RCBot2: suggestions, As the topic sez... some suggestions for future RC Bot releases Options

[der.zoomer]

Hej there, I've been around here for a time as guest, and I really like RC Bot2 for TF2.
It works like a charm (most of the time tho...)

And to improve this bot, I have some suggestions here:


Arena Mode:
- Bot check time until capture point is available
else they would all rush to the capture point and stand there
- on my dedicated server (same binaries) they dont seem to capture points, even theyre doing it on a listen server with SAME waypoints and scripts

Snipers:
- make them sound sensitive to visible players again, they just stand on their sniper pathnodes and dont move/shoot even if there are enemy guys all over the place


Soldier:
- he shouldn't use his shot gun so often


Heavy:
- fix this god damn heavy aiming, the heavy has like 0 recoil and can hit a target with 100% accuracy (every bullet hits, even if the minigun has a large spread fire cone)
- heavy should check for distance to the nearest enemy (needs testing, because there are classes that you should take out in favour of others)


Spy:
- spies should try to melee attack enemies from behind with knife when possible
- when spies try to cap (CP, CTF, PL) they should remove their disguise


Medic:
- make medics heal more, than attacking, make them sensitive to "call for a medic" event and let them stick with this guys as soon as he is healed or even buffed
- let medics use their ubercharge when their current healing target is being attacked: event player_hurt


waypointing:
- let bots check for visibility between path nodes on calculating paths to the target
ie. when a door is closed, this path is blocked and they'll choose another path or another target
could be a problem with doors where you can see thru though... but that will eventually render setarea and givetype areaonly useless. (needs testing, because of defense points/sentry points/teleporter exit points)
this is implemented by using the "givetype openslater" waypoint type, but bots can see through EVERY door! (even though they are closed) so it doesn't work, an engine bug maybe
- a waypoint type for an alternate route would be nice, so the bots dont attack only by one path, maybe with priorities, so 1 is main path, 2 a good alternative and 3 an alternative, but less good than 2 or even 1 but possible....
I've implemented "route" waypoint types for next version, they are simple additions, so we'll see how they do after a lot of testing

Misc:
- gravity seem not to affect bots, they jump and fall like 4x faster than usual players
this is an engine bug
- when bots see a dispenser (and need supplies) they should use it
this is implemented but happens rarely


nice to have:
- bot and equipment support (use hats, other inventory you usually earn with achievements/find items)
- bot should learn how real players move around in that map

[madmax2]

Hey Root,

Lots of good feedback... Have you edited any of the bots profiles? If not, try turning up some of the settings on all of the profiles, or get genmac's profiles. The default profiles are set to low on many of them... Braveness needs to be higher than the defaults, it will reduce the proneing a lot. Also, other settings will help sniper accuracy... Some of the other issues may improve too?

I'm not sure, but I think I remember reading the backwards running was some what by design, bots keep looking behind, so it's harder to ambush them from behind. The profile settings may reduce this too? Try the profiles and see if it seems better or not... At one point I thought the waypoint yaw had something to do with this, but I can't really see a difference when bots are on normal waypoints, so i don't think waypoint yaw effects backwards running.

Here is an example from one of genmac's profiles. I have all my profiles turned up to this. Some settings can be higher I believe...

# Bot Profile id = 3 : generated by RCBot2 Launcher
name = allies3
visionticks_clients = 2
visionticks = 40
pathticks = 40
braveness = 99
aimskill = 99
sensitivity = 10
team = 2
class = 2

Get genmac's profiles from this post:
http://rcbot.bots-united.com/forums/index....ost&p=11582

And take a look at this...
http://rcbot.bots-united.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1763

btw, your english isn't bad at all, it's better than many of us yanks...

@Cheeseh
I think it would be a good idea to turn up the settings in the profiles before the next full release, the proneing really doesn't seem bad to me, if the profile settings are turned up... This seems to keep returning as a common complaint....

Btw, its good to hear capture wpts/areas are fixed...

max

[Cheeseh]

Btw, its good to hear capture wpts/areas are fixed...

max

Cheers root for the suggestions

As for the capture wpt areas, what I mean is this should work with the current version. So try it out If it doesn't then I need to fix sth.

[madmax2]

Cheers root for the suggestions

As for the capture wpt areas, what I mean is this should work with the current version. So try it out If it doesn't then I need to fix sth.

Hey genmac,

How u been man... I guess we need to test the capture/flag out again... Did you try as cheeseh suggests? I think set capture wpt to same area as flag, no connected path between them, restart map, etc...

[edit] Guess I just missed you... Well I'll try it out soon anyways....


max

[genmac]

Hey genmac,

How u been man... I guess we need to test the capture/flag out again... Did you try as cheeseh suggests? I think set capture wpt to same area as flag, no connected path between them, restart map, etc...

[edit] Guess I just missed you... Well I'll try it out soon anyways....


max

hehe miss you to bro...Ok I've tried that out at rouen seems working but their less aggressive on capturing the dry fountain with the flag on top compared to the connected auto gen cap flag.

Will try it on dod_wn71 but the first cap is area 0 so hope it works much better.
edit...
nope didn't work for me...bot's didn't even use the cap wpts after 2 rounds...so the auto gen cap wpts still are more effective.

[madmax2]

hehe miss you to bro...Ok I've tried that out at rouen seems working but their less aggressive on capturing the dry fountain with the flag on top compared to the connected auto gen cap flag.

Will try it on dod_wn71 but the first cap is area 0 so hope it works much better.
edit...
nope didn't work for me...bot's didn't even use the cap wpts after 2 rounds...so the auto gen cap wpts still are more effective.

Hey guys,

I think genmac's observation was correct when he said the bots are more aggresive at detected capture wpts. I've spent a lot of time today playing around with different capture wpts on dod_azure. I wanted to get it right before I add in the class wpt types (snipper, defend, etc). I noticed the difference more on re-capping areas. It was really noticable at single player cap areas. I noticed axis running past a cap point on thier side of the map, that allies seem to have no trouble capping. So I moved it to the other side of the armored car, and they did better for a while, recapping it a few times, but seemed to lose interest as the game went on. All testing I did today was with 3vs3 bots, same class.

So i put the capture wpt inside the armored car, as a detected cap wpt, with paths to it from normal wpts on each side. Now the axis will come back to it & re-cap it, faster and more frequent than before.

Now with the 2 man cap at the tank in this map, I wanted bots to cap from more than one side, so the only way to do that is like the armored car, put the cap inside or on top, and connect paths. Well, I can't really see a significant difference on this cap point, between detected and tagged capture wpt. It might be because both were inside and it's hard for them to touch the cap wpt, so they are more persistant, either way? It did seem, before they were all changed to detected caps, that bots kinda prefered going to the detected caps vs the tagged. But i'm not sure about that, I was getting a bit cross-eye-ed by then... Maybe it needs to be one way or the other but not both, all cap points tagged caps or all detected caps, to keep them balanced?

Now another thing I noticed today (which I saw before on sora), was even after making this cap point and a couple others detected caps, bots would still sometimes run past one of thier flags they need to recap, sometimes going to the far end of the map instead of recapping a flag near thier spawn. Now the low bot count I was using today might be exagerating the symptom, because I think they select thier goal at spawn time. And since I only had 3 bots per team, there aren't enough bots for the 5 or 6 goals/flags in the map. So with more bots maybe this would not be much of a problem? But I do remember seeing it on sora, with 7vs7. So I think I'll do what I did on sora, and force bots through the capture zones, for the flags nearest their spawns. Mainly, to increase thier re-cap speed.

Septien:

I have just downloaded dod_rouen... that map brings quite some memories too!

Yeah, i really want to try that map out too, i'd better take a break from wptn and check it out...

max