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: Queller TA & Queller CC
Creator: Quitch
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 at http://www.cavedog.com/totala/

Please note 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 attack 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 (none were taken from the Verion 5 reports as small children may be reading this :)).

Thanks to BSR for creating the BSRAI which inspired me to create Queller (to trash his AI with :)). Also thanks to Switech for creating an AI guide explaining the internal TA flaws fully, and for his supreme Mostly Harmless AI, which my goal was to better. Also, thanks to him (again) for his exellent TA 1.1 bugfix, a truely essential download.

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.

If you have the expansion Core Contingency, now enter the Queller CC ZIP, if not, use the Queller TA ZIP.

To install the AI itself, create a subdirectory called "ai" (no quotes) in your Totala folder. Extract the files from the appropriate ZIP into it.

To 3rd Party Unit Users
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Before using this AI, you should move all 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. I know what you people are like :).

Notes
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Anyone who wishes to create their own AI may do so using the blank profile provided. It is complete with notes which explain what every code represents. THe best way to design a good AI is trial and error, oh, and blood and sweat too :).

Any unit marked with a * in the blank profile 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 which builds Anti-Nukes).

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/  You should also log onto Boneyards to get the latest CORE unit, the Immolator.

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 differ only in that the AI will fire them instantly upon finishing the building of a nuke. The normal code names are ARMSILO and CORSILO.

The best place to go to pick up AI's, new maps, and in fact anything TA related, must be TAMEC at http://www.tamec.org/

Even if you have the Core Contingency expansion, you may wish to practice for games where you will not be allowed the CC units, right?  Well Queller TA has all the weights and limits for CC, but at 0.  That way you can just not use CC units if you wish, and the AI will effectively "turn them off," and ignore the unternal weightings. Queller CC uses the CCunits though, and oyu should use that if you wish to play against a CC opponent.

Making The AI A True Challenege
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To make the AI as challenging as it possibly 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 10 000 (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. This is not a building obbsessive AI. You will realise that you can attack immediately, however the AI will, as ever, build a resource base first. Therefore when your first attack hits, Queller would not be ready. This AI was designed for games where the it's human opponent has 1000 metal and energy.

* You should use a fairly large map, with plenty of metal, evenly spread out, but the metal spots should not be too far apart.  The more open the map, the better.  The AI handles Painted Desert quite well, and Yerrot Mountains too. King of the Middle is an example of a bad map, as the AI does not realise the importance of the centre as a human does.

* Don't use Dragons Teeth or any type of wall. A human opponent would just add more shell lobbers to their unit mix, but the AI can't adept like that, it is not a learning opponent. If I added more shell lobbers to the AI's troop mix it wouldn't be as effective in open combat. It may be able to handle Dragons Teeth at level 2, but not level 1. I would reccomend you don't use them at all, after all, the AI doesn't :).

* 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.

* 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 :).

* Finally, if you own Core Contingency, I *strongly* reccomend that you get the 1.1 bugfix by Switeck from TAMEC http://www.tamec.org/  This patch corrects many of TA's flaws, it also encourages the AI to use geothermal power, fixes the ARM Warrior's guns, and makes other fixes, such as correcting the problem the AI Commander had with multiple targets. He will now D-Gun all the live long day. This patch works like the extra units, it only works if everyone playing has the patch, otherwise you just get a normal game of TA. The Queller CC AI assumes you have this patch, and if you don't, it will not play at optimal levels.

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 and it will not affect the very next unit to be built in the same plant, therefore if the AI builds the same unit in more than one place at a time, or at the same place as the very next unit, 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, and also if you got it in CC, the cavedog site, or from somewhere else on the Internet. 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).

THe 1.1 BUGFIXC colum applys to those of you who have downloaded and used Switeck's 1.1 bugfix for the game. It lists the name of the profile the AI will now use instead of the old one.

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		1.1 BUG FIX	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		Wind		5x8		2, 3
Evad River Confluence	Airbattle	Hover		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		Seabattle	12x12		2, 3, 6
Kill The Middle		Airbattle	Wind		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		Wind		8x8		2, 4, 8
Lava Run		Default				13x4		3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10
Metal Heck		Default		Metal		8x8		2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8
Metal Isles+		Seabattle	SeaMetal	23x21		2, 3, 4
Mounds of Mars+		Default				8x17		2, 4
Over Crude Water	Default		Krogoth		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		SeaMetal	40x40		2, 7
SHERWOOD		Default				6x6		2, 3
Shore to Shore		Seabattle	Hover		29x4		2
The Cold Place		Default		Wind		15x11		2, 3, 6
The Desert Triad	Airbattle			6x6		2, 3, 6
The Pass		Default		ThePass		7x4		2
Two Continents		Airbattle	Hover		22x25		2, 4
Yerrot Mountains	Default				27x23		2, 3, 4, 6