Machine Learning Recruiter

This page documents the new machine learning recruiter submitted as a patch for Wesnoth 1.11. We describe how to run it, discuss experiment showing that the ML Recruiter achieves dramatically better performance than the RCA AI recruiter, describe known issues and suggest a development road map.

Note that the ML Recruiter is a work in progress. We welcome feedback on it. Please discuss it on the thread "Machine Learning Recruiter" at http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=36642.

Using ML Recruiter

Playing against the ML Recruiter

1. From the main menu, choose "Multiplayer"
2. Choose "Local Game"
3. Pick a map and adjust settings as desired. ML Recruiter has been trained with the default setting for village gold and support, but it should work fine on other settings
   1. Hit Okay
4. For one side, Choose Player/Type-->Computer Player and then either ML AI (Recommended) or ML AI (Pure)
   1. For the opponent, either play against it yourself (pick your name) or watch it play the default AI (Computer Player-->RCA AI)

Testing the ML Recruiter in batch mode

Testing in batch mode is easy. After applying the ML Recruiter patch, copy utils/ai_test/ai_test2.cfg to the directory in which you want to run the experiment. Then edit the first line of the .cfg file, "path_to_wesnoth_binary" to point to your Wesnoth executable. Then adjust faction1 and faction2 to point to the factions you want to experiment with and point ai_config1 at the ML configuration file you want to try out. Finally, to make everything easier, add the following to your path:

[Wesnoth_Install]/utils/ai_test/

Now you can test Wesnoth in batch as follows:

ai_test2.py ai_test2.cfg

Known issues

Bugs

1. Haven't added new Waffles files to Visual C++, so it won't compile under VC++. I need some help with this.
2. ML Recruiter runs fine vs. RCA AI and vs. human, but can't run against itself (ML Recruiter vs. ML Recruiter). This appears to be an issue with Lua in Wesnoth 1.11 and not with ML Recruiter

Current Limitations

1. Only tested on two-player multiplayer games. Doesn't work when there are more than two leaders on the map.
2. Works optimally on the following two-player maps (trained on these)
   1. Weldyn Channel
   2. The Freelands
   3. Den of Onis
   4. Fallenstar Lake
3. Tested on all other two-player maps and runs nearly as well except it crashes on the following:
   • Aethermaw, Hornshark Island, Dark Forecast, Sablestone Delta, Elensefar Courtyard, Silverhead Crossing