prevent any easy killings that their opponents can take, when they approach the townhalls.

You guys have done a fantastic job creating AMAI. Just hoping that such details mentioned above can be implemented/fixed up for the next patch. Peace.

Originally Posted by Spumpk1

Ahh, gotta love the word 'patch' don't ya? New changes... for good or bad. Well I'm not good at pointing out the good, but I'll try. I immensly enjoy the new base strategies for each race. Thank God they no longer tech up and leave their bases defenseless. Oh, it's also great to see some units I've rarely seen the AI build before... such as Dragonhawks, Gryocopters, & Raiders.

Ok, there's my good stuff :)

Now for the bad.

1. What's with the skill point orders for the heros?
I've seen the Human Archmage go BRILLIANCE first!! WHAT! Others examples are TC goin Endurance, DK goin Unholy, BM going Hawks... and the list goes on. I can maybe see these heros using these skills if they build them maybe second or third, but not as first heros.

2. Undead & NE are still too easy to harrass. Please add in base and expansion defense. One or 2 spirit towers or an Ancient Protector or 2 can go a long way. I can't stress it enough since the AI still isn't fully capable of determining if a threat is great enough to send it's troops home.

That's it for now. I'll keep playing and looking for more things that bother me. Keep up the good work!

Originally Posted by Spumpk1

I was just about to send a replay showing the heroes picking the odd skills, but obviously you found it. I wish I had the replay of the Beastmaster choosing Hawk first, but I don't. I wouldn't lie about it. I believe he went Hawk - Bear - Hawk for his build order. That's all I remember.

Another thing that bothers me about AI behavior involves it's creeping. The AI likes to take it's army to a creep spot, then when it starts attacking it runs away as if they realized the creeps were too strong. They will keep doing this over and over until they believe they have a strong enough army. Any way to fix this?

I'll try to come up with a quick replay with the Beastmaster using hawks first.

Originally Posted by Spumpk1

Got it! I just did like 10 simulations trying to get an AMAI player to choose Beastmaster first, and finally they did. Both the Blue Orc & the Teal Undead chose Beastmaster first and both chose Hawks first. I checked your Common AI script and I looked to see what the Beastmaster's skill choices were and you were correct, all 3 choices have Bear going first (which bothers me since quillbeast first is perfectly alright).

Here's the replay.

The directory for my AMAI maps are C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\Maps\AMAI

Once I figure out how to attach a file I will...

[edit] I don't think you can attach files, so I just emailed you the replay Zalamander.

Originally Posted by Zalamander

Yeah the tower rush setting is not really meant to work yet it don't even work properly for Orc. We just tried to create it but there was never any good results.