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Minor AI Improvements

The core aim of this mod is to improve the actual AI behaviour without giving free money or bending the games rules.

This mod started as a few minor AI fixes for specific TD units; Gunboats, Orca/Apache, SAM's and Engineers that I built in order to get my TD SP level to function better. Since then I've also included an overhaul of the TD Skirmish AI.

Feel free to roll these into any other AI improvement compilations, the changes are on Github at: https://github.com/screamingchicken/CnC_Remastered_Collection/tree/CnC-Minor-AI-Fixes

The changelog was getting too long for Steam, so a summary is below and more complete details on the functional changes are in a text file in the mod folder.

The AI now knows how to suspend Unit/Building construction, or abandon it entirely in order to divert funds/construction to AA defences. It also has a slight tendency to throw some AA defences up just in case. This all means it can swap to constructing AA defences much faster if the player throws down 3 or more Helipads in a row and attempts a rush

Now the AI can assess if it's run out of Harvesters and will move through a workflow to assess what can be sold or suspended in order to raise money. It will try to sell off the less useful buildings first.

Sounds simple, but was a giant amount of code.

Should be properly fixed this time.

Previous Behaviour
In the past, the AI didn't know how to target Walls. So a human player could build Walls up to their base, or across any chokepoint and the AI would stop there.

New Behaviour
Units/Infantry will shoot enemy Walls they are adjacent to if there are no better targets in range. This also applies to Units/Infantry undergoing Team orders.

Some notes:
- This doesn't apply to player Units, as sometimes you want to build in the enemy base.
- This doesn't apply to Aircraft or Buildings, as they're unaffected by Wall cheese.
- AI Units/Infantry will only target Walls if they have a Weapon for it, and only Walls built by the enemy.
They will ignore their own Walls, allies Walls and any Walls pre-built on the map.

Before in order to start repairing the AI building, it's health had to be fairly damaged.

Changed to:
scen 1-6 = <%25
scen 7-10 = <%75
scen 11-15 = <%90
custom maps = <%90
skirmish = <%90

If a Harvester had a 'homeplate' Refinery set, it wouldn't try to find a new one unless the original was inoperable. This is much reduced, a Harvester will now look for another Refinery (within reasonable range) if it's closest Refinery is in use. It will also re-assess nearby Refineries rather than stick to it's homeplate.

The code will now assess if Turret placement will block Units from being able to move N-S, E-W, or through a diagonal corner, reducing some traffic jams.

An additional check to look for Units bumped onto the cells directly underneath Refineries and move them on so they don't block Harvesters.

Mod now announces it's version at map startup, so you can see whether it's turned on.


The original TD Skirmish AI had been ported over from RA and was barely functional. Often it wouldn't build any units, would build and then sell power stations and was generally rubbish. GDI was unable to build base defences and Nod would build too much Artillery. The Nod Airstrip had also been jammed into the Soviet Airstrip code, so it's priority was way too low.
These improvements should get it up to the point where it's able to keep the human relatively busy, but not particularly taxing until 2vs1 odds. It is still below the quality of say the AoE2:DE AI, and will occasionally still partly jam it's base by putting turrets in poor locations.

Specifically, the changes are:

• Raised power cap before selling power plants
  
• Can now build GDI base defences
  
• Can now build a Radar once three Refineries and a WF/Airstrip are up
  
• Defences have a 40/60 split AGT/GT or 25/75 Obelisk/Turret once a Radar is built
  
• Refinery max raised
  
• Base Refinery Ratio raised from 16% to 22% to start the 2nd Refinery earlier
  
• AI Unit waves will now use all Units, not 75%
  
• Harvesters will now try to backup one cell if they're stuck for 10 seconds
  
• Creating Infantry ceases in the mid-game
  
• Nod Airstrip build priority fixed, now equivalent to a Weapons Factory in the build order/prioritization
  
• Artillery and Stealth Tanks removed from the Nod Skirmish build list
  
• Units produced from a WF/Airstrip will spread themselves out around the base to reduce clogging
  
• AI won't spread units/infantry onto cells immediately below Refineries where Harvesters need to traverse
  
• AI will endeavour to build Refineries in the base quadrants(Zones) nearest Tiberium
  
• AI will no longer start building a second Adv-Power if the first one is in the contruction animation and not yet online
  
• Nod AI will cease building ltank/ftank while it's base is under attack
  
• AI will move it's Units/Infantry to a rally point in order to cluster them before attacking.
  
• AI will now start repairing buildings earlier, at a lower money threshold and only sell as a last resort.
  
• Units sent to Hunt will now prioritise targets in range, rather than driving past units/buildings to get to something else.
  
  
  
  v1.2 18/10/20
  Engineers targeting turrets
  Sometimes engineers would try to run into a Turret or Guard Tower, even though they couldn't capture these. Now if a Team has some Engineers within it and is assigned Attack Base, the Team will only target capturable buildings.
  
  
  Engineers failing to capture
  Sometimes if two engineers ran into a building at the same time neither would capture and they would both get stuck. The code has been cleaned up so this shouldn't happen anymore.
  
  
  v1.1 27/09/20
  Mission Ambush
  The Ambush AI never worked in the original game and only one unit was ever assigned it in the campaign. A unit assigned Mission Ambush would do nothing unless attacked. Now if the unit is revealed from the shroud and belongs to an AI House, it will go into Hunt mode.
  
  
  v1.0 06/09/20
  Gunboat AI
  Gunboats will now find a new valid target each time they reverse course down the shipping lane, rather than fixating on one target forever.
  
  
  Newly built Orca/Apache map entry location
  This change has new-build Helicopters fly-in at the Y co-ordinate of the primary Helipad, rather than a random Y co-ordinate.
  
  
  Reinforcement Loaner Orcas/Apaches
  Now you can setup a Team of Reinforcement helicopters to fly in, attack the enemy base and then fly back off map. I suggest using "Rampage:3" in their TeamType if so.
  
  
  SAM popup logic
  Now prior to shutting down, the SAM will spend roughly 3 seconds attempting to re-acquire a target before Lowering again. If a target appears after this delay when the SAM is either Locking North or Lowering, it will still continue this process. The normal firing delay (45 Game Ticks) between each dual-shot from the SAM is still in place.
  
  
  Lastly the Chinook has been moved to scenario level 16, so it can be built in some non-campaign maps without involving all the other scenario 98/99 stuff (e.g. Wood Fences etc).