Force Bots to capture flag/capture waypoints Options

[Septien]

Hi Cheeseh,

First of all, I would like to take the time now to congratulate you for such a magnificent bot, it's very versatile and very straight forward!

Secondly, I was wondering if there is the possibility to enhance and force bots to capture flag/capture waypoints since in some maps like dod_classic_hill which happens to be one of my favorite, there seems to be a flaw in the map (I suppose) since it has 4 capture points; the first 3 have flags and can be captured by a single player however the last capture point doesn't have a flag and needs two players to stand within the capture area in order to capture it. To make matters worst there's a 4th flag that it's included in the map but just for decoration purposes and wasn't meant to be captured. So bots will try to capture this decoration flag instead of the 4th capture point. Again, bots aren't able to recognize nor capture the 4th capture point despite having added a capture waypoint with its corresponding area whereas real players can.

Perhaps you might want to read the topic I posted where you can download the map and waypoints and read a brief summary in regards to the map and bot's behavior.

Link: http://rcbot.bots-united.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1768

So my questions would be:
Could it be possible to force bots to capture a flag/capture waypoint regardless if its not detected by them in the map?

Also, does changing the radius of a particular capture point play any significant role of some sort? Since according to your waypoint guide, capture/flag waypoints are mainly used as a reference for the "waypointer" to know which area each belongs to and are not needed in order for bots to capture them.

Thank you again for all your time, expertise and efforts!

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Pepois

[madmax2]

Hey Septien,

I found a "work around" solution for this on dod_hill_classic, it's not perfect, but it does work on that map..!! The only downside is they will try to run to the flag from the capture wpt/area. But they do hold there long enough to cap, once they realize they can't reach the flag from there, then they return to the cap area. I think a defend tag on the capture area wpt may help them hold longer... Think i'll go try that now....

I added 2 allied bots only for this test... Before they would cap areas 0,1, & 2, and then run around aimlessly. Now they will cap 0,1,2,3 areas, but not allways in that order...

Here is what i did...

First, you had the capture area set to 0 instead of 3, i changed that. I also removed the capture tag from the flag. But neither changed what the bots were doing... Then I connected a path from the capture area3 wpt to the flag wpt, immediatly the bots went for the capture area3 (cause all the other flags were capped). I ran a couple more game/tests, it seems to work . On the second test the allied bots capped this area3, then went & capped area2 to end the game.

Here are some pics...

http://www.fileden.com/files/2012/7/14/332...classic0001.jpg

http://www.fileden.com/files/2012/7/14/332...classic0002.jpg

http://www.fileden.com/files/2012/7/14/332...classic0003.jpg

Sturmbot for dod 1 (HL1 engine), used capture areas connected to elevated flags like this, but bots knew if a capture area was tied to a flag wpt, go to the capture area, not the flag...

So, you are correct, in this situation, rcbot doesn't really work correctly, it can't seperate the flag from the capture area. I checked, if a new wpt is placed on the flag, it is tagged as capture automaticly. If new wpts are placed in the actual capture area (i even went up & under the pole there), they are not detected as capture wpts. So, maybe rcbot just needs to be able to go to a capture area instead of a flag???

Anyways, I think this will help some, and good job on the rcw.. It's a great map too....

[edit]
Played around with this a bit more.. Yeah, the bots don't allways hold in the capture area long enough, and sometimes appear to catch on the morter & trench there, which helps. But at other times they do appear to hold in the capture area, especially when the first 3 flags have been capped. It definately makes them go to this area and they know when it has been capped and start moving to one of the uncapped areas.

Be sure the capture area thats connected to the flag is tagged noaxis, so the axis won't attempt to cap the flag on the wall. Or maybe the flag can be tagged noaxis, i didn't try that? More tweaks i tried was making the 3 wpts nearest the pole, capture/defend/noaxis/area3 and i reduced the radius on the original capture area to 10, and it's still the only capture area connected to the flag. I did leave the unreachable on the flag, it seems to help the bots recognize a little faster, not to go to it, even tho they still do.. i made the wpts in the trenches there, nonteam/snipe/mg/defend/area3. You could probably remove the snipe & mg tags from them now, i don't think they are needed anymore. I'd leave the defend tags on them tho...

You might want to check the area tags in the flagged bunkers, I was seeing area 0 on most the sniper/mg wpts?

Also, just for the heck of it, I put wpts on the other 3 flags, and connected the capture wpts in each bunker to it's flag on top. They are tagged as capture/noaxis. allies will tend to go into the corner of the bunker because of this, but the axis won't.. I'm not sure if this change is helping allies recognize flag caps faster or not? It was something i was trying, because its the way it was done with sturmbot/dod1...

Later,
max

P.S. I started waypointing sora_b3 today, got the main paths done, and bots are capping all the flags, woo hoo...