Build Order Calculator for Brood War?

On December 27 2013 20:57 Birdie wrote:
I plan on programming one after I finish StarServer, but at the moment I don't think there is one.

On December 27 2013 22:12 BisuDagger wrote:
That doesn't seem to difficult to make.

On December 28 2013 17:42 [[Starlight]] wrote:
One other Q for Birdie:

Will it be cross-platform? I have both a PC and a Mac. I know a lot of ppl who are Mac-only (I'm here in the Silicon Valley).

On December 28 2013 19:43 Birdie wrote:
I'll be developing it on Linux with the idea to be released on at least Windoze and Linux.

If I can, I'll try get it to work on Mac too, although I don't have one to test it on.

On December 30 2013 06:44 Xiphos wrote:
There are 4 variables at play:

1. Worker Production
2. Rate of Mineral/Gas gathering
3. Constant production of Depot/Pylon/Overlord to not get supply blocked.
4. Build/upgrade/unit making timing

Essentially this calculator will have to simulate a single person playing BW to minimize the time it takes to construct the necessary unit composition and amount.

On December 28 2013 19:43 Birdie wrote:
If I can, I'll try get it to work on Mac too, although I don't have one to test it on.

is an extension of the build order search which has been in UAlbertaBot for years, but now works with all 3 races. You can put in a build order goal and it will try to give you time-optimal build orders to achieve that goal.

On January 01 2015 03:01 f10eqq wrote:
Here's the old program you're thinking about (latest version is for 1.161).

On January 01 2015 05:05 rushz0rz wrote:

I wouldn't bother. BW doesn't even work on OSX

On April 13 2016 09:01 Jealous wrote:

I would say the features necessary is build selection before you start a game. I will assume that you need a launcher or plug-in to do so. Then, you select builds based on Race -> Build. For example, Zerg -> 3H Muta -> Timing. If you are late on the timing, then alert goes up, or timer switches to negative. Oh, yea, timer is important for this imo.

As for the second question, I feel there are three ways to approach this. The easiest, IMO, would be having a strong gamer do 3H muta timing vs. an empty slot and get the time from the rep. The second easiest is programming an AI to do the same, which I think LetaBot might be able to help you with. The third is to watch ZvT replays and see what timing the players hit and take the lowest time available.

On January 01 2015 06:16 J.Dong wrote:
Here's another program at the cutting edge of Broodwar research: + Show Spoiler +. BOSS is It's open source on github.

From what the author says, it's extremely accurate for everything excluding drone transfers. Unfortunately it is poorly documented and there are no pre-compiled binaries that I see.

Edit: I found some stuff that may work. BOSS binaries don't seem to be on the list though...

On April 13 2016 19:33 kogeT wrote:
Funny I never seen that thread and also considered creating an engine for that.

For me basic assumptions were:

- You put the exact requirements on what you want to have (e.g 12 mutas + 30 drones vs 12 mutas ASAP would probably give you 12 mutas earlier but with less drones)
- Gathering rate for gas mineral (per minerals setup / avg per map etc.)
- Timeof going to all important locations (e.g natural, 2nd natural) and also avg. distance (or just time spent) to build specific buildings. This is for workers that have to be in a position
- All variables on costs, time of building units/buildings etc.

Now from there it's quite simple as it's just a set of optimization equations, step by step. By principle you always start with straight up macro (number of workers * avg gather rate for this amount of workers to get exact amount of mineral/gas that matches the sum of requirered tech/units), and afterwards you add up different constraints like (I need 1 turret max 7 min mark etc.)

On April 13 2016 19:33 kogeT wrote:
Funny I never seen that thread and also considered creating an engine for that.

For me basic assumptions were:

- You put the exact requirements on what you want to have (e.g 12 mutas + 30 drones vs 12 mutas ASAP would probably give you 12 mutas earlier but with less drones)
- Gathering rate for gas mineral (per minerals setup / avg per map etc.)
- Timeof going to all important locations (e.g natural, 2nd natural) and also avg. distance (or just time spent) to build specific buildings. This is for workers that have to be in a position
- All variables on costs, time of building units/buildings etc.

Now from there it's quite simple as it's just a set of optimization equations, step by step. By principle you always start with straight up macro (number of workers * avg gather rate for this amount of workers to get exact amount of mineral/gas that matches the sum of requirered tech/units), and afterwards you add up different constraints like (I need 1 turret max 7 min mark etc.)

On April 13 2016 17:22 molotow[eef] wrote:
In my opinion a build order calculator would always be too theoretical and abstract. It is nearly impossible to adjust it to the different maps (different flow of income, different amount of min patches) and different baselayouts.

On April 14 2016 16:46 [[Starlight]] wrote:
THOUGHT: Seems like multiple ppl here actually want to work on a BW BOC(Build Order Calculator) of some kind.

If so, perhaps y'all could coordinate/work together, thus making less work for each individual, and a greater chance of success via your pooled knowledge?

Just a suggestion.