source: trunk/AI Template/AI development manual.html

Last change on this file was 582, checked in by chronos, 6 months ago
  • Added: Latest Pascal AI template from original vesion 1.1.0 and adjusted it for Lazarus IDE.
File size: 51.4 KB
Line 
1<html>
2<head>
3<title>AI Development Manual</title>
4
5<style type="text/css">
6<!--
7h1 {font-size:20pt;font-family:Arial,Helvetica;color:#C00000;}
8h2 {font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,Helvetica;color:#C00000;}
9h3 {font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,Helvetica;font-weight:bold;color:#000000;}
10p {font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,Helvetica;color:#000000;}
11p.question {font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,Helvetica;font-weight:bold;color:#000000;}
12li {font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,Helvetica;color:#000000;}
13td {font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,Helvetica;color:#000000;vertical-align:top;}
14td.header {font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,Helvetica;color:#000000;background-color:#CCCCCC;vertical-align:top;}
15td.turntime {font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,Helvetica;color:#000000;background-color:#CCCCFF;vertical-align:top;}
16//-->
17</style>
18</head>
19<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#0000FF" vlink="#000080" alink="#FF0000">
20
21<h1>AI Development Manual</h1>
22
23<p>This is the documentation of the AI development kit that comes with the
24C-evo standard package. The kit is meant to be a starting point for
25developing your own AI module for C-evo. Please, always consider that the whole
26C-evo project is
27still in the course of development, which counts for this text as well. If you
28have ideas how to improve the content or the structure of this
29document, or in case you notice any problem or have a question,
30<a href="http://c-evo.org/_sg/contact">contact me</a>!
31There's also a <a href="http://c-evo.org/bb/viewforum.php?f=5">web forum</a> for
32C-evo AI developers.
33
34<p>The programming language of this kit is Pascal. In order to work with it,
35you need a Pascal compiler capable of generating cross-platform libraries:
36<ul>
37<li>Lazarus/FPC, see <a href="https://www.lazarus-ide.org/">lazarus-ide.org</a>.
38Download latest version for your platform.</li>
39</ul>
40
41<p>Note that using this kit is not the only way to make an AI for C-evo. You can
42alternatively build an AI DLL from the scratch using your programming
43language of choice. The DLL interface
44documentation is to be found <a href="http://c-evo.org/aidev.html">here</a>.
45There is also another, completely
46different AI template (using C++) available from the
47<a href="http://c-evo.org/files">files section</a> of the project homepage.
48
49<br><br><h3>Important</h3>
50<p>Trying to program a C-evo AI makes no sense if you don't have good
51knowledge in two fields:
52<ul>
53<li>C-evo
54<li>Programming
55</ul>
56
57<br><h3>Files of the Kit</h3>
58<p><ul>
59<li><i>AIProject.dpr</i> - The project. When using a command line compiler,
60compile this file. The code is tailor-made for
61CustomAI.pas, these two files are the heart of the kit and make sense only
62together.
63<li><i>CustomAI.pas</i> - Contains the class TCustomAI, which is the base class of
64your AI. It encapsulates the server communication. You don't need to
65change this class, but you have to know its interface well. This
66interface is the main subject of this manual!
67<li><i>Protocol.pas</i> - This source file is part of any C-evo related code module,
68even of the game itself. It defines common values and data structures.
69Don't change it!
70<li><i>Switches.pas</i> - Compiler switches which ensure correct and optimized
71compilation. If you add new files to your AI, I suggest to include this file.
72<li><i>AIProject.ai.txt</i> - A template for your AI description file, see <a href="#inst">Installing Your AI</a>.
73</ul>
74
75
76<br><h3>Debug and Release Version</h3>
77
78<p>The AI can be compiled in a debug or in a release version. The debug version
79does no optimization and adds several checks. It should be used during
80development. The release version of the AI contains only what is necessary for
81playing with it, thus being smaller and faster. The release version is the one
82that you should publish.
83
84<p>In Lazarus IDE, switch between Debug and Release by the <i>Build mode</i> drop down menu in the project
85settings.
86
87<br><br><h3>Concepts</h3>
88
89<p>First, you have to say goodbye to something that you're used to from playing
90the game: Names. For example, you can't define or even <i>find out</i> the names of your cities.
91The same counts for the names of your unit classes, not to speak of their
92pictures. This is because the game core does not support names.
93All objects are indentified by numbers only. Names and pictures are
94generated by the user interface in its own estimation, because humans like
95playing with names and pictures more than with numbers. AI likes numbers more,
96so be happy that you're spared by the names...
97
98<p>The source code files listed above are not meant to be edited.
99You're doing the
100AI implementation by creating a new unit <i>AI.pas</i> with a new class
101<i>TAI</i> derived from
102<i>TCustomAI</i>. (The names are fixed because AIProject.dpr relies on them.)
103Your class TAI has nothing to do but to override virtual methods of the
104base class by own implementations. You can choose which methods to override.
105Even if your class doesn't implement any
106method, the compiled AI works. (But, of course, does almost nothing.)
107
108<p>Each nation has its own AI object, so inside the TCustomAI and TAI classes
109it's all about only one nation. The whole AI module is capable of controlling
110more than one nation, but this is implemented by the kit infrastructure, you
111don't have to care for it.
112
113<p>Apart from that, the code is not object oriented. Units,
114unit classes (called <i>models</i>), cities and other items are not modelled
115as Object Pascal classes. Instead, the items of the game are identified by
116numbers (always zero-based) and managed in arrays of records.
117
118
119<br><br><h2>Playground Coordinates</h2>
120
121<p>You have to deal with three types of playground coordinates: location codes,
122(a,b)-coordinates and vicinity codes. A <i>location code</i> is a unique integer code for a tile.
123For example, you can use it to find the city that is located at a certain tile,
124or to find all units which are located inside a certain city (because they have
125the same location code as the city). All location
126codes in the range 0..MapSize-1 are valid, all other location
127codes are invalid. Whenever there is a field or parameter that refers to a single
128tile resp. location in the communication with the game, it contains a location code.
129
130<p>The other coordinate types are <i>relative</i>, they always relate
131to a base tile. This base tile can be chosen freely.
132<i>(a,b)-coordinates</i> are universal relative coordinates that are capable of addressing
133any other tile in relation to the base tile. Such a coordinate is a pair of
134two components, a and b, which both
135count the distance to the base tile. The a-component
136steps south-east and the b-component south-west:
137
138<p><img src="_aidev3.gif">
139
140<p>The base tile always has the (a,b)-coordinate <i>(0,0)</i>.
141
142<p>The other relative coordinates, <i>vicinity codes</i>, can only address the vicinity
143of the base tile. Vicinity codes are small integers.
144There are two subtypes: Vicinity-21 and Vicinity-8.
145Vicinity-21 codes contain the base tile and 20 surrounding tiles, in a shape
146equal to a city exploitation radius or to an enhanced unit visibility range.
147The vicinity has 21 tiles, they have codes in the range 1..26. The base tile
148has the code 13 (= constant <i>CityOwnTile</i>). One application of Vicinity-21
149is addressing tiles inside a city's exploitation radius - the city own tile is
150the base tile then. Sometimes, the codes
151are used as indices for bit arrays. For example, if the exploited tiles
152of a city are 11000000000010 (binary), this means that the city exploits the
153tiles with the Vicinity-21 codes 1, 12 and 13:
154
155<p><img src="_aidev4.gif">
156
157<p>Vicinity-8 codes are the most limited coordinates, they
158address only the 8 adjacent tiles of the base tile. The base tile
159itself has <i>no</i> Vicinity-8 code:
160
161<p><img src="_aidev5.gif">
162
163<p>(a,b)-coordinates and vicinity-8 codes are introduced by this kit in order
164to make AI programming
165easier. You must not use them, it's up to you which coordinate types to use in
166which AI calculation. However, they can be very
167valuable for AI algorithms that consider
168geographic neighbourhood and distances. The Sample AI contains several
169applications that you can take for examples.
170
171<p>The unit <i>CustomAI</i> provides some conversion functions between the
172different coordinate types:
173
174<p><i>procedure ab_to_Loc(Loc0,a,b: integer; var Loc: integer);</i>
175<br>This function calculates the location code of the tile which has the
176passed (a,b)-coordinates
177in relation to the base tile with location code Loc0.
178If there is no such tile because the relative coordinates are beyond the
179northern resp. southern end of the world, the code returned is less than 0 resp. greater than
180MapSize-1. The calculation respects the cylindrical world (no left or right end).
181
182<p><i>procedure Loc_to_ab(Loc0,Loc: integer; var a,b: integer);</i>
183<br>This function calculates the (a,b)-coordinates of the tile with
184location code <i>Loc</i>
185in relation to the base tile with location code Loc0.
186Because of the cylindrical world, this calculation is ambiguous. The function
187always returns the absolutely smallest possible values for a and b, e.g. (-1,1)
188instead of (lx-1,-lx+1).
189
190<p><i>procedure ab_to_V8(a,b: integer; var V8: integer);</i>
191<br>Converts an (a,b)-coordinate into a Vicinity-8 code.
192
193<p><i>procedure V8_to_ab(V8: integer; var a,b: integer);</i>
194<br>Converts a Vicinity-8 code into an (a,b)-coordinate.
195
196<p><i>procedure ab_to_V21(a,b: integer; var V21: integer);</i>
197<br>Converts an (a,b)-coordinate into a Vicinity-21 code.
198
199<p><i>procedure V21_to_ab(V21: integer; var a,b: integer);</i>
200<br>Converts a Vicinity-21 code into an (a,b)-coordinate.
201
202<p><i>procedure V8_to_Loc(Loc0: integer; var VicinityLoc: TVicinity8Loc);</i>
203<br>Returns the location codes of <i>all</i> tiles adjacent to the base tile
204at Loc0. The array index in VicinityLoc is the Vicinity-8 code. Tiles beyound
205a pole are indicated by an invalid location code.
206
207<p><i>procedure V21_to_Loc(Loc0: integer; var VicinityLoc: TVicinity21Loc);</i>
208<br>Returns the location codes of <i>all</i> tiles in the 21-tile vicinity
209of the base tile at Loc0. The array index in VicinityLoc is the
210Vicinity-21 code. Array indices which are not a valid Vicinity-21 code are set
211to an invalid location code. The same counts for tiles beyound a pole.
212
213
214<p><br><h2>The Overridables</h2>
215
216<p>There are three ways of control and information flow between the game and
217your AI: <i>Overridables</i>, <i>Functions</i> and the <i>ReadOnly-block</i>,
218described within this section and the following ones.
219
220<p>A few of the methods of TCustomAI are overridable. By overriding such a
221method, you can handle a call to your AI, for example the call to make your
222turn. Each overridable has already a default implementation in TCustomAI
223that remains
224effective if you do not override it in TAI. This default implementation
225does <i>nothing</i>.
226
227<p>The overridables <i>WantNegotiation</i> and <i>DoNegotiation</i> are
228described under <a href="#dip">Diplomacy</a>. Two others,
229<i>SetDataDefaults</i> and <i>SetDataRandom</i>, will be explained in the section
230<a href="#save">Saving Data</a>. Apart from those four, the overridables are:
231
232<p><table border cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3>
233<tr><td class="header">Overridable</td><td class="header">Event</td><td class="header">To do</td></tr>
234<tr><td class="turntime">DoTurn</td><td>It's your turn.</td>
235<td>Move units, manage cities etc.</td></tr>
236<tr><td class="turntime">ChooseResearchAdvance</td><td>Research completed.</td>
237<td>Return next advance to research. Prerequisites must be researched!
238Return -1 for random choice.
239If you return <i>adMilitary</i>, you must define the model to develop within this
240overridable.</td></tr>
241<tr><td class="turntime">ChooseStealAdvance</td><td>Enemy city captured while owning the Temple of Zeus.</td>
242<td>Return advance to steal from captured city. Return -1 for random choice.</td></tr>
243<tr><td class="turntime">ChooseGovernment</td><td>Anarchy is over.</td><td>Return desired new government form.</td></tr>
244<tr><td class="turntime">OnNegoRejected_CancelTreaty</td><td>Other nation has rejected your contact request. The <i>Opponent</i> field tells which nation that was.</td><td>Return <i>true</i> if you want to cancel the treaty that you have with this nation.</td></tr>
245<tr><td>OnBeforeEnemyAttack</td><td>Enemy unit will attack you. This unit is not necessarily in your enemy unit list, because it might be covered by a stronger unit at the same tile. Get information about the unit from the UnitInfo parameter of the overridable. Additional parameters also tell the exact outcome of the battle, although it has not yet happened.
246<br>This overridable is also called when enemies bombard one of your cities or expel a commando.</td><td>Whatever you like, but don't call in-turn functions.</td></tr>
247<tr><td>OnAfterEnemyAttack</td><td>Always follows to OnBeforeEnemyAttack. Attack has been performed now, either the attacking unit or your defender is destroyed. An attacked city might be destroyed.</td><td>Whatever you like, but don't call in-turn functions.</td></tr>
248<tr><td>OnBeforeEnemyCapture</td><td>Enemy unit is going to capture one of your cities. Capturing unit is already removed from origin tile, thus not in your enemy unit list, only specified by the UnitInfo parameter of the overridable. The city is still in your city list.</td><td>Whatever you like, but don't call in-turn functions.</td></tr>
249<tr><td>OnAfterEnemyCapture</td><td>Always follows to OnBeforeEnemyCapture. Capture has been performed now, city is destroyed or in enemy city list, unit is in enemy unit list and located at city tile.</td><td>Whatever you like, but don't call in-turn functions.</td></tr>
250</table>
251
252<p>The overridables marked blue are the <i>in-turn</i> overridables, only they can call in-turn functions.
253
254
255<p><br><h2>The Functions</h2>
256
257<p>Functions are the tools to implement the play of the nation,
258call them in order to give commands like moving a unit etc.
259Functions are methods declared by the base class TCustomAI.
260
261<p>Most of the functions return a server return code as result. These return
262codes are described in the file Protocol.pas. If this code doesn't have the <i>rExecuted</i> bit set,
263it's an error code, means the function has not been executed. Common
264server return codes are:
265<br><i>eNoTurn</i> - function can not be called from this overridable
266<br><i>eInvalid</i> - you have called the function with invalid parameters
267<br><i>eViolation</i> - function can't be executed, because this operation does
268not comply with the rules of the game
269<br><i>eNotChanged</i> - function was executed, but didn't change anything
270<br>Other return codes are function-specific and listed below.
271
272<p>All available functions are described in the tables below.
273Parameters are integers except where stated different.
274Most functions can only be called from in-turn overridables. These functions are
275marked blue in the table.
276
277
278<br><br><h3>General Functions</h3>
279<p><table border cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3>
280<tr><td class="header">Function</td><td class="header">Parameters</td><td class="header">Usage</td></tr>
281
282<tr><td>IsResearched</td><td>Advance</td>
283<td>Returns whether a specific advance is already
284researched or not. The function returns <i>false</i> also for advances that are
285traded from other nations but not researched yet (tsSeen).</td></tr>
286
287<tr><td>ResearchCost</td><td>-</td><td>Returns the research points necessary to complete the current research, independent on the points that are already collected (RO.Research).</td></tr>
288
289<tr><td>ChangeAttitude</td><td>Nation<br>Attitude</td><td>Change your nation's attitude to another nation.<br>Return code: eOK</td></tr>
290
291<tr><td class="turntime">Revolution</td><td>-</td><td>Do the revolution!<br>Return code: eOK</td></tr>
292
293<tr><td class="turntime">ChangeRates</td><td>Tax<br>Lux</td><td>Change tax and luxury rate, both must be multiples of 10.<br>Return code: eOK</td></tr>
294
295<tr><td class="turntime">PrepareNewModel</td><td>Domain</td><td>Prepares military research. Pass the domain of the new model that you want to develop.
296<br>Makes only sense from overridable <i>ChooseResearchAdvance</i>!<br>Return Codes: eOK, eNoPreq</td></tr>
297
298<tr><td class="turntime">SetNewModelFeature</td><td>Feature<br>Count</td><td>Lets you specify a feature or capacity of the new model that you want to develop. PrepareNewModel must have been called before in this turn! To turn on binary features like Stealth, pass 1 as count. The result of the change, including strength and cost, can be read from RO.DevModel.
299<br>Makes only sense from overridable <i>ChooseResearchAdvance</i>!<br>Return Codes: eOK, eNoModel, eNoPreq, eDomainMismatch</td></tr>
300
301<tr><td class="turntime">AdvanceResearchable</td><td>Advance</td><td>Returns true if the specified advanced can be researched now.<br>Makes only sense from overridable <i>ChooseResearchAdvance</i>!</td></tr>
302
303<tr><td class="turntime">AdvanceStealable</td><td>Advance</td><td>Returns true if the specified advanced can be stolen now.<br>Makes only sense from overridable <i>ChooseStealAdvance</i>!</td></tr>
304</table>
305
306
307<br><br><h3>Unit Functions</h3>
308<p>Most of these functions have an integer <i>uix</i> as first parameter.
309These functions can only be applied to one of your units, not to foreign
310ones. The uix
311parameter specifies the unit which to apply the function to and is not
312explicitely listed in the table below.
313<p><table border cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3>
314<tr><td class="header">Function (Unit_...)</td><td class="header">Parameters</td><td class="header">Usage</td></tr>
315
316<tr><td>FindMyDefender</td><td>Loc<br>var uix</td><td>Determines, which of your units would defend the tile with the specified location, when attacked. The unit index is returned in uix. It's a value &lt;0 when your nation has no units at this location.</td></tr>
317
318<tr><td>FindEnemyDefender</td><td>Loc<br>var euix</td><td>Determines, which enemy unit would defend the tile with the specified location, when attacked. The enemy unit index is returned in euix. It's a value &lt;0 when there is no known enemy unit at this location.</td></tr>
319
320<tr><td class="turntime">Move</td><td>ToLoc</td><td>Move unit to another tile, as fast as possible. Be aware that the unit can die during this operation due to hostile terrain. This is indicated by the function return code having the <i>rUnitRemoved</i> flag set.
321Usually, the unit is moved to the specified tile (ToLoc). Only in the following two situations, it's moved to the most convenient adjacent tile:
322<br>- ToLoc is occupied by a unit of another nation
323<br>- an undefended foreign city is at ToLoc, but the unit is not able to capture cities
324<br>So you can also use this function in preparation of attacks, bombardments and covert operations.
325<br>If it takes more than one turn to reach the destination, the unit starts movement but will not remember the destination in the next turn. You have to call Unit_Move again in each turn, until the unit reaches the destination tile.
326The return code <i>eNoWay</i> tells that the unit can not at all move there on its own.
327<br>If formerly unknown foreign units or cities appear along the way, the function stops immediately, even if the destination is not reached yet.
328<br>Alternatively to a location code, you can pass <i>maNextCity</i> as destination, which causes the unit to move to the nearest of your cities.
329<br>Return codes (complete move done): eOK+rLocationReached, eOK+rMoreTurns, eEnemySpotted+rLocationReached, eEnemySpotted+rMoreTurns, eLoaded+rLocationReached, eLoaded+rMoreTurns
330<br>Return codes (move not or not completely done): eNoWay, eEnemySpotted, eDied, eEnemySpotted_Died, eHiddenUnit, eStealthUnit, eZOC_EnemySpotted, eNoCapturer</td></tr>
331
332<tr><td class="turntime">Attack</td><td>ToLoc</td><td>Let the unit attack an enemy unit, bombard an enemy city or expel a commando at the specified <i>adjacent</i> tile.
333<br>Return codes: eLost, eWon, eBloody, eBombarded, eExpelled, eHiddenUnit, eStealthUnit, eNoTime_Attack, eNoTime_Bombard, eNoTime_Expel, eDomainMismatch, eTreaty, eNoBombarder</td></tr>
334
335<tr><td class="turntime">DoMission</td><td>MissionType<br>ToLoc</td><td>Let special commando do covert operation in <i>adjacent</i> foreign city at ToLoc.
336<br>Return codes: eMissionDone, eNoTime_Move, eTreaty</td></tr>
337
338<tr><td class="turntime">MoveForecast</td><td>ToLoc<br>var&nbsp;RemainingMovement</td><td>Calculates the movement points the unit would have left for the current turn after moving to ToLoc. Returns false if the unit can't reach this tile within the turn.</td></tr>
339
340<tr><td class="turntime">AttackForecast</td><td>ToLoc<br>AttackMovement<br>var&nbsp;RemainingHealth</td><td>Calculates the health that the unit would have left after attacking the enemy unit at ToLoc. The movement points left for the attack must be specified, values &lt;100 reduce the attack power. If the attacker would be lost, the calculated health value is the negative remaining health of the defender.
341<br>Returning false indicates that this unit can't attack there.</td></tr>
342
343<tr><td class="turntime">DefenseForecast</td><td>euix<br>ToLoc<br>var&nbsp;RemainingHealth</td><td>Calculates the health that the defender at ToLoc would have left after an attack of the enemy unit with index <i>euix</i> in the enemy unit list. If the defender would be lost, the calculated health value is the negative remaining health of the attacker.
344<br>Returning false indicates that this unit can't attack there.</td></tr>
345
346<tr><td class="turntime">Disband</td><td>-</td><td>Disband the unit. If it's located in a city with a project it can be utilized for, utilize it.
347<br>Return codes: eUtilized, eRemoved</td></tr>
348
349<tr><td class="turntime">StartJob</td><td>NewJob</td><td>Let settlers start/change terrain improvement job. Pass <i>jNone</i> to cancel the current job only. Be aware that the unit can die during this operation due to hostile terrain. This is indicated by the function return code having the <i>rUnitRemoved</i> flag set.
350<br>Return Codes: eOK, eDied, eJobDone, eJobDone_Died, eCity, eNoPreq, eTreaty, eDeadLands, eNoCityTerrain, eNoBridgeBuilding</td></tr>
351
352<tr><td class="turntime">SetHomeHere</td><td>-</td><td>Change the home city of the unit to the city it's located in.<br>Return code: eOK</td></tr>
353
354<tr><td class="turntime">Load</td><td>-</td><td>Load the unit to a transport unit at the same tile.<br>Return codes: eOK, eNoTime_Load, eNoLoadCapacity</td></tr>
355
356<tr><td class="turntime">Unload</td><td>-</td><td>Unload the unit from its transport.<br>Return codes: eOK, eNoTime_Load, eDomainMismatch</td></tr>
357
358<tr><td class="turntime">SelectTransport</td><td>-</td><td>Prefer this transport when loading units. Voids any former call to this function.<br>Return codes: eOK</td></tr>
359
360<tr><td class="turntime">AddToCity</td><td>-</td><td>Add settlers, slaves or conscripts to the city they're located in.<br>Return codes: eOK, eMaxSize</td></tr>
361
362</table>
363
364
365<br><br><h3>City Functions</h3>
366<p>Most of these functions have an integer <i>cix</i> as first parameter.
367These functions can only be applied to one of your cities, not to foreign
368ones. The cix parameter specifies the city which to apply the function to
369and is not explicitely listed in the table below.
370<p><table border cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3>
371<tr><td class="header">Function (City_...)</td><td class="header">Parameters</td><td class="header">Usage</td></tr>
372
373<tr><td>FindMyCity</td><td>Loc<br>var cix</td><td>Find the city at the specified location. The city index is returned in cix. It's a value &lt;0 when your nation has no city at this location.</td></tr>
374
375<tr><td>FindEnemyCity</td><td>Loc<br>var ecix</td><td>Find enemy city at the specified location. The enemy city index is returned in ecix. It's a value &lt;0 when there is no known enemy city at this location.</td></tr>
376
377<tr><td>HasProject</td><td>-</td><td>Returns true whenever the city is producing something different from trade goods.</td></tr>
378
379<tr><td>CurrentImprovementProject</td><td>-</td><td>Returns the city improvement, national project or wonder that is currently in production. If the city is producing a unit or trade goods, the function returns a value &lt;0.</td></tr>
380
381<tr><td>CurrentUnitProject</td><td>-</td><td>Returns the model index of the unit that is currently in production. If the city is not producing a unit, the function returns a value &lt;0.</td></tr>
382
383<tr><td class="turntime">GetTileInfo</td><td>TileLoc<br>var TileInfo: TTileInfo</td>
384<td>Fills the fields of TileInfo with the resource production of this tile when it would be exploited by this city.<br>Return code: eOK</td></tr>
385
386<tr><td class="turntime">GetReport</td><td>var Report: TCityReport</td>
387<td>Get a detailed report of this city. (Similar to what a player sees on the city screen.) The information is returned in the fields of <i>Report</i>:
388<br><i>Working</i> - number of working citizens
389<br><i>Happy</i> - number of happy citizens, can be higher than number of working citizens if more working citizens would be happy
390<br><i>FoodRep, ProdRep, Trade</i> - total per turn collected food, material and trade points after improvement effects
391<br><i>PollRep</i> - pollution
392<br><i>Corruption, Tax, Lux, Science</i> - corruption, tax, luxury and science output of city
393<br><i>Support, Eaten</i> - production and food taken for citizens and unit support
394<br><i>Storage</i> - size of food storage
395<br><i>Deployed</i> - number of deployed units
396<br>Return code: eOK</td></tr>
397
398<tr><td class="turntime">GetHypoReport</td><td>HypoTiles<br>HypoTax<br>HypoLux<br>var Report: TCityReport</td>
399<td>Same as City_GetReport, but hypothecial: Report as if the city would exploit different
400tiles, and if tax and luxury rates were different.
401<br>Calling City_GetHypoReport(cix, MyCity[cix].Tiles, RO.TaxRate, RO.LuxRate) results in the same report as City_GetReport.</td></tr>
402
403<tr><td class="turntime">GetAreaInfo</td><td>var AreaInfo: TCityAreaInfo</td><td>Fills AreaInfo with availability information about all tiles in the exploitation radius of the city. Index in AreaInfo.Available is the Vicinity-21 code.<br>Return code: eOK</td></tr>
404
405<tr><td class="turntime">StartUnitProduction</td><td>mix</td><td>Change city's project to a unit with the specified model index.<br>Return code: eOK</td></tr>
406
407<tr><td class="turntime">StartEmigration</td><td>mix<br>AllowDisbandCity: boolean<br>AsConscripts: boolean</td><td>Same as StartUnitProduction, but additionally allows producing conscripts and/or disbanding the city.</td></tr>
408
409<tr><td class="turntime">StartImprovement</td><td>iix</td><td>Change city's project to city improvement, national project or wonder.<br>Return codes: eOK, eNoPreq, eObsolete</td></tr>
410
411<tr><td class="turntime">Improvable</td><td>iix</td><td>Returns true if this improvement, national project or wonder can be built in this city. This includes the check if this improvement already exists in this city (resp. in the world in case of a wonder).</td></tr>
412
413<tr><td class="turntime">StopProduction</td><td>-</td><td>Cancel the city's project, change the collected material to money and let the city produce trade goods instead.<br>Return code: eOK</td></tr>
414
415<tr><td class="turntime">BuyProject</td><td>-</td><td>Buy the city's project, so that it's complete the next turn.<br>Return codes: eOK, eOutOfControl</td></tr>
416
417<tr><td class="turntime">SellImprovement</td><td>iix</td><td>Sell the specified city improvement or national project.<br>Return codes: eOK, eOutOfControl, eOnlyOnce</td></tr>
418
419<tr><td class="turntime">RebuildImprovement</td><td>iix</td><td>Rebuild the specified city improvement or national project for the building currently in production.<br>Return codes: eOK, eOutOfControl, eOnlyOnce</td></tr>
420
421<tr><td class="turntime">SetTiles</td><td>NewTiles</td><td>Set tiles to exploit by a city. The parameter <i>NewTiles</i> is a bit array with the Vicinity-21 code as index. Currently unexploited tiles with 1-bits will be exploited, currently exploited tiles with 0-bits will be unexploited.
422<br>This function does not work partially. If not all tiles can be set as requested, the function does nothing and returns an error.<br>Return codes: eOK, eTileNotAvailable, eNoWorkerAvailable</td></tr>
423
424<tr><td class="turntime">OptimizeTiles</td><td>ResourceWeights</td><td>Optimize the exploitation of tiles in the city area. Food supply and unit support are ensured, if possible.
425Extra food, material, tax and science are maximized according to the parameter, which can be one of the values below "resource weights" in Protocol.pas. The optimization also works in connection with Luxury or Michelangelo's Chapel.</td></tr>
426
427</table>
428
429
430<br><br><h3>Negotiation Functions</h3>
431<p><table border cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3>
432<tr><td class="header">Function</td><td class="header">Parameters</td><td class="header">Usage</td></tr>
433<tr><td>Nego_CheckMyAction</td><td>-</td><td>Lets you check whether the currently set MyAction/MyOffer is valid. The return value does not contain the <i>rExecuted</i> flags if not.<br>Only allowed from overridable <i>DoNegotiation</i>!</td></tr>
434</table>
435
436
437<a name="debug"></a>
438<br><br><h3>Development Support Functions</h3>
439<p><table border cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3>
440<tr><td>DebugMessage</td><td>Level<br>Text: string</td><td>Display an AI debug message. Note that debug messages are turned off by default. Open the debug message popup menu with a right mouse click into the AI debug message window, choose there which message levels to display.</td></tr>
441<tr><td>SetDebugMap</td><td>var DebugMap</td><td>Set a map of debug numbers, one for each tile. In the game, you can turn the number display on using the menu. The values are directly read from the array (32 bit) passed to this function everytime the map display is updated, means you only have to call this function once.<br>Never set the debug map to a local variable, only to memory that lives as long as your AI, e.g. fields of the AI object.</td></tr>
442</table>
443
444
445<p><br><h2>The ReadOnly-Block</h2>
446
447<p>The TCustomAI class contains a field <i>RO</i>, which is a pointer to a
448complex data structure. This data structure contains a lot of information
449about your nation and its view of the world. This is an important source of
450information for you, but it is read-only! The data is managed by the game,
451so please never change it directly by writing it. This would
452mean to cheat! This counts for all structures and fields pointed directly or
453indirectly by RO, as well as for the fields <i>Map</i>, <i>MyUnit</i>,
454<i>MyCity</i> and <i>MyModel</i> of
455the AI class, which are actually nothing but shortcuts for parts of RO.
456The only exception to the read-only rule are the fields <i>Data</i>
457and <i>Status</i>, which are described under <a href="#save">Saving Data</a>.
458
459<p>The data structure which the RO pointer refers to has the type
460<i>TPlayerContext</i>, defined in the file <i>Protocol.pas</i>.
461Please see this file for the definition details of this structure and the
462structures that are pointed to from it. The fields of these structures are
463commented inside the Protocol.pas.
464
465<br><br><h3>Unit and City Lists: Beware of Gaps!</h3>
466<p>The unit and city lists (MyUnit/RO.Un, MyCity/RO.City, RO.EnemyUn,
467RO.EnemyCity) might have gaps, means non-existing objects at an array position
468between existing objects. Such non-existing objects are indicated by a
469Location &lt;0. Commands will not work for them. Furthermore, the
470items in these lists might change their position within the list
471whenever the server prepares your turn. So you can <i>not</i>
472identify cities and units of former turns by their array index! (You could
473use their ID instead.) The enemy units might even
474change their indices while the enemies are moving. However, indices never
475change while your AI is processing an overridable.
476
477
478<br><br><h3>The Map</h3>
479<p>The playground map information (AI.Map or AI.RO.Map) is represented
480as a list of 32-bit values. The value at array index x provides information
481about the tile at location x. In order to save memory, several blocks of bits
482of these 32-bit values are used for different purpose. Means,
483you can <i>not</i> use the 32-bit value of a tile directly, you always have to
484extract the bits containing the information that you need. You're doing this
485by applying an AND operation with the appropriate bit mask or single flag to the value.
486The table below shows the bit structure of the map values in detail
487and gives some examples of usage:
488
489<p><table border cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3>
490<tr><td class="header">Bits</td><td class="header">Bit mask/flag</td><td class="header">Content</td><td class="header">Example of usage: test whether tile at location...</td></tr>
491<tr><td>0..4</td><td>fTerrain</td>
492 <td>terrain type if tile is already discovered,<br>fUNKNOWN if not</td>
493 <td>...is ground tile:<br><i>if (Map[Loc] and fTerrain)>=fGrass</i></td></tr>
494<tr><td>5..6</td><td>fSpecial</td>
495 <td>1 or 2 if tile has special resource,<br>0 if not</td>
496 <td>...is a wheat tile:
497 <br><i>if ((Map[Loc] and fTerrain)=fPrairie) and ((Map[Loc] and fSpecial)=fSpecial1)</i>
498 <br>or shorter:
499 <br><i>if (Map[Loc] and (fTerrain or fSpecial))=(fPrairie or fSpecial1)</i></td></tr>
500<tr><td>7</td><td>fRiver</td><td>river</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
501<tr><td>8</td><td>fRoad</td><td>road</td>
502 <td rowspan=2>...has road or railroad:<br><i>if (Map[Loc] and (fRoad or fRR))<>0</i></td></tr>
503<tr><td>9</td><td>fRR</td><td>railroad</td></tr>
504<tr><td>10</td><td>fCanal</td><td>canal</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
505<tr><td>11</td><td>fPoll</td><td>pollution</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
506<tr><td>12..15</td><td>fTerImp</td>
507 <td>terrain improvement code if tile has<br>Irrigation, Farm, Mine, Fort or Base,<br>tiNone if not</td>
508 <td>...has fort:<br><i>if (Map[Loc] and fTerImp)=tiFort</i></td></tr>
509<tr><td>16</td><td>fGrWall</td><td>tile is protected by great wall</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
510<tr><td>17</td><td>fSpiedOut</td><td>enemy city resp. enemy unit stack has been investigated by a special commando or spy plane</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
511<tr><td>18</td><td>fStealthUnit</td><td>tile is occupied by enemy stealth plane</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
512<tr><td>19</td><td>fHiddenUnit</td><td>tile is occupied by enemy submarine</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
513<tr><td>20</td><td>fObserved</td><td>tile information is from this turn</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
514<tr><td>21</td><td>fOwned</td><td>unit/city here is own one</td>
515 <td rowspan=3>...has foreign unit:
516 <br><i>if ((Map[Loc] and fUnit)<>0) and ((Map[Loc] and fOwned)=0)</i>
517 <br>or shorter:
518 <br><i>if (Map[Loc] and (fUnit or fOwned))=fUnit</i></td></tr>
519<tr><td>22</td><td>fUnit</td><td>unit present</td></tr>
520<tr><td>23</td><td>fCity</td><td>city present</td></tr>
521<tr><td>24</td><td>fDeadLands</td><td>dead lands</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
522<tr><td>25..26</td><td>fModern</td>
523 <td>fCobalt, fUranium or fMercury,<br>0 if no modern resource</td>
524 <td>...has a modern resource:<br><i>if (Map[Loc] and fModern)<>0</i></td></tr>
525<tr><td>28</td><td>fOwnZoCUnit</td><td>own ZoC unit present at this tile</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
526<tr><td class="turntime">29</td><td class="turntime">fInEnemyZoC</td><td>tile is in zone of control of known unit of foreign nation that you're not allied with
527 <br>this information is only valid during your own turn</td>
528 <td>test whether at least one of two tiles is not in foreign zone of control:
529 <br><i>if ((Map[Loc1] and fEnemyControl)=0) or ((Map[Loc2] and fEnemyControl)=0)</i>
530 <br>or shorter:
531 <br><i>if (Map[Loc1] and Map [Loc2] and fEnemyControl)=0</i></td></tr>
532<tr><td class="turntime">30</td><td class="turntime">fPeace</td><td>tile belongs to territory of nation that you're in peace with but not allied
533 <br>this information is only valid during your own turn</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
534</table>
535
536<p>Concerning terrain types, note that there are small differences between the
537software internal and the player view. <i>Jungle</i> and <i>Forest</i> are the same
538internally, named forest. <i>Plains</i> do not exist as terrain type, they are grassland with a
539special resource of type 1 (fSpecial1). <i>Dead Lands</i> also not exist as
540terrain type. They always have the terrain type <i>Desert</i>, also having the same
541properties as desert in every aspect, except that settlers can't work there.
542To distinguish dead land tiles from desert, these tiles have the <i>fDeadLands</i>
543flag set. The special resources of dead lands (modern resources) are specified
544by the fModern bits, while the fSpecial bits are always 0.
545
546
547<a name="dip"></a>
548<p><br><h2>Diplomacy</h2>
549
550<p>The diplomacy implementation of an AI based on this kit has two parts. One part (overridable
551<i>WantNegotiation</i>) is the decision whether to contact another nation or
552not. This overridable is called by the kit framework for each known foreign nation
553in the beginning of your turn (before DoTurn) and again in the end of your turn
554(after DoTurn). The <i>NegoTime</i> parameter tells you which case it is.
555You should return <i>true</i> if you wish to ask this nation for
556negotiation. For
557example, if you'd like to contact Enemy <i>p</i> after moving your units, return
558<i>false</i> from <i>WantNegotiation(p,BeginOfTurn)</i> but <i>true</i> from
559<i>WantNegotiation(p,EndOfTurn)</i>. The kit does not support negotiations in
560the middle of your turn. The third possible value of the NegoTime parameter,
561<i>EnemyCalled</i>, tells that the other nation is asking you for contact,
562means it's their turn, not yours. With the EnemyCalled parameter, this is not an
563in-turn overridable, otherwise it is.
564
565<p>The second part of your diplomacy implementation is the negotiation
566(overridable <i>DoNegotiation</i>). Negotiations are built around making and
567accepting offers. An offer contains
568prices which will be delivered when the offer gets accepted as well as prices
569which have to be paid in order to accept the offer. Each price is represented
570by a 32 bit code, depending on its kind:
571
572<p><table border cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3>
573<tr><td class="header">Price</td><td class="header">Code</td></tr>
574<tr><td>Your nation's state report</td><td>opCivilReport + me shl 16</td></tr>
575<tr><td>Opponent's state report</td><td>opCivilReport + Opponent shl 16</td></tr>
576<tr><td>Your nation's military report</td><td>opMilReport + me shl 16</td></tr>
577<tr><td>Opponent's military report</td><td>opMilReport + Opponent shl 16</td></tr>
578<tr><td>World map</td><td>opMap</td></tr>
579<tr><td>Next closer treaty</td><td>opTreaty + tr+1, tr = current treaty</td></tr>
580<tr><td>End current treaty</td><td>opTreaty + tr-1, tr = current treaty</td></tr>
581<tr><td>Colony Ship Parts</td><td>opShipParts + t shl 16 + n, t = part type, n = number</td></tr>
582<tr><td>Money</td><td>opMoney + v, v = value</td></tr>
583<tr><td>Tribute</td><td>opTribute + v, v = value</td></tr>
584<tr><td>Advance</td><td>opTech + ad, ad = advance</td></tr>
585<tr><td>All advances</td><td>opAllTech</td></tr>
586<tr><td>Unit design</td><td>opModel + mix, mix = model index</td></tr>
587<tr><td>All unit designs</td><td>opAllModel</td></tr>
588<tr><td>Price of choice</td><td>opChoose</td></tr>
589</table>
590
591<p>Offering to deliver things you do not have is not allowed. Also, offers containing
592more than one treaty price are not possible. But even if an offer is
593allowed, it is not necessarily useful, for example demanding a price of choice.
594Please consider that offers the opponent does not understand are wasted, because
595he will never accept them.
596
597<p>Offers are represented by data records of the type <i>TOffer</i>, containing these fields:
598<br><i>nDeliver</i> - number of prices delivered if offer is accepted
599<br><i>nCost</i> - number of prices required to pay to accept this offer
600<br><i>Price</i> - codes of the prices delivered in [0..nDeliver-1],
601codes of the prices to pay in [nDeliver..nDeliver+nCost-1]
602<br>An offer can not contain more than 12 prices in total.
603
604<p>A special kind of offers are null-offers, containing no prices. Such an offer
605means the player has no more offers to make for this negotiation. If null-offers
606of both players immediately follow one another, the negotiation ends in agreement
607(in contrast to one player breaking it).
608
609<p>DoNegotiation has no parameters, you can
610read the negotiation opponent and his last action from the fields
611<i>Opponent</i> and <i>OppoAction</i> of the AI. In case his action was an
612offer, the field <i>OppoOffer</i> is valid additionally. Your DoNegotiation
613implementation must define your next negotiation action in the field <i>MyAction</i>.
614If it's an offer, you should fill the field <i>MyOffer</i>, too. After
615DoNegotiation ended, the game will call the other nation and then, maybe, call
616DoNegotiation again, with the field OppoAction now filled
617with the other nation's response. See the Sample AI for an example of usage.
618
619<p>The negotiation actions are:
620<p><table border cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3>
621<tr><td class="header">Action</td><td class="header">Usage</td><td class="header">Valid as MyAction if OppoAction is...</td></tr>
622<tr><td>scDipStart</td><td>-</td><td>Never! This is the OppoAction, when the negotiation starts and the opponent didn't have the chance to speak yet.</td></tr>
623<tr><td>scDipOffer</td><td>Make offer. Always fill the <i>MyOffer</i> field when you set this action.</td><td>scDipStart, scDipOffer, scDipAccept, scDipNotice</td></tr>
624<tr><td>scDipAccept</td><td>Accept opponent's offer.</td><td>scDipOffer</td></tr>
625<tr><td>scDipNotice</td><td>Notice latest opponent decision.</td><td>scDipCancelTreaty, scDipBreak</td></tr>
626<tr><td>scDipCancelTreaty</td><td>Cancel current treaty with opponent.</td><td>any</td></tr>
627<tr><td>scDipBreak</td><td>Break negotiation (unagreed).</td><td>any except scDipBreak</td></tr>
628</table>
629
630
631<a name="save"></a>
632<p><br><h2>Saving Data</h2>
633
634<p>Like most other games, C-evo offers the player to break a game, save it and
635resume it later from the saved file. If your AI has information that it
636collects in order to use it in later turns, this information would normally be
637lost after breaking and reloading the game. In particular, all information
638that you store
639in local memory, e.g. in fields of the AI object, is <i>undefined</i> in the
640beginning of a turn, because the game could have been loaded from a file
641right before. You should check your AI object occasionally whether you're
642trying to transport information from turn to turn with it. If so, this will
643probably fail as soon as a game is saved and resumed. (BTW, the same rule counts
644for base classes like TCustomAI and TToolAI. Just in case you intend to modify
645them.)
646
647<p>There are only a few cases in which data exchange between subsequent
648overridables using local memory in the AI is safe:
649<ul>
650<li>between <i>OnBefore...</i> and <i>OnAfter...</i>
651<li>between subsequent <i>DoNegotiation</i> calls during negotiation with a single opponent
652<li>between in-turn overridables during a single turn
653</ul>
654
655<p>The C-evo AI interface offers two ways to make storing long-term information
656possible: <i>Status</i> fields and the <i>ReadWrite</i>-block.
657
658<br><br><h3>Status Fields</h3>
659
660<p>Status fields are easy to use. Units, cities and models of your nation have
661a field <i>Status</i>, enemy cities have it too. It's not used by the game and
662exists only for the needs of AI programming. You can simply write
663information to these fields and rely on it any number of turns later. When
664resuming a saved game,
665the game infrastructure will automatically restore the values that were
666actual in the year in which the game is loaded.
667But it's only 32 bit, so consider carefully what to do with them...
668
669<p>The status of newly appearing objects is always initialized with 0. This
670happens also when a city is captured, means when an enemy city becomes an
671own city or vice versa. The status content is lost then, it's not copied to the
672new city object in the other list. (Of course, if this is a problem for your
673AI, you can implement <i>OnBeforeEnemyCapture / OnAfterEnemyCapture</i>
674so that it's solved.)
675
676<br><br><h3>The ReadWrite-Block</h3>
677
678<p>In order to collect information that is not related to units, cities or
679models, e.g. general information about foreign nations, you should use the
680ReadWrite block. This is a freely definable collection of information that
681has to be maintained by the AI and is being restored just like the Status fields
682whenever a saved game is resumed. Define a record type for the structure of
683this block, and,
684in the initialization section of AI.pas, assign the size of this structure
685(in bytes) to <i>RWDataSize</i>. The game will allocate the memory for this
686data structure and pass the pointer to it in the <i>Data</i> field of the
687ReadOnly-block.
688
689<p>However, the ReadWrite-block is pretty small: The maximum size is 4096 Bytes.
690So you should only save there what you can't calculate from other information.
691(The limitation has to do with the size of saved C-evo books. Since the changes
692must be saved in each turn, even 4k of information can cause huge book files.)
693
694<p>There are two overridables related to the ReadWrite-block.
695
696<p><i>SetDataDefaults</i>
697<br>Initialize the ReadWrite-block here. This initialization must not depend
698on anything but the map size and the values from the ReadOnly-block.
699Particularly, you should not generate random values here, because this
700overridable is also executed
701when resuming a saved game - random values would not be generated in the same
702way as before.
703
704<p><i>SetDataRandom</i>
705<br>Well, if you <i>have</i> random values to set in the beginning of a game
706(e.g. basic orientation of behavior), do this here. This overridable is called
707after SetDataDefaults, when a new game is started. When loading games, it is
708<i>not</i> executed - the values generated here before are being restored instead.
709
710<p>The kit does not yet support updates of the ReadWrite-block. If you change
711the structure of the data, loading games that were initially played with an older
712version of your AI will cause problems.
713
714
715<p><br><h2>Cheating</h2>
716
717<p>I don't have the time for any effort to make the AI interface
718swindler proof. The game's internal memory is wide open for AI DLLs to read and
719even to write, leaving several ways to cheat. Some of
720them will lead to corrupted books, e.g. simple writing to RO data. Other
721tricks work fine, technically. For example, a nation can calculate the
722addresses of the other nation's RO blocks and read information from there, such
723as current unit positions. If you'd like to make use of these <i>monster
724security leaks</i>, I cannot
725prevent you from that, but please don't call the result a C-evo AI.
726
727
728<a name="inst"></a>
729<p><br><h2>Installing Your AI</h2>
730
731<p>There are some steps necessary in order to make the game recognize and use
732your AI. First, you should choose a name for your AI - let's take <i>MyAI</i>
733as example. Modify the file names, project
734settings or compiler command line options so that the AI DLL has the name
735<i>MyAI.dll</i> instead of <i>AIProject.dll</i>.
736
737<p>Then you need an AI description
738file, this is a small text file. The kit contains a template, the file
739<i>AIProject.ai.txt</i>. Rename it to <i>MyAI.ai.txt</i>, move it to the
740folder where the cevo.exe is located and edit it.
741An AI description file can contain the following statements, each on the
742beginning of a separate line (take care for the capitals!):
743<ul>
744<li>#NAME s - If the name of your AI is different from the file name.
745<li>#PATH s - Path of the DLL, relative to the main C-evo directory. If this line
746does not exist, the path "MyAI.dll" is expected. So you can develop the AI
747DLL in any folder. However, in case you publish
748the AI, change the PATH entry so that it expects the DLL in the main C-evo
749folder, because anything else would make it too difficult for players to
750install your AI.
751<li>#GAMEVERSION i.i.i - lowest C-evo version number that this AI works with,
752should be 1.0.0 when the AI was built with this kit. This line is a MUST.
753<li>#CREDITS s - A line telling your name or whatever you like.
754This information will be displayed on the credits screen whenever the AI is in use.
755</ul>
756
757<p>It's also possible (and appreciated) to create a picture for an AI, to represent
758it on the start screen. This picture must have a size
759of 64x64 pixels and be present as <i>MyAI.bmp</i> in the main C-evo folder.
760
761
762<p><br><h2>Publishing Your AI</h2>
763
764<p>If you'd like to make the AI public, simply upload it to the
765<a href="http://c-evo.org/files">files section</a> of the project homepage.
766But please, only do this if you invested a considerable amount of work.
767Do <i>not</i> publish the Sample AI after you changed three lines of code in
768it...
769
770
771<p><br><h2>The Sample AI</h2>
772
773<p>The kit contains a sample AI demonstrating some unit movement, city management
774and simple diplomacy. This code is made for demonstration, so in contrast to the
775kit files, it's no infrastructure for development, means it does not have a settled
776interface. Be aware of that! Of course, you can use the Sample AI as starting
777point for AI development, or you can copy parts of it to your AI. But when
778future versions of C-evo come with an improved version of the Sample
779AI, your AI does not automatically benefit from this. You only
780have the option then to merge the changes manually.
781
782<p><b>Files of the Sample AI</b>
783<p><ul><li><i>AI.pas</i> - This is the actual top-level AI code.
784It is not mainly made to make up a
785strong AI but to demonstrate the kit system and the usage of the lower level units.
786<li><i>ToolAI.pas</i> - Contains a few advanced tools for AI programming. Their usage
787is documented in the unit interface code, you don't need to understand how they
788are implemented. If you like, this gives you a ready-to-use solution for some common problems.
789<li><i>Names.pas</i> - String constants for improvements, advances etc. (for easier debugging).
790<li><i>Pile.pas</i> - A unit with a universal priority queue implementation that
791is used by the Sample AI.
792</ul>
793
794<p>The Sample AI also shows a possibility to structure AI code built with this kit:
795By making the TAI class not base directly on TCustomAI but introducing
796intermediate class layer(s).
797
798
799<p><br><h2>FAQ</h2>
800
801<p class="question">Q1. The rules of the game are not exactly specified.
802I need more information than what is written in the manual.
803<p>Answer: Sometimes an AI programmer needs very exact information about
804calculations or about the behavior of the game in special situations. This exact
805information often is
806not contained in the in-game manual, because this manual is for <i>players</i>.
807Players usually don't need and don't want that precision overkill. If you need more
808information, please ask me or go to the <a href="http://c-evo.org/bb/viewforum.php?f=5">AI forum</a>.
809(Or maybe try to analyze the sources of the game...)
810
811<br><br><p class="question">Q2. How can my AI...
812<ul>
813<li>...select a unit?
814<li>...order the unit command <i>stay here</i> or <i>recover</i>?
815<li>...recognize free citizens?
816<li>...mark models to be obsolete?
817<li>...access the macro management (city types, research focus, terrain enhancement)?
818</ul>
819<p>Answer: All of these things are not part of the actual game. The user interface
820implements these mechanisms in order to make the game better playable by human
821players. If you think something similar could be helpful in your AI, you must
822implement it. The means described in this manual are enough for that.
823
824<br><br><p class="question">Q3. How can I debug my AI?
825<p>Answer:
826<ul>
827<li>In <i>FreePascal</i>, I cannot help you. Seems to me that there is no way to debug
828a Windows DLL with the available FreePascal and GNU utilities. (If you know one,
829please let me know!) I'm afraid, you'll have to use <a href="#debug">debug
830messages</a> or implement a kind of logfile for debugging.</li>
831</ul>
832
833<p><br>
834
835</body>
836</html>
837
Note: See TracBrowser for help on using the repository browser.