Work In progress (WIP) #6

[ElGranKemao]

Well, I've lifted my face from the books for a moment, I've seen the new screenshots and just wanted to congratulate Stefan: your arrows have improved a lot!

I hope that by February you'll release a version for non-metamod users. Until then... study, study, study.

See ya!

Well after playing on my server for a few more hours i've noted the following:

1. Bots seem to get confused by nodes that are close horizontally but separated vertically. After walking along a ledge in cs_winternights that goes around a corner, bots started getting stuck on the corner of the wall below the ledge. And the bots have a really terrible time navigating the stairs in cs_matrix, they constantly get stuck on the handrail in the landings.

2. The bots are smarter and meaner. Godlike skill is actually godlike now. I used to be able to waste hordes of "godlike" 1.0 bots without breaking a sweat, but not any more. If you ambush them from the same spot a few times in a row, then they will be gunning for you next round. It takes them a round or two longer than a human would, but they do catch on and adjust their tactics.

3. The bots don't go the same route every stinking round any more.

[stefanhendriks]

in reply to your 'points of attention'

1. Yes, i know this, and i can't exclude all faulty connections. But as you probably have read already, i am working on a node editor so you can fix these manually
2. THats good to hear!
3. Yep, thats also good to hear!

In reply to this:

I hope that by February you'll release a version for non-metamod users. Until then... study, study, study.

Do not count on a non-metamod version. However, when there will be an official release you don't need to worry about metamod. I will make a package that will do all this 'difficult stuff' for you

Two other things:

1. CT bots never try to rescue hostages. They will walk into them, and get annoyed that they are an obstruction to wherever they are trying to go, but the only time they attempt to "use" hostages is if you are leading hostages to the rescue zone, then the bots will come and steal the hostages from you and go wander randomly with them. It's just a little bit ANNOYING AS CRAP!!! Perhaps it is another aspect of the "team goals have a very low priority" problem.>

2. The fence by the sewer entrance in cs_militia is a bot trap now. The bots are magically drawn to it like flies to a manure pile and they all spend the rest of the round trying to walk through it. You need to add the fence entity to the list of things the bots don't try to walk through.

A couple of questions about the personality file:

The turnspeed parameter--do bigger numbers mean faster turning than smaller numbers?

Are the reaction time parameters in seconds (.1 = 1/10 of a second) or is some other time unit involved here?

I'm trying to tune the bot parameters a little so they're good without being ridiculous.

I've had a few crashes, it seems like when a new round starts while the nodes/experience is being updated (especially on a map the bots just started learning) the server is more likely to crash. I had one instance where I had to delete the node/experience file for cs_iraq because the server would instantly crash whenever I switched to it. Deleting the rbn and rbx files solved the problem.

A suggestion regarding guarding the dropped bomb/bomb site/hostages:
Instead of having the bot camp right on the bomb, have them ask "if I am standing on the bomb (or hostages or whatever), where am I most likely to get killed from?" Then have the bot make a list of say the top 10 or 20 nodes, pick the safest of those nodes and go camp there, and look at the bomb and the main danger areas for the node he is on. If multiple bots are guarding something, they should never all choose the same node. If a node is "occupied" by a teammate, pick the next one down the list and go there. That's basically what I do when guarding the bomb or hostages or whatever, and it shouldn't be too hard to code that.

I had somme crash too... I'm not sure maybe it comes from the last steam update...

Some more thoughts:

When making the list of potential camping nodes for guarding something, add a +/- 10% random factor to the safety calculation so that the bot won't always pick the same node to camp in.

When a bot is camping/guarding, it should look around at the likely danger nodes for where it is at. So if a bot at node A gets killed 50% of the time from node B, 25% of the time from node C and 25% of the time from node D, in a 5 second time period it should be looking at node B 50% of the time, node C 25% of the time, and node D 25% of the time.

Bots should communicate with other bots on their team. If a CT bot sees the dropped bomb, he should immediately go into guard mode (as described above) and after perhaps 2-3 seconds (to simulate a human giving out a radio call/typing) say_team "Bomb is down at my position." At that point, all the other CT bots should know where the bomb is down too, and go to where the bomb is and help guard it. This should be a very high priority. T bots should attempt to retrieve the bomb as a high priority goal.

A T bot with the bomb should NEVER walk through a bomb site without planting the bomb. Ever. At the beginning of the round, it should pick a bomb site and attempt to take the safest route to it, without taking a lot of detours or any doubling back and forth, unless attacked. At least half of the other T bots should escort the bomb carrier, and guard the bomb once it is planted until there is 10-15 seconds left on the bomb clock. Then they should leave the area by as many different routes as possible to slow down any incoming CTs. If a retreating T bot is attacked, other T bots should forget about retreating and assist the T under attack.

A VIP escort teamwork strategy for bots: Treat the VIP like a dropped bomb that moves. The VIP should walk (unless in a high danger area) and the CT escort bots should try to keep moving to form a perimeter, going to the danger nodes for the node the VIP is currently closest to. To keep the escort team together, they should always go the the danger node closest to their current position that another bot isn't already going to.
Example: VIP bot is currently at node A. He has 3 escorts. Nodes B, C, and D are the highest priority danger nodes for node A. Escort 1 goes to B, escort 2 goes to C, and escort 3 goes to node D. When the VIP gets to node A, he picks the next node on the route to the escape zone. when the VIP gets close to the new node, the escort bots move to the closest danger nodes for the VIP's new location. When an enemy is detected, 1 or 2 of the escorts closest to the enemy should stop tracking their movements based on the VIP location and track the enemy location instead, moving to the safest place to attack the enemy at his last known location. While the enemy is being engaged, the VIP should temporarily seek safety and run to the nearest safe location away from the known enemy, and the remaining escorts should follow him. When the enemy is killed or has not been seen for 10-15 seconds, the hunting escorts should go back to moving based on the VIP's location, and the VIP should go back to moving to the escape zone.

[wrck]

for the vcts to get the hosties i think you just have to walk all over the rooms and behind the hosties too... well i notice in cs_italy the bots get stuck on the bridge.

[minorgod]

When running the latest build, dead people just float and make knifing gestures. I love the new version though. It's really starting to look good.