Fritz Phase Three Progress Report

[Maleficus]

Hey!

I'm not going to be working on Fritz too much over the next few weeks, since I just got a new job, and will be pretty busy for the first few weeks at it.

Anyhow - made a little progress today: eng bots can now plant dyno. This support is VERY crude yet, and a LOT of work needs to be done. They still don't understand objective maps in general, just that they can destroy the walls on BEACH.

Hey - its a start, OK?!!

[Maleficus]

BTW: heres a longer video of the same thing, the bots planting on both walls on
beach.

[Maleficus]

No, Fritz isn't dead!!

I'm back to work on him, just started up again this week.

In the last few days of work, Fritz now understands items (like health/ammo packs) and goes to grab them if he needs them.

Also, Fritz "sees" artillery attacks now and will avoid them.

Now that he can see them, I'll be letting Fritz use them too in the next release. Get your kicks sniping at Fritz from afar while you can, next release, he'll call down a storm of artillery on your ass!

[Maleficus]

Heres a quick little movie showing off the bots understanding of items, and being intelligent enough to know when to grab them.

Note that the bot must be able to see the item dropped, it doesn't just "know" an item is there - just like a human.
Also notice that if the bots health is over 100, it understands it doesn't need a pack anymore, but if I wound it, it WILL grab one if it sees one.

This works exactly the same for ammo packs too.

[Maleficus]

Heres a quick one showing off ammo packs, and another feature I've added.

First: the bots have an understanding of how much ammo is enough, and when to share with teammates. So, 2-3 clips is considered good by most of them, and they will leave other ammo behind for teammates to grab. In this movie, you see me lay down multiple packs, but the bots only grab one, then let a teammate get another. Notice how the 4th bot doesn't see the dropped pack, so misses it.

Also, you see a feature I really liked from Shurb Mod: when a medic dies, he drops 2 of the packs he was carrying on him. This was always a nice reward for fighting a medic.

[Maleficus]

Heres another short clip, this time of the bots artillery awareness. For those who don't know, artillery is a weapon ppl playing LT class have. You use your binoculars to sight where you want the strike to be, then a smoke marker is created, indicating where the strike barrage will be placed.

Its a very devastating weapon in the right hands, but up til now the bots couldn't see, avoid, or use them.

Now they can. In this vid, I harass a axis medic with artillery - he sees me calling it, and not only that: actually SEES the artillery strike itself (he will see the smoke plume, or the big explosions even if I wasn't there), and avoids them.

They also use them, very effectively, though this vid doesn't show that.

That means now that the bots use EVERY single weapon in the game, and also understand the dangers of each of those weapons, and how to avoid them (if possible)!!


btw: I'm in GOD mode the whole time in this movie, which is why I don't die.

[Maleficus]

Heres one where an axis LT fires an artillery strike right on top of my head!

I'm in GOD mode, so I never die. You can't see the smoke plume because it appeared right on top of me and disipated into the wall before I realized where it was, but you CAN see the explosions. Then see Fritz toss an airstrike at me for good measure!

Fritz is the first bot in either the RtCW or ET bot community to actually use every weapon in the game, and not only that - but use them effectively too!

[Maleficus]

One of the traits of a good human player to do is to resupply teammates with health or ammo if neded, without being asked to. When I play medic, I pay attention to my teammates health, and if I see its low, and they're nearby and not running off somewhere, I'll pop them some health packs. Also, Fritz now has another feature in common with Shrub mod in that it lets LTs see your ammo loadout, so you can also be a good LT and do this.

The bots also see this, and if your low on health or ammo, a LT or MEDIC may just pop you some packs without being asked to.

In this movie, I'm a nearly dead soldier with very little ammo. I spawn a medic, then a LT, who both resupply me in turn, knowing when I have enough and they can go about their business.

[Maleficus]

UPDATE: well, its obvious that I won't have a release ready in time for this month. But, I'll let you in on where Fritz is at this time.

edg3 is working on some really nice stuff for the UI (new music, layout, menus, etc).

I've got the bot's scripting system in place, they understand objectives now, tho theres still a lot of bugs to find/fix. Theres still some features that need to be added too (Real Life has kept me pretty busy the last month).

But, Fritz is progressing well, and looking more human every day: wait til you piss one off and he knifes your body, cheering, after he kills you! Theres plenty more little behavior quirks and traits too - all intended to make them feel more human and life-like.

[Maleficus]

Work continues.

An annoying oversight on my part is getting fixed today - the bot's understanding of "danger" in the world. The bots have had a problem with running into friendly airstrikes, or standing by armed dynamite for too long. Now, they see all forms of danger in the world, and they do something about it, instead of just standing there waiting for death!

I'm really pround of the code that I've written here to handle danger in the world - its also advanced their tactical awareness, and they're understanding of just how danger is caused. And its fairly cheap too!

ex: I was on destruction. I was an LT in a hallway and I saw a bot move down the street past me (not seeing me). I threw an airstrike out, and hoped I'd get him. I didn't, once the strike cleared I charged out into the street hoping to run up behind him and shoot him in the back - but I didn't even get the chance: he saw and heard the airstrike I threw and ran to safety, then crouched down and camped, looking towards where I was going to come out, hoping I'd come out of my hiding spot, then shot me in the head when I did!!

This is something you could NEVER have down in the release your playing now. If a bot didn't see you throw an airstrike, it would never put 2 and 2 togther that you'd prolly be around somewhere, looking to cause more trouble! Now they do.

More to come!