Author Topic: Sentinel Robots (Read 53059 times)

techhead · « **Reply #60 on:** June 14, 2007, 01:27:08 am »

They are going to walk around on the floor, no flying or wallwalking.
Mind you, this could be on legs, wheels, treads, or a low hover, whatever I get models for.
If I don't get models, Might as well use MGturrets on gray boxes.

They don't need formal names either, as kill messages would be the only time they would be displayed.
eg. "<Playername> was cauterized by a laser beam."
"<Playername> killed robot" would quickly result in spam.

Right now, basic coding is essential, nothing fancy.

Factory flowchart:
A. Factory spawns Droid. GOTO B
B. Wait. GOTO A

Droid flowchart:
A. Droid spawns. GOTO B
B. Droid wanders. If finds enemy, GOTO C.
C. Droid fights. If win, GOTO B. If lose, GOTO D
D. Droid dies. END

For wandering, wander any direction it feels like, no need for complicated coding.
For fighting, drive towards enemy while shooting. Borrow the turret code.
And thats about all I would expect for a first draft.

So, any volenteers???
Anyone?

doomagent13 · « **Reply #61 on:** June 14, 2007, 05:22:44 am »

Quote from: "techhead"

B. Droid wanders. If finds enemy, GOTO C.
C. Droid fights. If win, GOTO B. If lose, GOTO D

That right there is the hard part. If that part is taken by itself, then this becomes little more than a mod to add bot support, which has been done for humans, but is stupid and requires an aas file.

I think I have said it before, but give me models, and I'll try to give you a working mod. No promises. :cry:

cyrri · « **Reply #62 on:** June 14, 2007, 11:29:15 am »

the bot movement code is class-independent atm, so it works for aliens or droids as well. only problem is that the aas file is taylored for human size bounding boxes and there are no wallwalking reachabilities in it.

techhead · « **Reply #63 on:** June 17, 2007, 03:34:02 am »

If ya feel like coding it, and have logistical questions, use the following rule of thumb:
When in doubt, do whatever needs less labor, as long as it works.
eg. If the AAS file is tailored for Human-sized BBOX's, make em 30x30x40.

Well, I should probably start work on the models, anyway.

benmachine · « **Reply #64 on:** June 17, 2007, 11:20:32 am »

We could try making exceptionally stupid bots - they would simply go forwards, and note how their position changes - if it doesn't for a couple of seconds, assume pressed against wall and turn randomly. Will get stuck everywhere., but will move at least.
Will die repeatedly on uncreation.

Oh by the way - how would automated base defences respond to them, and vice versa?

doomagent13 · « **Reply #65 on:** June 17, 2007, 11:06:23 pm »

Quote from: "benmachine"

We could try making exceptionally stupid bots - they would simply go forwards, and note how their position changes - if it doesn't for a couple of seconds, assume pressed against wall and turn randomly. Will get stuck everywhere., but will move at least.
Will die repeatedly on uncreation.

Oh by the way - how would automated base defences respond to them, and vice versa?

Might as well toss in an aimbot, just to even them out. The problem with aas files is that I think that most maps dont have them.

[off-topic]
I have my own bot mod in the works. They spawn but dont move at all--they act like 999 pingers. Should hopefully eventually work better.
[/off-topic]

.f0rqu3 · « **Reply #66 on:** June 17, 2007, 11:11:17 pm »

I know why ... they have no real client to send data
take a look at how ioquake3 handles it

green eggs and ham · « **Reply #67 on:** June 25, 2007, 08:45:01 pm »

pm a mod maker about it and it might work

player1 · « **Reply #68 on:** February 18, 2008, 07:43:18 pm »

I just wanted to say that this was originally a great idea, and wonder if the OP is still interested. As has been said elsewhere, this is the coolest third race idea yet, and is probably a lot more doable since Am|ne has come along. Of course a modeler would still be needed.

On a side note, I notice that there is no Tremulous Modeling Forum. Many communities have an active forum where modelers, like mappers and modmakers, can discuss ideas, help one another with technical issues, and etc. I know that sometimes modeling communities can get way out of control, and make a bunch of useless models which get made into bad artifacts, but it seems as if the Tremulous modeling community has no home. Please correct me if I have somehow gotten the wrong impression.

techhead · « **Reply #69 on:** February 18, 2008, 08:23:00 pm »

I am still interested, if it is possible.

I originally designed the concept around stupid AI, really. This was for two reasons, coding a third team into Trem was a higher priority than coding specific AI behaviors, and the bots were supposed to be easy to trick so that you don't have to stop and kill one of them.

I mean, how much easier could it get to code than this:
Bot A: Lasgun-ish robot that doesn't need to buy ammo or heal.
Bot B: Dretch-ish robot that can't wall-walk.
Bot C: Bigger version of Bot A

player1 · « **Reply #70 on:** February 20, 2008, 04:41:56 pm »

Quote from: techhead on February 18, 2008, 08:23:00 pm

I am still interested, if it is possible.

I originally designed the concept around stupid AI, really. This was for two reasons, coding a third team into Trem was a higher priority than coding specific AI behaviors, and the bots were supposed to be easy to trick so that you don't have to stop and kill one of them.

I mean, how much easier could it get to code than this:
Bot A: Lasgun-ish robot that doesn't need to buy ammo or heal.
Bot B: Dretch-ish robot that can't wall-walk.
Bot C: Bigger version of Bot A

Hey I had a crazy idea last night, inspired by that industrial waste discussion in the "Research" thread. There would be three levels of industrial waste, produced either by research or as a by-product of the Robot Factory. These would be, in order of annoyingness/lethality:
1) stationary, destructible crates (any team member can break them up using an attack)
2) pushable, non-destructible crates (any team member can push them out of base, creating barriers & choke points)
3) stationary, deconstructable, explodable barrels (can be deconned by builder, must be reconned within 30 sec, or builder blows up)

Possible new #2: (see whitebear's comment below) - deconstructible, non-destructible crates (can be deconned by a builder, must be reconned within 3 min, no more than 3 can be "carried", pops out automagically at three min time limit)?

re-edit'd (see ==Troy=='s reply to whitebear)

whitebear · « **Reply #71 on:** February 20, 2008, 04:59:51 pm »

I don't think the pushing thing is possible with the engine. Sure we could have them move like players but it would bring lag to smaller servers quite fast.

player1 · « **Reply #72 on:** February 20, 2008, 05:08:01 pm »

see edit above

thx

$:-\$

whitebear · « **Reply #73 on:** February 20, 2008, 05:20:18 pm »

But can't you do those with plain mapping?
Buildings always should have function. Otherwise we can just get some model from net and make bbox for it.

==Troy== · « **Reply #74 on:** February 20, 2008, 06:14:29 pm »

pushables are possible. Any destructible item IS an entity. No matter what it is, even brushes are entities. All buildables have extra checks for falling, it is possible to make similar thing for shifting. Quite simple to do a "kicking" where the object is pushed up a bit and in the direction of the kick, preventing any code for actually "sliding". And can be done server-side only, I doubt any pmove will be needed for non-client objects.

player1 · « **Reply #75 on:** February 20, 2008, 08:06:22 pm »

Quote from: player1 on February 20, 2008, 05:08:01 pm

see re-edit above

thx $:-\$

crazywhiteboy9x9 · « **Reply #76 on:** February 26, 2008, 04:34:42 am »

download link???

mooseberry · « **Reply #77 on:** February 26, 2008, 05:04:17 am »

Please read the thread you are replying to.

techhead · « **Reply #78 on:** May 15, 2008, 08:38:25 pm »

I have been recently struck with the inspiration to model and skin the alien race myself.
Animations will probably be easy as pie.
The will be kinda like fixed-gun hover-tanks, the only moving part will probably be the gun moving up and down, and I plan on making them segmented with different guns for different "production models"
Also appearing will be the factories, defenses, and mines.

If there is interest for someone to code the mod for me, I will then upload them for use in it. If not, I'll just post screenies when they are done, maybe a concept art preview.

Also, I have something else to say on the subject:
*Author Bump*

player1 · « **Reply #79 on:** May 16, 2008, 10:12:35 pm »

Yay!!!

doomagent13 · « **Reply #80 on:** May 17, 2008, 02:51:17 am »

Possibly the easiest way to code it would be to bring back the botlib. However, it would require .aas files to be made for every map.

cyrri · « **Reply #81 on:** May 18, 2008, 10:54:37 am »

botlib patch is here: http://www.mercenariesguild.net/patches/index.php?do=details&task_id=72
and generating aas files is trivial for most maps. here's an example bspc config that generates aas files tailored for dretches: www.soclose.de/misc/trem/trem_dretch.cfg
the phys_wallwalk line will not work with quake3's bspc.
how is your port of the brainworks bot going, are you still on it?

doomagent13 · « **Reply #82 on:** May 21, 2008, 02:30:26 pm »

...Umm...

It got as far as obtaining the source code... Once the school year is over, I think I will actually do some real work on it....

googles · « **Reply #83 on:** May 21, 2008, 09:05:13 pm »

what about if it acts like the hive missile..like it will move following an entity, if there is no entity or it is lost, it will move in random direction

techhead · « **Reply #84 on:** May 30, 2008, 09:28:04 pm »

A.I. has been done by people before, so applying it is the main coding hurdle, as well as world-owned buildings and 'players'.
I am doing all of this in my free time between gaming, including working on the models, working on the design scheme (textures), and learning how to use blender.
If someone expresses interest in working on the coding half of the project, please speak up. If I do get an accomplice in this, I will probably get the full set of models done within a month or two. I am not, however, going to both model and code this myself. Thus, if no one wants to do work on it, then the models will just be a pet project of mine.
But if anyone shows a shred of interest in working on it, then I can supply a rough guideline for the different classes and buildings.

I know a lot of people want to try this out, but that can't happen without any sort of code. You can use stand-in models on a project, but there's no such thing as stand-in code.

Redsky · « **Reply #85 on:** May 31, 2008, 07:32:12 pm »

Hmmm, good to see project going forward. Interesting, very interesting indeed. Ok, I lied - I just love it. Look forward to play

Now i would offer my help with making models/textures but i dont want to offend techhead who started doing it
(and im sure he can handle it). Im sorry, im completely useless in coding

Techhead, i have some experience* in using blender3d and if you need any help just write. I would be glad to give you a helping hand.
Keep on going!

_________________________________
*10230/25000 exp. Lvl. 23

techhead · « **Reply #86 on:** June 01, 2008, 05:51:56 pm »

Thanks for volunteering, I might need a second hand for the buildings later on.
Given the idea of swarm-bots, I'm going to keep the models fairly low poly, probably ~150 or less.

Samurai.mac · « **Reply #87 on:** June 01, 2008, 08:11:18 pm »

Obviously this model has far too many vertices to work as a game model, but in terms of design, would you be looking for something like this?

Le Compilateur · « **Reply #88 on:** June 01, 2008, 11:20:59 pm »

Just a suggestion, but I'd like to see a turret on caterpillar tracks. I like seeing absurd things.

Maybe a luci on four legs and a weak energy shield?

Oh and Samurai, +1 for the model. I would try smoothing the vertices though.

mooseberry · « **Reply #89 on:** June 01, 2008, 11:44:33 pm »

Nice try but it looks like a disabled person made it out of tin foil.

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Author Topic: Sentinel Robots (Read 53059 times)

.f0rqu3