Wesnoth AI - Revision history

Mattsc: /* AIs Available to Scenario and Map Designers */ updated with current status in 1.15.3+dev

2020-07-19T18:21:07Z

‎AIs Available to Scenario and Map Designers: updated with current status in 1.15.3+dev

Mathemagician: /* Available AI Tools */

2019-12-19T01:33:39Z

‎Available AI Tools

Mattsc: /* AIs Available to Scenario and Map Designers */ clarify a statement

2019-12-11T20:58:03Z

‎AIs Available to Scenario and Map Designers: clarify a statement

Mattsc: /* A Very Brief History of Wesnoth AIs */ Add ExpAI CA merge to timeline

2019-12-11T20:23:57Z

‎A Very Brief History of Wesnoth AIs: Add ExpAI CA merge to timeline

Mattsc: /* Available AIs */ Explain merge of ExpAI CAs into default AI

2019-12-11T20:20:01Z

‎Available AIs: Explain merge of ExpAI CAs into default AI

Mattsc: /* AIs Available in the Multiplayer Setup Menu */ remove strong AI mention

2018-12-25T22:47:50Z

‎AIs Available in the Multiplayer Setup Menu: remove strong AI mention

Mattsc: /* AIs Available in the Multiplayer Setup Menu */

2016-03-25T00:56:15Z

‎AIs Available in the Multiplayer Setup Menu

Mattsc: /* AIs Available in the Multiplayer Setup Menu */ Update with changes done for Wesnoth 1.13.5

2016-03-25T00:53:32Z

‎AIs Available in the Multiplayer Setup Menu: Update with changes done for Wesnoth 1.13.5

Celtic Minstrel: Proofreading - fix typos, remove underscores from lines, a few slight rewordings

2016-02-25T16:53:36Z

Proofreading - fix typos, remove underscores from lines, a few slight rewordings

Mattsc: Remove 'under construction' message; general minor wording changes

2016-02-25T15:10:37Z

Remove 'under construction' message; general minor wording changes

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 * '''[[RCA_AI|Default (RCA) AI]]''': If no special instructions are given, this AI is used automatically for all computer-controlled sides with no setup needed.  It can be customized in many different ways.
-* The '''[[Experimental AI]]''' adds additional features to the RCA AI.  {{DevFeature1.15|3}} Most of the actions of the Experimental AI have been merged into the default AI. The Experimental AI is therefore currently only available in debug mode in the MP computer player selection menu, as it is almost the same as the default AI. This may change in the future if new features are added.
+* The '''[[Experimental AI]]''' adds additional features to the RCA AI.  {{DevFeature1.15|3}} Several of the actions of the Experimental AI have been merged into the default AI.
 * '''[[Micro AIs]]''' add specialized behavior to Wesnoth that cannot be achieved with the default AI.  There is a large number of available Micro AIs and they can be set up using just a few lines of simple WML code.
 * '''[[Creating Custom AIs|Custom AIs]]''':  In addition to these AIs, Wesnoth provides a large variety of options for writing your own AI code.

@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 * [[AiWML]]: Customizing the default AI using WML
-* [[Modifying AI Components]]: More complex customization tasks
+* [[Modifying AI Components]]: More complex customization tasks and mid-scenario changes
 * [[Wesnoth AI Framework]]: Description of Wesnoth's composite AI configuration
 * [[Creating Custom AIs]]: Instructions for writing your own AI components

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 * '''[[RCA_AI|Default (RCA) AI]]''': If no special instructions are given, this AI is used automatically for all computer-controlled sides with no setup needed.  It can be customized in many different ways.
-* The '''[[Experimental AI]]''' adds additional features to the RCA AI.  {{DevFeature1.15|3}} Most of the actions of the Experimental AI have been merged into the default AI. The Experimental AI is therefore currently only available in debug mode as it is almost the same as the default AI. This may change in the future if new features are added.
+* The '''[[Experimental AI]]''' adds additional features to the RCA AI.  {{DevFeature1.15|3}} Most of the actions of the Experimental AI have been merged into the default AI. The Experimental AI is therefore currently only available in debug mode in the MP computer player selection menu, as it is almost the same as the default AI. This may change in the future if new features are added.
 * '''[[Micro AIs]]''' add specialized behavior to Wesnoth that cannot be achieved with the default AI.  There is a large number of available Micro AIs and they can be set up using just a few lines of simple WML code.
 * '''[[Creating Custom AIs|Custom AIs]]''':  In addition to these AIs, Wesnoth provides a large variety of options for writing your own AI code.

@@ Line 95: / Line 95: @@
 ** Introduction of the [[Micro AIs]]
 ** External Lua candidate actions become fully usable.  They are now the recommended method for [[Creating_Custom_AIs|creating custom AIs]]
 [[Category:AI]]

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 * '''[[RCA_AI|Default (RCA) AI]]''': If no special instructions are given, this AI is used automatically for all computer-controlled sides with no setup needed.  It can be customized in many different ways.
-* The '''[[Experimental AI]]''' adds additional features to the RCA AI.  It is still under development (thus its name) and might change from release to release, but it outperforms the default AI on most standard maps.
+* The '''[[Experimental AI]]''' adds additional features to the RCA AI.  {{DevFeature1.15|3}} Most of the actions of the Experimental AI have been merged into the default AI. The Experimental AI is therefore currently only available in debug mode as it is almost the same as the default AI. This may change in the future if new features are added.
 * '''[[Micro AIs]]''' add specialized behavior to Wesnoth that cannot be achieved with the default AI.  There is a large number of available Micro AIs and they can be set up using just a few lines of simple WML code.
 * '''[[Creating Custom AIs|Custom AIs]]''':  In addition to these AIs, Wesnoth provides a large variety of options for writing your own AI code.

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 * '''[[RCA_AI|Default AI (RCA)]]''': This is the same AI as listed above.
 * '''[[Experimental_AI]]''': Again, the same AI as described above.
 * Debug Mode '''Dev AIs''': If Wesnoth is in debug mode, several additional AIs are available in the menu.  For the most part, these are not meant as complete stand-alone AIs, or as AIs that are significantly different from the default AI, but rather as examples that can be used for development purposes.  {{DevFeature1.13|5}} The list of AIs has been cleaned up.  Only working and (somewhat) meaningful AIs remain.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 * '''[[RCA_AI|Default (RCA) AI]]''': If no special instructions are given, this AI is used automatically for all computer-controlled sides with no setup needed.  It can be customized in many different ways.
-* The '''[[Experimental_AI]]''' adds additional features to the RCA AI.  It is still under development (thus its name) and might change from release to release, but it outperforms the default AI on most standard maps.
+* The '''[[Experimental AI]]''' adds additional features to the RCA AI.  It is still under development (thus its name) and might change from release to release, but it outperforms the default AI on most standard maps.
-* '''[[Micro_AIs]]''' add specialized behavior to Wesnoth that cannot be achieved with the default AI.  There is a large number of available Micro AIs and they can be set up using just a few lines of simple WML code.
+* '''[[Micro AIs]]''' add specialized behavior to Wesnoth that cannot be achieved with the default AI.  There is a large number of available Micro AIs and they can be set up using just a few lines of simple WML code.
-* '''[[Creating Custom AIs|Custom AIs]]''':  In addition to these AIs, Wesnoth provides a large variety of options for writing you own AI code.
+* '''[[Creating Custom AIs|Custom AIs]]''':  In addition to these AIs, Wesnoth provides a large variety of options for writing your own AI code.
 === AIs Available in the Multiplayer Setup Menu ===
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 * [[AiWML]]: Customizing the default AI using WML
 * [[Modifying AI Components]]: More complex customization tasks
-* [[Wesnoth_AI_Framework]]: Description of Wesnoth's composite AI configuration
+* [[Wesnoth AI Framework]]: Description of Wesnoth's composite AI configuration
-* [[Creating_Custom_AIs]]: Instructions for writing your own AI components
+* [[Creating Custom AIs]]: Instructions for writing your own AI components
 * [[LuaAI|Lua AI]]: Recommended method for writing custom AIs
 '''Notes:'''
-* Wesnoth has its own internal language called 'Formula' which can also be used for AI development.  It is, however, not maintained any more and has by now been surpassed by Lua in ease of use in most case.  We therefore do not recommend using it any more, but links to the legacy documentation are still provided in the resources section below.
+* Wesnoth has its own internal language called 'Formula' which can also be used for AI development.  It is, however, not maintained any more and has by now been surpassed by Lua in ease of use in most cases.  We therefore do not recommend using it any more, but links to the legacy documentation are still provided in the resources section below.
-* A Python API for AI development existed also for a while.  It was removed for security reasons.
+* A Python API for AI development also existed for a while.  It was removed for security reasons.
 == List of Wesnoth AI Resources ==
@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 ===AI Resources for Scenario and Map Creators===
-* [[RCA_AI]]: Description of Wesnoth's default AI, with the following additional documentation:
+* [[RCA AI]]: Description of Wesnoth's default AI, with the following additional documentation:
 ** [[AiWML]]: Customizing the default AI using WML
-** [[AI_Recruitment]]: Customizing the recruitment of the default AI
+** [[AI Recruitment]]: Customizing the recruitment of the default AI
 ** [[Modifying AI Components]]: Instructions for some of the more complex customization tasks
-* [[Experimental_AI]]: Experimental augmented version of the default AI with additional features
+* [[Experimental AI]]: Experimental augmented version of the default AI with additional features
-* [[Micro_AIs]]: Additional specialized AI behavior that cannot be achieved with the default AI
+* [[Micro AIs]]: Additional specialized AI behavior that cannot be achieved with the default AI
 ===Resources for AI Coders===
-* [[Wesnoth_AI_Framework]]: General principles of the inner workings of the Wesnoth AI mechanism
+* [[Wesnoth AI Framework]]: General principles of the inner workings of the Wesnoth AI mechanism
-* [[Creating_Custom_AIs]]: Instructions for doing just that
+* [[Creating Custom AIs]]: Instructions for doing just that
 * [[LuaAI|Lua AI]]: Recommended method for writing custom AIs
 ==== Legacy Resources for AI Coders====
-* [[Lua_AI_Legacy_Methods_Howto]]: Old methods for writing custom AIs using Lua AI
+* [[Lua AI Legacy Methods Howto]]: Old methods for writing custom AIs using Lua AI
 * [[FormulaAI|Formula AI]]: Another language for writing custom AIs
@@ Line 68: / Line 68: @@
 The following resources are not generally needed for understanding, using and modifying Wesnoth AIs, but they might nevertheless contain some useful bits of information for the interested reader.
-* [[AI_Arena]]
+* [[AI Arena]]
-* [[Machine_Learning_Recruiter]]
+* [[Machine Learning Recruiter]]
 * [[WhyWritingAWesnothAIIsHard|Why Writing A Wesnoth AI Is Hard]]
 * [[WritingYourOwnAI|Writing Your Own AI]]
@@ Line 90: / Line 90: @@
 ** [[FormulaAI|Formula AI]] is introduced.
 * '''Wesnoth 1.7/1.8''':
-** [[Wesnoth_AI_Framework|Composite AI framework]] is introduced, with the default AI functionality ported to this framework in form of the [[RCA_AI]].
+** [[Wesnoth_AI_Framework|Composite AI framework]] is introduced, with the default AI functionality ported to this framework in the form of the [[RCA AI]].
-** The [[RCA_AI]] becomes the default.
+** The [[RCA AI]] becomes the default.
 ** [[LuaAI|Lua AI]] is introduced.
 * '''Wesnoth 1.11/1.12''':
-** Introduction of the [[Micro_AIs]]
+** Introduction of the [[Micro AIs]]
 ** External Lua candidate actions become fully usable.  They are now the recommended method for [[Creating_Custom_AIs|creating custom AIs]]
 [[Category:AI]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ==Introduction to the Wesnoth AIs==
-Wesnoth provides a general artificial intelligence (AI) which is active by default for all computer-controlled sides, as well as several optional AIs.  These AIs are highly configurable and can be included and/or customized by scenario and map creators using simple WML code.  For AI developers, it is also possible to replace parts or all of the default AI with custom code.
+Wesnoth provides an artificial intelligence (AI) which is active by default for all computer-controlled sides, as well as several optional AIs.  These AIs are highly configurable and can be included and/or customized by scenario and map creators using simple WML code.  For AI developers, it is also possible to replace parts or all of the default AI with custom code.
 This page provides a brief summary of the available AIs and of the methods, tools and resources available for using and modifying them.  Links are provided to detailed documentation on each of the topics.  For reference, we also provide a brief timeline describing some of the main development milestones of the Wesnoth AIs.
 == Available AIs ==
-This section briefly lists the different AIs available in Wesnoth.  Click on the links provided here and in the [[Wesnoth_AI#List_of_Wesnoth_AI_Resources|resources section]] below for detailed descriptions of the AIs and for instructions for using and customizing them.
+This section briefly lists the different AIs available in Wesnoth.  Click on the links provided here and in the resources section below for detailed descriptions of the AIs and for instructions for using and customizing them.
 === AIs Available to Scenario and Map Designers ===
@@ Line 21: / Line 15: @@
 * '''[[RCA_AI|Default (RCA) AI]]''': If no special instructions are given, this AI is used automatically for all computer-controlled sides with no setup needed.  It can be customized in many different ways.
 * The '''[[Experimental_AI]]''' adds additional features to the RCA AI.  It is still under development (thus its name) and might change from release to release, but it outperforms the default AI on most standard maps.
-* '''[[Micro_AIs]]''' add specialized behavior to Wesnoth that cannot be achieved with the default AI.  There is a large number of available Micro AIs and they can be set up using just a few lines of WML code.
+* '''[[Micro_AIs]]''' add specialized behavior to Wesnoth that cannot be achieved with the default AI.  There is a large number of available Micro AIs and they can be set up using just a few lines of simple WML code.
 * '''[[Creating Custom AIs|Custom AIs]]''':  In addition to these AIs, Wesnoth provides a large variety of options for writing you own AI code.
@@ Line 31: / Line 25: @@
 * '''<s>Strong AI (RCA)</s>''': This is essentially just the default AI with very slightly modified recruiting.  It will be removed from the default menu soon.
 * '''[[Experimental_AI]]''': Again, the same AI as described above.
-* <s>Debug Mode '''Dev AIs'''</s>: If Wesnoth is in debug mode, quite a few additional AIs are available in the menu.  These are, however, mostly not very good (worse than the default) or even entirely borken.  We will remove most or all of these shortly.
+* <s>Debug Mode '''Dev AIs'''</s>: If Wesnoth is in debug mode, quite a few additional AIs are available in the menu.  These are, however, mostly not very good (worse than the default) or even entirely broken.  We will remove most or all of these shortly.
-* '''[[Creating Custom AIs|Custom AIs]]''':  Just as for scenario code, it is also possible to provide custom AIs for selection from the MP setup menu.  These can be written either for specific scenarios/maps or so that they are available for all maps.
+* '''[[Creating Custom AIs|Custom AIs]]''':  Just as it is possible to include custom AIs in the scenario code, they can also be provided for selection from the MP setup menu.  These can be written either for specific scenarios/maps or so that they are available for all maps.
 == Available AI Tools ==
@@ Line 45: / Line 39: @@
 '''Notes:'''
-* Wesnoth has its own internal language called 'Formula' which can also be used for AI development.  It is, however, not maintained any more and has by now been surpassed by Lua in ease of use in most case.  We therefore do not recommen using it any more, but links to the legacy documentation are provided in the resources section below.
+* Wesnoth has its own internal language called 'Formula' which can also be used for AI development.  It is, however, not maintained any more and has by now been surpassed by Lua in ease of use in most case.  We therefore do not recommend using it any more, but links to the legacy documentation are still provided in the resources section below.
 * A Python API for AI development existed also for a while.  It was removed for security reasons.
@@ Line 83: / Line 77: @@
 ==A Very Brief History of Wesnoth AIs==
-While the general principle of the Wesnoth AI concept has been relatively stable throughout its development, the AI implementation has seen dramatic changes.  That said, basic scenario creator tasks such as [[AiWML|modifying AI parameters in WML]] are usually not changed much in order to keep backward compatibility.  On the other hand, the steps needed to write a custom candidate action and bind it into the existing AI framework might not be quite the same in Wesnoth 1.12 as they did in 1.10, and they are definitely different in 1.8.
+While the general principle of the Wesnoth AI has been relatively stable throughout its development, the AI implementation has seen dramatic changes.  That said, basic scenario creator tasks such as [[AiWML|modifying AI parameters in WML]] are usually not changed much in order to keep backward compatibility.  On the other hand, the steps needed to write, for example,  [[Creating_Custom_AIs#Creating_Custom_Candidate_Actions|custom candidate actions]] and bind them into the existing AI framework have definitely evolved significantly from Wesnoth 1.8 to 1.10 to 1.12.
-It is not possible to capture all these changes on the Wesnoth AI wiki pages due to the complexity of the topic.  They generally only refer to the latest stable release series and the current development release series.  If, for some reason, you need to do AI work with an earlier version of Wesnoth, you might have to check out the history of the wiki pages.  Another way to go about it is by checking out examples of how things are done in mainline or add-ons of the respective release series.  In general, however, we ''strongly'' recommend using the latest Wesnoth versions, as modifying AI behavior has become ''a lot'' simpler than it used to be.
+It is not possible to capture all these changes on the Wesnoth AI wiki pages due to the complexity of the topic.  They generally only refer to the latest stable release series and the current development release series.  If, for some reason, you need to do AI work with an earlier version of Wesnoth, we still provide some of the legacy documentation, but you might also have to check out the history of the wiki pages.  Another way to go about it is by checking out examples of how things are done in mainline or add-ons of the respective release series.  In general, however, we ''strongly'' recommend using the latest Wesnoth versions, as modifying AI behavior has become ''a lot'' simpler than it used to be.
 For reference, here is a list of some of the major milestones of the AI development:
-* Up to Wesnoth 1.6
+* Up to '''Wesnoth 1.6''':
 ** The default AI of Wesnoth is, in fact, called ''Default AI'', with <code>id=default_ai</code> in the configuration.
-* Wesnoth 1.1/1.2:
+* '''Wesnoth 1.1/1.2''':
 ** A Python API for AI development is introduced.  This was later removed for security reasons.
-* Wesnoth 1.5/1.6:
+* '''Wesnoth 1.5/1.6''':
 ** [[FormulaAI|Formula AI]] is introduced.
-* Wesnoth 1.7/1.8
+* '''Wesnoth 1.7/1.8''':
 ** [[Wesnoth_AI_Framework|Composite AI framework]] is introduced, with the default AI functionality ported to this framework in form of the [[RCA_AI]].
 ** The [[RCA_AI]] becomes the default.
-** [[LuaAI]] is introduced.
+** [[LuaAI|Lua AI]] is introduced.
-* Wesnoth 1.11/1.12
+* '''Wesnoth 1.11/1.12''':
 ** Introduction of the [[Micro_AIs]]
-** External Lua candidate actions become fully usable.  They are now the recommended method for writing [[Creating_Custom_AIs|creating custom AIs]]
+** External Lua candidate actions become fully usable.  They are now the recommended method for [[Creating_Custom_AIs|creating custom AIs]]
 [[Category:AI]]