Well, I'm on spring break and my comp's internet has been laggy as hell so I haven't really been able to do much in the way of actual laddering so I've been resorting to playing the Racine's Rebels AI.
Trying to decide what I think of using it to practice with. Obviously no substitute for playing real people, but I fell like it has some merit. If you beat back its initial push it seems to typically go into a mode where it just keeps making units and sending them out in small waves. The thing is, these waves seem to go out randomly to various expos and as a result it somewhat simulates a game where your getting constantly harassed so I feel like to really forces me to work on multitasking and macroing when I'm getting messed with on all fronts and having random tanks siege up just outside the range of my main force and start attacking it.
I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on what you guys think, any merit at all to playing against this. Like I said, its obviously nowhere near as helpful as practicing against actual players, but I don't feel like its a complete waste.
Basically its a "cheating" AI script in that it recieves money at random points in time. Can make it a little frustrating to kill because it keeps some crap back in its base, and you can't starve it out. It also uses build orders that resemble standard BO (some scripts do anyway). Also a few replays of the AI and how it plays (they'll bug if you don't watch the replay from the Racince's Rebels load of SC)
I play against this from time to time when I don't feel like going online, it's good if you haven't played in a while and want to practice your macro, but once you get that going beating the AI is not hard. It does keep you kind of busy when they send small forces to different bases and you have to race over to deal with each situation, but once you mass up a large enough force the AI doesn't stand much of a chance. Especially Terran, if only the AI could turtle then make a big push for your base instead of sending small groups. I think I've gotten away with building 2 nexuses before gateways before T made it's first attack lol.
I find PvP the hardest as they turtle in the base with several reavers and a bunch of dragoons. But I'd recommend it for beginners who can't macro because the AI forces you to otherwise you'll always lose.
Fun Blog. Racine was a great guy with what Entropy would describe as having a "golden heart"! He was a damn good player too.
There's a newer version of this in the BWAILauncher with several new scripts added. One of the problem with the old BWAIGold .exe and Racine'sRebels was that you couldn't control what was being played as everything was random. So this meant some games you'd face Adun's Fury, or even Ahzz's AI or BSWRama's rather than Racine. Also there were other Racine AI's that weren't quite as hard as Racine3.0. With the launcher you can play those as well as some really wackadoodle ones in the Xtreme Section if Racine is just too easy.
I updated the BWAIGold post in the main forums not more than a minute ago after reading this blog and here is a recap:
UPDATE:
While BWAI Gold was a great program, the new BWAILauncher developed by poiuy_qwert far exceeds all previous AI launchers we've built and contains virtually everything our members have built over the course of the BWAIProject history. This new program allows for far greater variety than the previous limited randomness of Racine's Rebels and EntropyII .exes by allowing YOU the user to compile your own combination to suit your playing style. Or perhaps let the "Entropyze" button choose for you!
* Can be played on any map as usual + any SC version. * Standalone program will auto launch SCraft * Several categories to choose from:
EntropyAI = our best non-cheating scripts Racine's Rebels = our best pro scripts BWAIWar = our best AI vs. AI scripts Xtreme = our best Wackydoodle scripts
I should be thanking you Bajadulce and everybody over at BWAI for creating awesome stuff like this, its a hell of a lot more interesting than playing the regular AI, where its either 3 gate/12 zeal rush or DT rush, and then pretty much nothing the rest of the game.
I assume its you guys as well, but those AI micro videos are pretty damn awesome to watch. 12 v 12 goon battle and the comp comes out of it with 9 dragoons....absolutely insane.
Also, the ability to pick the AI is extremlely nice, because there are some that are a bit boring or just weird. Played a terran one that went like 4rax + Fact off on base and attacked with a big group of MnM and a tank or two about the same time my first reaver popped. I don't know how to stop that attack, and I didn't find it that interesting to play against because nobody really plays like that. Also, had one where the zerg massed mutas of 1 base; surprised the heck out of me because I saw it was super fast lair + spire...but off one base, and it attacked with about 9 mutas around the time my archives warped in, and then re-enforced with another 12, just a minute or two later.
How do you play AI against AI, do you need a special map that allows for that selection or what?
One thing to note is that the AI gives itself extra resources, since it can't micro. Some of the scripts abuse it more, and a few have very unrealistic timings that make them only playable on something like BGH or FMP, lol. I don't even think Adun's Fury can belong in the Racine Rebel's section due to it's 4 minute cracklings or something. :p
To play AIvsAI you could just start a top vs bottomgame, have yourself on one side with one computer and then make yourself terran and lift off.
Thanks for playing. I checked out your 2 replays and those were quite action packed. Nice playing! I was hoping to add them to the rest of the TL.net database of replays HERE as well as calculate the replay scores, but you never finished the game tho you clearly were going to win! Always wanted to start a blog here at TL.net that used this replay calculator, but just never got around to it.
Also, the ability to pick the AI is extremlely nice, because there are some that are a bit boring or just weird.
Ya not all of the scripts that make up Racine's Rebels are as good as King Racine! We removed the debug commands that gave notification as to which AI you were running, but found ppl would just quit if it wasn't Racine! And so you never know what you're gonna get. The Launcher is nice because you can choose either random or the AI of your choice. Note: there's an option to not have the script names display in game should you choose Entropyze random selector.
How do you play AI against AI, do you need a special map that allows for that selection or what?
We have a database of blank AI vs. AI replays that you can watch after loading a particular AI. I thought the official BWAIWar replays were included in the BWAILauncher package, but maybe not? We have a page here where you can read more about our Bot contest HERE. The results need to be updated as a few new members needed to be added. Most notably Myk's AI vs. AI entries. We have a good time watching the bots bash heads!
I assume its you guys as well, but those AI micro videos are pretty damn awesome to watch. 12 v 12 goon battle and the comp comes out of it with 9 dragoons....absolutely insane.
The BWAPI is really exciting! While its roots start at BroodWarAI.com with Kovarex, Heinermann, and LowerLogic, the project has branched out into its own entity for the most part. Myself, and most of the folks that made up the scripts have nothing or very little to do with the project other than how much we enjoy watching all the fantastic videos.
* I've added a link to your blog in our BWAI Launcher thread which incidentally displays on our front page! . So your Blog will live on long after it disappears in the sea of threads here at TL.net. thnx again for the support and nice playing again in those replays.
EPT
He was a damn good player too.![[image loading]](http://www.broodwarai.com/images/BWAILauncherRR.png)
