(insert big logo here)

I. WHAT IS "THE BLOODTHIRSTY AI"?

Well, this is it ... the first official public release of the long-in-
development "Bloodthirsty AI."  It's gone through many, many revisions since
the inception for balancing and to provide a decent range of skill levels 
while (hopefully) remaining challenging in every case.  This is, affectionately,
BAI version 4, and it's been tested in AI-vs-AI skirmishes, Human-vs-AI
skirmishes, and Humans-vs-AIs multiplayer fairly extensively.  I can't and 
won't rule out the possibility of a later release, especially if it turns out
that there are problems that slipped through somehow.  However, hopefully 
that won't be necessary.

The heart of BAI is the fact that Cavedog's TA AI, while it does do many things
very well (really does), has a few critical weaknesses that cause it to perform
poorly against a skilled player.  Some of these cannot be corrected by third-
party additions ... an AI will, in general, always attack the nearest threat,
for example.  It cannot (as far as we know) build functional anti-nukes. It will
still sometimes build an Intimidator directly behind a hill/column so that it 
has no room to fire. There are others.  However, some of the AI's problems can 
be corrected or compensated for;  in particular, BAI attempts to address 
the following:

1. Resources. The AI's biggest enemy is itself, sometimes.  Unless an AI is
   instructed to devote itself almost entirely to small battle units initially,
   it will almost always over-tax its resources early in the game and leave 
   itself extremely open to rushing, especially if it tries to build defenses.

2. Construction Units. If the AI has too many construction units, it will 
   over-tax its resources.  It also doesn't use the Commander to assist a 
   factory in getting a construction unit out the door, so it can jam its 
   own factories at critical times.

3. Build mistakes. One of the AI's worst weaknesses is the build mistakes
   that it sometimes makes, such as building a factory right next to a post
   on Metal Heck, so that units can't exit the factory ... or building a laser
   tower or metal extractor right in front of a factory door.  The AI is also
   extremely vulnerable to plant-blocking, because it can't recognize that it
   should do something about the wreckage in the way.

4. Useless units. The AI cannot use some units effectively, and it doesn't 
   need others at all.  Most previous AI work (BSRAI, Switeck's AI, etc.) has
   already addressed this problem.


II. WHAT DOES BAI DO?

BAI addresses these problems by providing the AI with a set of modified units
that ONLY the AI can build, and by modifying the AIs build patterns to work 
with these adjusted units.  In particular, BAI includes

1. Enhanced Resource Units. BAI includes two versions of the Metal Extractor 
   and Solar Collector that provide more resources than the regular versions.
   This helps the AI avoid resource crunches, giving it more time to build.
   It also spends less time building resource units, and therefore more time
   on factories, defenses, and battle units.

2. Enhanced Construction Units. The construction units available to the AI are
   less expensive to build than the regular versions, and they also provide
   somewhat more additional resources and storage than their human-avaiable
   counterparts. Most of them have the same exact build statistics as the 
   regular ones except for the Construction Planes, which build faster.

3. Enhanced Factories. The AI has its own version of every land-based factory;
   these variants provide more resource production and storage than the regular
   ones, and in some cases (air) they cost somewhat less metal/energy and build
   somewhat faster as well. ALSO, the yardmaps of these factories are altered
   so that units can exit through the back or sides ... this one change can 
   compensate for ALMOST any build-location mistake the AI can make.

4. AI Nukes. TADD was the first to release an AI nuke, and several days ago I 
   planned to include settings for the TADD nuker and pronounce BAI "compatible"
   with it.  I emailed Blackthorn for permission to use the nuker, and received
   no response, so I built AI nuke silos and included them in BAI.  Although the
   stats are virtually identical, I did NOT copy TADD's work. ; )

   Anyway, having observed the AI using nukes fairly extensively now, I can say
   that pretty much all of our suspicions and reservations about it were correct.
   It really is liable to nuke anything ... it might use a nuke to detonate a 
   critical fusion, to decimate an attacking force, or to vaporize a single 
   metal extractor.  By the law of averages, though, it seems to do well enough.

5. New AI profiles.  The Medium and Hard profiles, in particular, have been 
   tweaked to take advantage of everything we've learned about TA AI behavior
   since the original BSRAI.


III. WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO MAKE IT WORK?

As you've probably already noticed, there are more files in BAI than in most
AI upgrades (including BSRAI).  Each one must go in a specific location relative 
to your TA installation directory, which for purposes of example I will assume
is C:\Cavedog\Totala

1. AIBOOST.UFO - this file contains all of the AI-enhanced units.  It should 
   be placed in the Totala directory.

2. *.TXT (DEFAULT.TXT, AIRBATTLE.TXT, etc.) - these are the AI profile files,
   specifically modified to use the AI-enhanced units.  These versions instruct
   the AI to build the enhanced units instead of the regular ones where 
   applicable. They should be copied to an "ai" sub-directory created below
   the Totala directory, if you don't already have one, so that the full path
   would be ...

   C:\Cavedog\Totala\ai

3. SIDEDATA.TDF - this file was brought to my attention by Lord Admiral (TTLB)
   on the TA Comments board.  Sidedata.tdf is the file that tells the AI what
   units can build what things, and it is absolutely critical for BAI to work.
   Many thanks to LA for this tip ... BAI would not have been possible w/o it.
   Copy SIDEDATA.TDF to a "gamedata" sub-directory created below the Totala
   directory; the full path would be ...

   C:\Cavedog\Totala\gamedata


IIII. DID YOU EVER FINISH THE WATER PROFILE?

Unfortunately, no.  I wanted to.  I wish I had.  I got started, but I got 
almost no work done on it and it's nowhere near ready.  I usually have one 
full evening per week, plus whatever I can squeeze out of the weekends, to 
work on TA-related creations, including my original units and AI work.  AI
testing takes a LOT of time, too, sadly.  Here's what IS done ...

AIRBATTLE
    Arm (Hard)
    Core (Hard)

DEFAULT
    Arm (Easy)
    Arm (Medium)
    Arm (Hard)
    Core (Easy)
    Core (Medium)
    Core (Hard)

If you check, though, you'll find that there's METAL.TXT and ACID.TXT AI files
included, too.  These are near-exact copies of DEFAULT.TXT, which works quite well 
on those types of worlds, too.  The only thing that's different about METAL.TXT is
that the AI is allowed to build absolutely no metal-maker tech. So, for all intents, 
the Easy, Medium, and Hard profiles for Arm and Core are also done for those worlds.  
Nothing with water in it yet, though ... sorry.


IIII. HOW HARD _IS_ HARD?

Very hard, potentially.  With these alterations, it's very easy to make an AI 
so nasty that it can't be beaten.  I once sent Gecko the nastiest AI that 
ever lived ... its resource units were half-cost and mega-produced, its 
factories and construction units were cheap and built faster than the human 
versions ... it was hideous.  [grins] BAIv4 isn't quite that hard.  In more 
detail, though ...

EASY   - The Easy profile does NOT use any of the enhanced factories or 
         construction units.  It does use the improved extractors and solars,
         though.  It also doesn't make "best-case always" build choices; i.e.,
         it also builds Stumpies, Warriors, Reapers, Gimps, etc.  Finally, it
         is somewhat restricted in the total number of defenses it can build.
         I still wouldn't call it "Easy," though. [grins]

MEDIUM - Medium is the profile that was tested for so long as "BAIv3."  It 
         uses the improved extractors/solars, factories, and construction units.
         It builds massive defenses.  It may nuke you.

HARD   - Hard is fairly vicious.  It uses the VERY improved resource units,
         as well as the same factories/cu's as Medium.  It builds lots of 
         defenses, and is allowed more factories and construction units than
         Medium, so it spreads quickly.  It's allowed to use nukes.  It's also
         allowed to build Krogoth.  It IS beatable, but it will try very hard
         to kill you.  You've been warned.  ; )


IIII. WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNOW?

Like I pointed out with the original BSRAI ... some maps are just bad for AI 
players.  Urban maps are terrible.  Maze-type maps or maps with lots of 
twisty bridges are very bad.  Metal Heck isn't great, because of the relatively 
cramped room for building and interventing posts.  Pincushion is one of the 
... if not THE ... worst maps for AIs, with the possible exception of Titanium 
City 2.  In general, AI players perform best on comparatively open maps.  
Hills are fine, but walls are bad.  Uncrossable water will totally frag an AI, 
since it wants to take the shortest route to the nearest threat.  CD's 
pathfinding fixes in 3.1 greatly improved things, but there's only so much 
that can be done about this.

Painted Desert is a good AI map.  Metal Heck isn't BAD, but it's not good.
Core Prime Industrial does have a few walls, but it's pretty good for AIs.  Acid 
maps are generally pretty good.  Most Crystal maps work.  Lush maps are bad,
because the AI won't clear trees to make room to build.  [grins]  Use your 
judgement.

Also bear in mind that although mods like this can stack an AI's build decisions,
ultimately they're still randomized.  An AI may make semi-brilliant choices 
one game and goofball choices the next ... it may go from "cleverly" sheltering
its factories behind walls and hills to blocking its own factories in the next.
Just because ya beat it easily or get absolutely thrashed in one game doesn't
mean it'll happen the same way the next time.  I've seen the same profile go 
heavy on land-based light battle units, then super-heavy on defenses, then 
straight to massive air ... in the span of a single day, so tremendous variation
is possible.  : )

Finally, be aware that most third-party units will NOT work with the Medium
and Hard profiles.  That's because those units will those units place themselves 
on the build menus of _normal_ construction units and buildings, but not the 
altered ones.  However, the Easy profile should use anything and everything 
available.  I've added AI entries for the Pit Bull and Decoy Fusion, so they'll
work normally, and I intend to fix my other upcoming units to work with BAI as
well.  ALSO, be aware that BAI's AI Nuke Silos use weapon ID #253, so if you 
have another third-party unit loaded that uses #253 for its weapon, _something_ 
won't work.  It IS possible for any third-party unit to work with BAI, but the
designers have to include BUILDENTRY listings for the modified factories.


V. DO BAI AND BSRAI LIKE EACH OTHER?

Well enough, but they should be considered separate.  In my mind, the "Medium" 
setting of BAI represents the evolution of BSRAI.  I wouldn't recommend using
BSRAI's *.TXT AI files with BAI ... it'll work, but the results could be rather
bizarre.  Heh ... technically, anybody's AI profile files will work with BAI, 
but there's really no way to predict what combination of normal and enhanced 
units the AI will build.  If you want to use non-BAI profiles, I recommend 
removing the AIBOOST.UFO and SIDEDATA.TDF files.


VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

That's all I can think of at the moment that ya might want to know.  BAI was 
by no means one man's creation.  Many people share the credit for it, 
including ...

Ahnteis, Nightfire, WhiteWulf, Guener, Gecko, and ActiveX Man - the TAEC crew 
who were kind enough to thrash with BAI (and be thrashed by it) and endure 
fighting it over and over again endlessly.  Thanks for your help, patience, and
stamina, doodz.  ; )

Lord Admiral (TTLB) - thanks once again for the SIDEDATA.TDF tip.  That method
is SO much better and more powerful than the "hidden-button" download.tdf trick.
You're directly responsible for BAI's versatility, and for its fairly amazing 
ability to construct anti-air defenses.

Kristi, Dean - my sister and co-worker who had to endure the earlier, much-too-
hard versions of BAI during our lunchtime test games and whose comments 
contributed greatly to its evolution.

And Cavedog, of course, for TA itself.  The entertainment value of creating 
mods for TA has extended the value of this game many months after playing it 
would have gotten old.  The programming artisty in TA makes al-MOST anything 
possible, and while CD has still never officially endorsed any third-party mods
or efforts, they also haven't discouraged them.  Here's hoping that TA2 is 
designed with the community in mind ...

If I've left anyone out, I offer my genuine apologies ... I'm getting old, and
my memory isn't what it used to be.  ; )

Tha's all,
BSR 8/20/98
