FransBots 20250308!

[fransotto]

Fransbot 20250308

Bots for OpenRA Red Alert!


In addition to the standard ”Rush AI, Normal, Turtle AI and Navy AI” you get 5 more bots to fight against.

Battle bots that use engineers, thieves, medics and technicians and even Tanya! They have all distinct attack forces with a broader selection of units and smarter use of atomic bomb… All of them expand which makes them much more resiliant on larger maps and late games.

The bots beat the default AIs on regular basis. There are no ”bonus” for these bots -only tweaked base building, unit building and economic handling for maximum skirmish fun!

Install by replace the ”AI.yaml” located in ”C:\Program Files\OpenRA\mods\ra\rules” (or similiar folder). Dont forget to copy and save the original file!


What you will get;


”Air AI”
-Attack: Frequent small well all-rounded forces with assistance from air. Targeting Harvesters and Construction Yards.
-Early game: Normally starts with an engineer trying to capture construction yards or oil derricks.
-Navy: No
-Thieves: Yes
-Mines: Yes
-Base expanding: Slow

”Horde AI”
-Attack: Mainly Soldiers, Rocket and Artillery; Waves after waves...
-Early game: Focus on pump out basic units as soon as possible.
-Navy: No
-Thieves: No
-Mines: No
-Base expanding: Slow

”Base AI”
-Attack: Keeps the units home, mostly defending but left alone it will attack with great force.
-Early game: Focus on economic to get defense and MCV in mid-game.
-Navy: No
-Thieves: No
-Mines: No
-Base expanding: Fast

”Tech AI”
-Attack: Small forces of high end units.
-Early game: Focus on economic in order to support all the high tech units and buildings.
-Navy: No
-Thieves: Yes
-Mines: Yes
-Base expanding: Slow

”Raid AI”
-Attack: Constant with small forces.
-Early game: Focus on pumping out engineers and thieves to claim and capture buildings. This bot normally does not survive in the long run. Great bot as a team member!
-Navy: No
-Thieves: Yes!
-Mines: Oh, Yes!
-Base expanding: Fast


Have fun and let me know if you think about the bots!

Which is hardest to beat?

[abcdefg30]

Nice to see you are still updating these

[fransotto]

Nice to see you are still updating these

Thanks abc..

I understand it might be some fibbling with files as you cannot play online while have the bots installed.

How to add these bots to a specific map?

[abcdefg30]

I understand it might be some fibbling with files as you cannot play online while have the bots installed.

How to add these bots to a specific map?

Sorry for the late response. You can add them to a map by unzipping the .oramap, adding "Rules: rules.yaml" to your map.yaml file, then creating a rules.yaml file in the map with the contents of your ai.yaml. Then rezip the file as .oramap (the easiest is to use the Map Editor to save the map as unpacked, and then afterwards save it again as packed).

[Therapist]

Nice, these AI bots should be added to the game by the devs.

[Punsho]

Someone needs to make a github Pull Request

[Mechanicat]

lots of odd things going on with these bots. there are errors:
actors being listed for the wrong types,
like Dtrk being given as AirUnitsTypes for the Air ai,
fix, atek, stek being declared as ProductionTypes for BaseBuilderBotModule@horde, was they meant to be ProtectionTypes: instead ?,
references to actors not existing in vanilla RA,
like in SquadManagerBotModule@air there is NavalUnitsTypes: e42
or declarations missing a : at the end,
like UnitBuilderBotModule@air doesnt have it,
a CaptureManagerBotModule that included mech units but declared no any eligible target for them to capture,
if you declare a structure a limit of 0 under BuildingLimits you probably dont need to assign any BuildingDelays for it,
spelling mistakes and typos,
Produsctionmincashrequirement: at UnitBuilderBotModule@tech
under SquadManagerBotModule@tech: there is IgnoredEnemyTargetTypes: AirborneActor, given, without any further in the list,
etc. etc.

[fransotto]

lots of odd things going on with these bots. there are errors:
actors being listed for the wrong types,
like Dtrk being given as AirUnitsTypes for the Air ai,
fix, atek, stek being declared as ProductionTypes for BaseBuilderBotModule@horde, was they meant to be ProtectionTypes: instead ?,
references to actors not existing in vanilla RA,
like in SquadManagerBotModule@air there is NavalUnitsTypes: e42
or declarations missing a : at the end,
like UnitBuilderBotModule@air doesnt have it,
a CaptureManagerBotModule that included mech units but declared no any eligible target for them to capture,
if you declare a structure a limit of 0 under BuildingLimits you probably dont need to assign any BuildingDelays for it,
spelling mistakes and typos,
Produsctionmincashrequirement: at UnitBuilderBotModule@tech
under SquadManagerBotModule@tech: there is IgnoredEnemyTargetTypes: AirborneActor, given, without any further in the list,
etc. etc.

Hello Mechanicat! Thanks for the comments.

Yes, its true there are some odd things in the files.

First of all I know _nothing_ about coding. All entries are trial and error from my side. -I make changes, start a game, observe the AI and take notes, rinse and repeat.

I am using notepad. I cannot get the "Lua for openra" to work.

But the bots are working as intendent -at least on my computer and my local lans.

Some comment:

Demolition truck is put under "airunitstype" because I want it to attack itself deep into enemy base. Else its clump up with the rest of the land units and blows them all up.. It works so I leave it.

Yes, by putting those units under "production" the AI will not produce those buildings if there are not enough money, preventing the AI to stall, also its a way to force the bot to a certain build order.

The Navalunitstypes I am using for for a "second group" of attack force with different target. It works quite well with the "HordeAI" there the artilleries is going after fixed defense strucktures... The "e42" is a leftover from experiments, as I am trying desperatly to get the Airunits to do something else than mindless kamikazes..

The structure limits are there because its easier for me to adjust if required. Also I notice if I put "0" there are no risk the bot get feeling and build it anyway (which it does sometimes).

Capturemanagerbotmodule -I just notice that the mechanics works better when they are on this list, as it not giving any errors I left it. I am happy I got an bot that captures derricks, buildings, harvesters and healing itself...

Yea, spelling errors... Notice the same so now that part is working better (next version).

Anyway, a new version is incoming! I have manage to understand base expansion, economics of the bots so now they are better on small maps as on big maps. The nuke decision and support bombing are also better. I have given up the airunits as I notice the bots cannot really handle more than one airunits at the time (ie they will not land for rearm properly) so I am working with some workaround.

I will also add the bots to some maps because then peoples does not need to play around with files when playing online. Any suggestions?

Stay tuned, update incoming!

[Mechanicat]

First of all I know _nothing_ about coding. All entries are trial and error from my side. -I make changes, start a game, observe the AI and take notes, rinse and repeat.

Massive +respect

I am using notepad. I cannot get the "Lua for openra" to work.

May i recommend you Notepad++, its very convenient to use.

Demolition truck is put under "airunitstype" because I want it to attack itself deep into enemy base. Else its clump up with the rest of the land units and blows them all up.. It works so I leave it.

Ahh, thats rather very clever.

Yes, by putting those units under "production" the AI will not produce those buildings if there are not enough money, preventing the AI to stall, also its a way to force the bot to a certain build order.

I love it when people discover such hidden functions. So there was a means of more intelligent basebuilding for the AI all along.

The Navalunitstypes I am using for for a "second group" of attack force with different target. It works quite well with the "HordeAI" there the artilleries is going after fixed defense strucktures...

Ive seen this getting done by declaring a seperate SquadManager that then mutually excludes the first group, by setting up very long lists of excluded units for both. Nice to see you discovering a perhaps more convenient way of doing that.

The "e42" is a leftover from experiments, as I am trying desperatly to get the Airunits to do something else than mindless kamikazes..

Seems to be impossible right now.

The structure limits are there because its easier for me to adjust if required. Also I notice if I put "0" there are no risk the bot get feeling and build it anyway (which it does sometimes).

It still does that oh, noe. i thought that was supposed to get patched out by now.

One more question, at some of the AI BaseBuilderBotModule i see
WaterTerrainTypes: Water, ground
both getting declared, what purpose does that serve ? (btw the ground is probably a typo, the G has to be large to match the terrain type string)