The AI Editor
The AI
Editor is where you can create artificial intelligence that will command an
army's development and attack strategies.
Name - Here you can name your AI.
Race - Select which race you would like to
create an AI for. The custom race option allows the
integration of custom units, abilities and upgrades. Remember to import the
custom data.
Options
Set Player Name - Enable this option to set
the in-game player
name to the entered AI name.
Melee - Use a melee AI for standard melee games. Melee AIs tend to attack and defend more
closely with allied players.
Target Heroes - With this option enabled, the
AI will place a higher priority on attacking Heroes during battle.
Repair Structures - Enable this option to have
workers automatically repair structures when needed.
Heroes Flee - With this option enabled, Heroes
will attempt to flee from battle if they are seriously injured or unable to
attack.
Units Flee - With this option enabled,
non-Hero units will attempt to flee from battle if they are seriously
injured or unable to attack.
Groups Flee - With this option enabled,
attacking groups will attempt to retreat from battle if they are losing or
at a disadvantage.
Have No Mercy - With this option enabled, the
AI will watch for opportunities to attack when the enemy appears to be
weakened or at a disadvantage. This attack corresponds with the Enemy -
Major Assault attack priority.
Ignore Injured - Enable this option to ignore
units with less than 50% life when assembling attack forces.
Remove Injured -Enable this option to
periodically send injured units home (or to a fountain of life) to recover.
Take Items - With this option enabled, Heroes
will attempt to pick up any useful items they encounter.
Slow Harvesting - With this option enabled,
only 1 gold or wood will be harvested by workers instead of the normal
amount. This gives the AI a slight economic handicap.
Allow Home Changes -This option allows the AI
to potentially choose a new location as a home base for gathering and
retreating forces.
Smart Artillery - With this option enabled,
artillery units will attempt to come forward and mount a siege attack on an
enemy base when possible.
Custom Data
Import - Import custom data exported from the
Object Editor to include in your AI.
Export - Export custom data to examine someone
else's custom AI data in the Object Editor.
Clear - Remove all custom data from your AI.
Conditions - Conditions can be configured here
that are similar in form to the conditions in the Trigger Editor but are
specialized for and only used with the AI Editor. Conditions created here
can be used throughout the AI editor.
A helpful concept when creating AI conditions is that of the AI captain, of
which there are two types, attack and defense. The captains are invisible
units without collision that act as guides for the AI. The attack captain
stays at the base structure (Town Hall, Great Hall, etc.), waiting for the
attack wave to form. Once formed, the attack captain leads the attack wave
to the current attack priority and then returns to the base. The defense
captain stays in between the base and the first gold mine unless an attack
on the base occurs. The defense captain then leads defense forces to attack
the intruders.
Heroes Used - Choose the Heroes you want the AI
to train. Available Heroes are based on the race selected in the General tab.
Training Order - Modify each training order's
chance it has to be run by the AI. Training order corresponds with the
Heroes selected in Heroes Used.
Skill Selection - Modify the order in which
the AI's Heroes will learn skills.
Base Building - Select which unit will be used
as the AI's base building. The options available here correspond to the race
selected in the General tab.
Mine Building - Select which unit will be used
as the AI's gold mining building. This is generally used for undead only,
though other units with the Blighted Gold Mine Ability can be selected here.
Build Priorities - The AI's
build, research and upgrade orders are specified here. When a unit dies, it will
be replaced by the AI unless the AI has insufficient resources, or some
condition prevents it. There are five columns here for build priorities:
Build - What will be built, researched or
upgraded.
Total - Keeps track of the number of priorities
of the same build type. The number without parentheses shows the total for
all of the AI. The number inside the parentheses only shows the total at the
town specified.
Food - Keeps track of the food used as well as
the food cap. When a priority makes the food used go beyond the food cap,
that priority will be red.
Town - Specifies where to process the build
order.
Condition - If the condition specified here
isn't met, the AI will skip this build priority and go to the next one. The
condition can be one that was created under the General tab, or it can be custom-created for this
priority only.
Gold Worker - Select which unit will be used
as the AI's gold harvesting unit. The options available here correspond to the race
selected in the General tab.
Lumber Worker - Select which unit will be used
as the AI's lumber harvesting unit. The options available here correspond to
the race selected in the General tab.
Harvest Priorities - The AI's
harvest orders are specified here. There are four columns here for harvest
priorities:
Harvest - Resource you want your worker to
harvest.
Workers - Number of workers that share the same
priority.
Town - Where the workers will harvest.
Condition - If the condition specified here
isn't met, the AI will skip this harvest priority and go to the next one.
The condition can be one that was created under the General tab, or it can
be custom-created for this priority only.
Attack Groups - The AI's attack groups are
listed and created here.
Current Group - Attack groups get their
definition here. There are three columns for each entry in the attack group.
Unit Type - The type of unit. The units
available are determined by the race selected in the General tab.
Quantity - The number of units that match the
particular unit type you have selected.
Condition - If the condition specified here
isn't met, the current group won't include this entry. The condition can be
one that was created under the General tab, or it can be custom-created for this
priority only.
Attack Waves - The order of your attack waves are specified here. There are three columns for each entry in the attack group.
# - The wave number. This can be referenced in
integer comparison conditions.
Attack Group - The name of the attack group
that's assigned to the wave.
Delay - The amount of time before the next wave
will start.
Minimum Forces - The minimum units necessary
to send an attack wave.
Initial Delay - The amount of time before the
first wave attacks.
Repeat Waves - How many waves, from the last
wave, will repeat after the last wave has been sent.
Target Priorities - The targets for your
attack waves. There are two columns here.
Target - Choose the AI's attack target. The
targets higher on the list will be at a higher priority.
Conditions - If the condition specified here
isn't met, the target will be skipped when assessing which target to attack.
The condition can be one that was created under the General tab, or it can
be custom-created for this priority only.
This tab is used exclusively for AIs that you want to test using a melee map. For custom maps, import an exported AI file into your Import Manager and then use the Test Map command.
Games Speed - Modify the speed of the game
when Test AI is used.
Game Options - Disable the Fog of War to allow
for visibility of the whole map. Disable the Victory/Defeat conditions to
avoid unnecessary interruptions.
Map File - Set map for the AI to be tested on.
Players - Individual player settings are set
here. For each player there are the following options:
Control - Choose the controller of this slot.
Race - Choose the race played by the controller.
Team - Choose what team the controller is on.
Color - Choose the controller's team color.
Handicap - Choose the controller's handicap.
AI - If Computer is selected as the controller,
choose the AI used.
AI Difficulty - If Computer is selected as the
controller, choose the AI difficulty. The AI difficulty can be referenced in
your AI conditions.
AI Script - If Computer is selected as the
controller and Custom is selected for AI, an imported AI can be used for the
slot.