GOTO ZIGBOT

[quadz]

Greetings,

Just added a GOTO ZIGBOT server running Zigock bots and FFA maps.

mymap is enabled, with pretty much all the FFA maps we have routes for. (In order to add additional maps, route files need to be created for the bots.)

It's taken a few weekends of hacking to fix various glitches and stability issues with the mod. Hopefully it's stable enough now. (Still has to use a special r1q2 mode to completely reload the game DLL on map change to prevent it crashing.)

NOTE 1: I'm aware the bots do goofy things (spazzing out on ledges, for instance.) At this point it is what it is.

NOTE 2: Currently 7 bots are spawned in regardless of number of players or map size. In the future I'd like to make the number of bots vary based on map size, and also adjust based on number of players.

The bot source with my changes is available here: https://github.com/tastyspleen/zigock-q2

Anyway, hope it's fun.

Enjoy it or don't!

[|iR|Focalor]

REALLY buggy kinda.

First thing I noticed was the bots skill level is just a tad too high. I think if most of the vanilla regulars were to try it out, they'd get fed up with it in 2 minutes and leave because they probably wouldn't be able to get to a gun fast enough before getting chummed by a barrage of blasters and everything else from all directions.

They move REALLY REALLY REALLY odd. It's almost like they're sportin' speedhacks or something with the way they move around so damned quick. All they do is hop around like bunny rabbits on crank. Occasionally (bordering on "frequently") while they're hopping, they do this really weird midair crouch thing and then zip sideways making it virtually impossible to hit them with a railgun unless you get lucky. I've NEVER seen a human player do that type of movement before. I highly doubt it would be possible, otherwise people WOULD do that, because it makes it so fucking hard to hit them.

Anyway, don't wanna sound like I'm bitching. Just giving some feedback about it. I LOVE the idea of having a server with bots running full time for those times when vanilla is vacant and you just want a game. I can see myself playing on this server a lot. But if it's possible, I'd recommend lowering the bots skill level a bit and ironing out some of the movement kinks.

[|iR|Focalor]

Played it a little more. After a few more maps, I suppose the bots skill level isn't too terrible. They do miss a few shots. A "few". The most annoying thing is the movement, and like you said, it mostly seems to be occurring near any kind of ledge, whether it be stairs, and actual ledge, or a walkway with any drop-offs or change in elevation nearby. I suppose initially what made me say the skill level was a bit too high was the first map I played on. It was a pretty small and tight quartered map, so there wasn't much room for all the bots to spread out and they were ALL shooting me at once it seemed like. Also, the closer they are, the better their aim seems to be, especially with rockets. Even from a distance, they're pretty damned good with rockets. But the good thing about it is it kinda helps you hone your rocket dodging skills. It also forces you to aim your shots a little better. I guess playing on vanilla with the typical bad shots by most people can help your own aim to go a little lazy after so long, and I found that the more I played, the quicker and more accurate my aim was forced to be in order to keep up at all.

What got to be pretty annoying was how I'd be walking without seeing anyone, and then all of the sudden I'd be getting hit from nowhere by a shot from a bot passing by a doorway behind me and not even pursuing me or from a bot passing by on a walkway under a walkway I was on. I'd turn around to see what the hell was shooting me, and nothing would be there, and then by the time I whip back around to continue on in the direction I was going, another bot would be in the doorway sawing me in half with a chaingun before I could hope to do jack shit about it.

But any of you vanilla regulars with so-so scores wanting to up your game a bit should give this server some play time for training purposes. Chances are it'll probably help you learn to speed up your aim with a railgun and shotgun, predict your rocket shots better, and follow a target better with sustained fire weapons like machinegun and chaingun.

[Zeppelin]

whats a zigbot?

[quadz]

But if it's possible, I'd recommend lowering the bots skill level a bit and ironing out some of the movement kinks.

The author had started to implement a skill system but it's unfinished. A few things can be tweaked such as the bot's preferred primary weapon and such, but not how sharp its aim is.

I've lowered the number of bots spawning from 7 to 4 to make it a bit less chaotic on the smaller maps. (Eventually want wallfly to be able to override that number per-map.)

[|iR|Focalor]

I played these bots. Not too hard. Should just be dm1 to dm8 though 

SNORE. I say keep it interesting and use more maps.

[Sgt. Dick]

I just played on it, I give it a 

I played on a tight map of hallways and controlled the rail and red armor and won by over 20.

I played on a open map and it was a lot harder.

7 of those bastards would have been hell 

[magic]

need an instagib version

[quadz]

need an instagib version

https://github.com/tastyspleen/zigock-q2

If you mod it we'll run it.

[Whirlingdervish]

I popped on to try them out yesterday. It was pretty fun.

They do move very strangely sometimes, but it just makes them that much harder to hit and levels the playing field for them a bit. They are more unpredictable than most q2 bots I've played, and they seem to not run in straight lines or chase directly after you every time you run away so you can't just +back and spam up a win.

I'll try em some more later on a few other maps and see how it goes

[quadz]

Tweaked the bots to use ctf_r skin, as it was available for all {male,female,crakhor,cyborg} models.

So it's easier to tell the bots from regular players now, for those inclined to differentiate.

(Though nothing prevents anyone from also using that skin.)

[quadz]

Fixed a configuration bug that was preventing any single-player maps from loading on the server.

[ex]

Is there a way to allow voting for number of bots to be added?  I know that's possible on the irtdm servers.

[quadz]

But if it's possible, I'd recommend lowering the bots skill level a bit and ironing out some of the movement kinks.

The author had started to implement a skill system but it's unfinished. A few things can be tweaked such as the bot's preferred primary weapon and such, but not how sharp its aim is.

Ah, I had misread part of the code. There's more configurability than I'd thought.

By way of experiment there's a 5th bot configured now called Big Doofus, who only ever walks, and has terrible aim. He favors SSG though so still gets a few frags.

There's a reasonable amount of flexibility as far as configuring individual bots.

What's missing is the ability to have a master skill factor that tunes all the bots up or down...

Is there a way to allow voting for number of bots to be added?  I know that's possible on the irtdm servers.

Nope. Maybe someday...

[bluemeanies]

I tried this out last night and it was fun. Aside from the "unique" movements the bots can make, play on smaller maps with limited open areas felt pretty organic.

However, on a map like dm8, for example, some bots seemed to frequently end on the bottom floor where the boxes start and go up and just kind of hang out in a spot. So possibly on the well established dm maps, the bot's movement around the map might not make as much sense and would stand out more as being a bot.

The bots did well gathering powerups, armor, quad, etc. When they are engaged with you, it's not hard to dodge their rails, so rail gun is not overpowered. However, when you chase them and they aren't facing you, they can snap around 180 instantly and rail you. The turn barely registers it's so fast.

The blaster accuracy is high and the frequency of the blaster use by the bots definitely makes the artificial aspect of the bot's play stand out. Sometimes you'll get situations where a few bots in a small area can kill you with blasters quickly.

Not sure if any of this feedback helps or matters, but overall it was fun. I've definitely had less challenging/exciting games from human players then these bots.