THIS AI IS STILL IN A TESTING STAGE PLEASE DO NOT DISTRIBUTE!

Introducing the Queller AI for Total Annihilation
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AI Name: Queller AI
Creator: Quitch			"I'd never been so happy to get my butt kicked"
Contact: quitch@x-stream.co.uk

Testers: EMG Man aka StumpDude	"This is almost as hard as BAI"
	 Loup-Garou		"Having your units lose half of their health before they 				 can even see the enemy is horrible"
	 noo_bee		"The AI spreads out over an enormous area"
	 Aklein			"It keeps you on your toes"

Welcome to the Queller AI! This AI is designed to be a marked improvement over any other AI avaliable for Total Annihlation that does not cheat, nor use any units other than the ones provided with the game and those that can be downloaded from Cavedog site.

Please not that I have not hacked the Cavedog AI, I have merely improved the mix of units and structures that the AI uses. However, you should notice a marked difference in the way that the AI plays. I cannot however correct the fundemental flaws that Cavedog left behind. I cannot make the AI Commander smarter, I cannot correct the path finding, I cannot correct any flaw that is in the programming. However, I hope with this AI, to bring closer a truly challenging opponent.

My thanks to all those who I charmed and bullied into testing this AI. My eternal thanks and bouncing cheques go out to you :). Also, all the quotes by the testers were taken from e-mails they sent to me at one time or another during the testing process.

If you've download this AI, or I sent it to you (it's an outreach policy :)), feel free to send me feedback and your comments!

Installation
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To allow this AI to work properly, put he file AI_Nuker in the main Total Annihilation directory. For example, if you installed the game under c:\Cavedog\Totala\ then that is the directory wehere you would put the file. This file allows the AI to use Nukes, however it does not understand Anti-Nukes (this is something I cannot correct), so please resist the temptation to nuke him back to the stone-age.

To install the AI itself, create a subdirectory called "ai" (no quotes) in your Totala folder. Put all the text files in it.

To CC And 3rd Party Unit Users
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Before using this AI, you should move all your CC and 3rd Party Unit files into a directory where TA will not detect them. This will prevent the AI from trying to build units it was not weighted for, as doing so will degrade it's ability to play. It will also remove the temptation to throw in some invincible 3rd Party Unit against an AI not built to stop them. Any file in the Totala directory that begins cc, or is called TACC is a Core Contingency file, and should be moved to a backup folder.

Notes
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Anyone who wishes to use my weightings as a base for their own AI may do so, as long as they credit myself and the Queller AI as the base for their weightings. They must also include my e-mail address quitch@x-stream.co.uk as a contact address for anyone interested in gaining a copy of the Queller AI.

Any unit marked with a * in the weightings and limit sections, is a unit that the AI either does not require (such as radar, as it can see the whole map), or one that it does not know how to use (such as the Hedgehog).

For this AI to work at optimum levels, you MUST have the 3.1 patch, and have downloaded the Flea, Scarab and Hedgehog from the Cavedog site, http://www.cavedog.com/totala/

Please note that the nuke code names used in the Queller AI are not the normal TA nuke code names, but are ones provided with the AI_Nuker patch, because the AI cannot use the normal nukes. The ones in the AI_Nuker patch difer only in that the AI will fire them instantly upon finishing the building of a nuke. The normal code names are ARMSILO and CORSILO.

Making The AI A True Challenege
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To make the AI as challenging as it can be, use the following settings:

On Commanders Death: Game Continues
Location: Random
Mapping Mode: Not Mapped
LOS: True
Difficulty: Hard

For an even game, give yourself both 1000 metal and energy, as this is what the AI was built around. However for a real challenege set the AI's energy and metal to 10000 (please note, unlike most AI's, it is perfectly caperble of playing a good game with only 1000 metal and energy) while leaving yours at 1000 and 1000 respectively. If you have a deathwish, set your metal and energy values down to 200.

I strongly reccomend against giving both yourself and the AI 10 000 metal and energy. Doing so will give *you* and not the AI the advantage. You will realise that you can attack immediately, however the AI will, as ever, build a resource base first. Therefore when your first attack hit, it would not be ready. This AI was designed for 1000 metal and energy.

To add an extra level of difficulty, put the game speed up to +10, and do not pause the game to allow yourself to give out orders (anyone who does is a coward).

You should use a fairly larges map, with plenty of metal, evenly spread out.  The more open the map, the better.  The AI handles Painted Desert better than any other map.

If you're still winning easily (then you're a liar :), or using anti-AI tactics >:(), then try allying several AI's against just you. Still winning? Ally 9 AI's against you, OK, so no one has a chance against those odds.

Oh, and heres a really wild suggestion: DON'T CHEAT. The AI may not be able to lambast you for cheating, but think of all the devloping time I speant in getting it to kick your ass. Don't let me down, let it kick you ass fair and square, you don't want to embarrass yourself :).

This AI does not make use of the units in the Core Contingency expansion, and therefore to have the most enjoyable game, I suggest you do not use them either. Neither can this AI play on CC maps which require new profiles e.g. Acid. If you want to play against an AI that uses CC units and can play CC maps, I suggest you get a copy of BAI by BSR from http://www.aracnet.com/~nimrod/taec/ goto the BSR R&D section.

WEIGHTS And LIMITS Explained
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Weights decide how likely it is that the AI will build a unit, a limit tells the AI the maximum number of units of that kind it may build. A unit only counts towards the limit when it has finished being built, therefore if the AI builds the same unit in more than one place at a time, it may go over the limit. This is another part of the great randomness the AI demonstrates, making for a slightly more varied challenge (or cock-up depending on what it does) every time.

Map Profiles
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The following shows which maps use whic profile. Seabattle and Airbattle are self explanatory. Default is a land war with the chance of other elements being involved. If you know of a map not listed here, please let me know. If you also have an HPI viewer, please open the maps file, and let me know the size (the one in the description which is found near the top of the file), the "numplayers" value, and the "aiprofile" (if it's blank, then it means default).

Maps marked (CC) are Core Contingency Maps, and maps marked with a + are maps that have been downloaded from the Cavedog site. Maps marked with a - have been download from somewhere on the Internet. Maps marked with a * are not supported by Queller AI

MAP			PROFILE		SIZE		PLAYERS

Anteer Strait		Seabattle	18x18		3
Ashap Plateau		Default		9x9		2, 4
Caldera's Rim		Seabattle	29x29		2, 5
Coast To Coast		Seabattle	7x4		2
Comet Catcher+		Default		12x15		2, 4
Dark Side		Default		6x5		2, 3
Etorrep Glacier		Default		5x8		2, 3
Evad River Confluence	Airbattle	11x10		2, 3
Fox Holes		Default		7x7		2, 3, 4
Full Moon		Default		8x8		2, 4, 8
Gods of War		Default		9x8		2, 5
Great Divide		Default		5x8		2
Greenhaven		Default		16x16		2, 4, 8
Hundred Isles		Default		12x12		2, 3, 6
Kill The Middle		Airbattle	13x13		2, 3
King of the Hill	Default		16x16		2, 3, 4
Lava & Two Hills	Airbattle	9x8		2
Lava Alley		Default		18x18		2
Lava Highground		Default		8x8		2, 3, 4
Lava Mania		Default		8x8		2, 4, 8
Lava Run		Default		13x4		3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10
Metal Heck		Default		8x8		2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8
Metal Isles+		Seabattle	23x21		2, 3, 4
Mounds of Mars+		Default		8x17		2, 4
Over Crude Water	Default		24x24		2, 4
Painted Desert		Default		18x18		2, 3, 4, 6
Pincushion		Default		13x13		2, 4, 8
Red Hot Lava		Default		11x9		2, 4, 8
Red Planet		Default		9x9		2, 4
Red Triangle		Default		16x16		2, 3, 6, 9
Ring Atoll		Default		21x21		2, 5, 10
Rock Alley		Default		9x21		2
Seven Islands		Default		40x40		2, 7
SHERWOOD		Default		6x6		2, 3
Shore to Shore		Seabattle	29x4		2
The Cold Place		Default		15x11		2, 3, 6
The Desert Triad	Airbattle	6x6		2, 3, 6
The Pass		Default		7x4		2
Two Continents		Airbattle	22x25		2, 4
Yerrot Mountains	Default		27x23		2, 3, 4, 6