Starcraft AI blog

Zerg igjbot is new today on SSCAIT. It has been crashing a ton, but when it plays successfully it shows a thoughtful design.

Igjbot seems to follow the same plan every game. It opens with a standard 9 pool speed build that is safe against rushes and puts on early pressure (or kills weak opponents outright). It doesn’t follow up with heavy zerglings, but goes for a quick spire. An opponent that is too worried about the zerglings is at risk from the sudden air attack. But igjbot doesn’t press the air attack heavily, either. It adds to 3 hatcheries and switches back to mostly zergling production. The specific build order is efficient, at least early in the game (later on it collects more gas than it can use).

I thought igjbot’s most impressive game so far was versus Krasi0. Krasi0 did not seem ready for the fast mutalisks—it was still constructing its engineering bay when the first mutalisk arrived, and canceled it when the mutalisk attacked the unfinished building. As more mutalisks arrived, Krasi0 had to use all its defensive skill to put out the fires in its base and stay alive. Terran won, but had to struggle for it! In the picture, besides the burning buildings, notice the marks of canceled and destroyed buildings, and also the worker and army numbers.

For a brand new bot that wants to get by with 1 build against all races and opponents, I like igjbot’s game plan. It is safe against early aggression, it tends to force opponents into defense, and it tries to whipsaw the opponent with a tech switch and then a switch back. It’s not boring like another 5 pool bot. It’s a simple plan that is suitable for most situations and demands more from the opponent than from igjbot, and that’s perfect if you’re starting out and haven’t gotten far. Igjbot has micro weaknesses, no ability to expand, and other common problems, but those things take time and a new bot hasn’t had time yet. With smart strategy, it can still do fairly well.