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Microwave

The long-awaited Microwave by MicroDK was uploaded today. Congratulations to MicroDK on an outstanding start, 11-4 as I write including a win over #1 Iron.

One of Microwave’s favorite moves seems to be walking a line of sunkens toward its ramp. It’s kind of cute, and I imagine it’s effective against many bots.

Though Microwave is a fork of Steamhammer 1.0, it seems to borrow some behaviors from later Steamhammer versions too. I noticed that it made 2 evolution chambers but only used 1 of them, a UAlbertaBot limitation. I mentioned the fix to that problem in a comment to AIL, but let me bring it out front: In ProductionManager::getProducer(), add the lines

		if (unit->isUpgrading())   { continue; }
		if (unit->isResearching()) { continue; }

alongside the similar checks.

It also seemed to stumble into bunker range. Steamhammer 1.1 and later do that less often because they understand the range of a bunker. I don’t think of it as a bug fix; it swaps one poor behavior for another that is usually less bad. In Squad::needsToRegroup() where it calculates range, I changed the call to

          int range = UnitUtil::GetAttackRangeAssumingUpgrades(eui.second.type, u->getType());

which I rewrote to pessimistically assume that enemy units have their range upgrades. It also adds in the range bonus of a bunker. UAlbertaBot originally ignores both. Someday I’ll detect these silent upgrades and whether the bunker is loaded, but not yet.

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Jay Scott on :

1. Oh, I see a later game where Microwave got 2 upgrades at once. I guess I was preaching to the choir. 2. Did Microwave inherit Steamhammer 1.0’s scourge bug, that causes it to make more scourge than it can use? You may want to check later code for the fix.

Ail on :

I haven't read your reply back then, so it's good to see it now.
I had this on my todo list with low priority. But seeing how easy it is, I think I'll fix it immediately. But I also have to change my code to even order parallel upgrades.

Erm, another thing about get producer... It seems to fail realizing that a hive is also capable of researching overlord speed. This happens very rarely but when it happens, it is annoying.

Jay Scott on :

That is not a UAB bug, it is a BWAPI 4.1.2 bug: https://github.com/bwapi/bwapi/issues/612 . It seriously messes with zerg strategy. :-(

AIL on :

This was already there... I must have added this months ago... So maybe double-upgrading would have worked since a long time I just never actually tried doing it. 8[

MicroDK on :

Yes, actually I added the 2 evolution chambers fix before it was uploaded and was upgrading in both of them when testing. But I have disabled the debug interface in the release so its difficult to see if it uses both of them. It will. ;)
Also, I have changed when it makes the second evo chamber, because I think it take too many resource to built it and upgrade with two at once. So it now only builds the 2nd one if the economy allows. ;)
I have adopted many features from later versions of Steamhammer, but only up to v1.1.1. Including not using BOSS. :)
I will check the scourge code and the distance code, thanks!

Jay Scott on :

In most games it was building 2 evos and only upgrading in 1 of them, so building the second evo later seems good. You can see the behavior in the replays, either on OpenBW or locally if you download replays. I watch every replay of Steamhammer and Randomhammer.

MicroDK on :

Just updated to v0.10 which should fix timing of when it makes extractors. v0.9 would wait when spire were finished and it needed gas for mutas before it went ahead to make extractors. now it makes them when spire is building. Also much more stable decision if it will go mutas or hydras with tech target like SH. In v.09 it often lead to a lair, then den, then spire, den produce hydras, then produce mutas... waste of resources and late mutas

MicroDK on :

MW has also been updated with new retreat distance calculation scourge code. And also a serious bug where it would take all its drones and kamikaze them into the enemy units when its bases are attacked. Not very helpful if it survives... ;) All theses bug fixes makes it play much better. :D

krasi0 on :

Congrats, MicroDK on finally releasing! :) I am going to run a couple of games between us and see how it goes. I am excited to watch them since Jay has mentioned that you've registered a win against Iron :)

MicroDK on :

Yes, the win vs Iron was a bit lucky... Microwave triggered Iron to cancel a factory so it did not get its mech out in time. :) All games since have been in favour of Iron. The same story: zerglings camp outside Iron main base and can't get through chokepoint defense. Then is pushed back when Iron gets vultures. Actually its the same story vs krasi0. I played two games today with the same result: krasi0 win. Those vultueres make zerglings go crazy. ;)
I would like to see a game on a open map without small chokepoints...

MicroDK on :

Thanks! I have been working on it for a while and with a day time job progress is slow. :) MW seems to do it great now after a good start and bumpy weekend vs protoss bots. I have been uploaded 5 bugfixes already, but will let it play for a couple of days unless a serious bug occurs.

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