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News: 15.03.02

Just added a bunch more stuff to the 3rd Year projects section. More on the way as I finalise the details...

Last Update: 24th March 2002

This page contains the details of what I've figured out about the various strategy .txt files in AI0001.RFH (As far as I can tell, there's no way to edit which strategies the AI chooses to execute, but by editing the various TXT files in AI0001.RFH you can change the associated actions).

So Far I'm pretty sure of the following lines (note that some of these are untested at present, so use with caution):

The following key shows how the entries are colour coded:

section definitions
section properties

STRATEGY Definition:

STRATEGY defines the file as a strategy file.

The DESCRIPTION section:

Various information which tells the game when it can use the strategy.

DESCRIPTION defines the strategy description section.


name= the name of the strategy, as used by the game, do not modify.

frequency= how often the AI executes the strategy. The higher, the more often. As yet, I haven't tested maxima & minima.


mintech= the lowest tech level at which the AI will use this strategy.


maxtech= the highest tech level at which the AI will use this strategy.


house= which houses can use the strategy; options below:

all (all houses)
Atreides (house Atreides)
Harkonnen (house Harkonnen)
Ordos (house Ordos)


losses= Not sure. At first I thought it was the percentage of casualties before the startegy is aborted, but I've just found an entry with losses = 200, so this my not be correct. Possibly the amount of casualties measured according to the units "score" characteristic.


reactive= Flags the strategy as a reaction to player actions. I don't know too much yet as to exactly how this works.


ENDDESCRIPTION Ends the Description section.

The TEAM section:

Defines which units are used when executing this strategy. Note that you can include more than one TEAM section, allowing you to coordinate different sets of units.

TEAM defines the team description section.


name names the team. Used later to assign actions to teams.


teamtype which type of units make up the team (refers to the team types defined in objectsets.txt)


minunits the minimum number of units to assemble at the staging point before starting the strategy.


maxunits the maximum number of units to assemble at the staging point before starting the strategy.


ENDTEAM ends the TEAM description section. (remember that you can go on to define multiple teams with multiple TEAM sections).

The TARGET section:

Defines the target of the strategy: (you may be able to define multiple targets for differnt teams to attack by adding multiple TARGET sections, but I haven't tested this) There is no TARGET section for some strategies (mainly defensive ones).

TARGET defines the TARGET section.


name a label for the target, for use in later commands


targettype which enemy units to target. Options include:

enemyBase the enemy base
infantry enemy infantry
threat
any units attacking the AI
ImportantBuildings
Probably targets construction yard and refineries specifically. Mainly used for saboteurs, etc.

There are probably more options I haven't found yet. they generally have pretty descriptive names, so if you come accross any, experiment.


ENDTARGET ends the TARGET section. You can probably have multiple TARGET sections.

The STAGING section:

Defines the staging point. (you can send units to a staging point in the SEND section) You can define multiple staging points.

STAGING defines the STAGING section.


name a label for the staging point.


relative chooses a TARGET to position the staging point relative to. Can also have the following options:

DefenceCliff (a cliff in a defensive position)
AttackCliff (A cliff in an offfensive position)
DefenceValley (a valley in a defensive position)
AttackValley (a valley in an offensive position)
enemy (the enemy base / units)


stagingtype defines relative direction to the TARGET. options include:

lflank left flank
rflank
right flank
front in front of TARGET


distance the distance from the target defined in relative. Options are:

near
medium
far


threat how dangerous a location to pick for the staging point. Options Include:

lowthreat
highthreat

There are probably more options I haven't found yet. they generally have pretty descriptive names, so if you come accross any, experiment.


ENDSTAGING ends the STAGING section. (remember that you can go on to define multiple staging points with multiple STAGING sections).

The STEP command:

Defines an action command. The ENDSTEP command defines the end of a STEP. There can be multiple steps, which are carried out in the sequence in which they appear in the strategy file.

STEP defines a STEP section

a STEP can contain SEND, WAIT and GOTO commands.

ENDSTEP ends a STEP section


The SEND command:

Moves a TEAM to a TARGET or STAGING point.

SEND defines a STEP command


who defines the TEAM to which the SEND command applies. Can contain a specific team name (defined in TEAM section), or the property all to apply to all TEAMs within the strategy.


destination defines where the team is sent. Can be a TARGET or a STAGING point. can also contain homebase (the AI's base).


route defines the route to be taken; options include:

quickest the most direct route
lowthreat the safest route

highthreat the most dangerous route


encounter what to do if the team encounters enemies en-route:

attack stop and fight
avoid avoid the enemy


Endstate what to do when the team reaches its DESTINATION:

attack stop and fight
avoid avoid the enemy


ENDSEND ends a SEND command

The WAIT command:

Creates a delay before proceeding to the next step of the strategy.

WAIT defines a WAIT command


ticks number of ticks to wait.


ENDWAIT ends a WAIT command

The GOTO command:

Goes to s specific STEP command, creating a loop. (useful for patrol loops)

GOTO defines a GOTO command


value the STEP number to go to (STEPs are numbered in the order they appear in the file, starting at 0)


ENDGOTO ends a GOTO command

The TEXT command:

Seems to send a text string (this may be purely internal, or may show up to the player, I haven't experimented yet).

TEXT defines a TEXT command


name the textstring to send


ENDTEXT ends a TEXT command

ENDSTRATEGY command:

ENDSTTRATEGY ends the STRATEGY file.

Check back later, I'll be adding more details as I get to know the system better. If you find any corrections or omissions in this section, then please e-mail me