MexUpgrader AI
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[edit] MexUpgrader AI
This group AI takes the laborious task of upgrading metal extractors ("mexes") to Moho mines out of your hands. It has two modes of operation:
- Automatic mode, in which it tries to replace all of your mexes.
- Manual mode, in which it tries to replace all of your mexes in a specific area.
To use it, select one or more builders that can build moho mines, and assign the group AI to them. The AI takes the following orders:
- Switch mode (automatic / manual). Key: "X".
- Stop. Key: "S".
- Area upgrade (manual mode only). Key: "R".
[edit] Automatic mode
In this mode, all the builders in the group operate independently. Once automatic mode has been set, they all follow this procedure:
- Find the nearest mex that is available (e.g. which isn't being reclaimed by another unit in the groupAI
- Reclaim it
- Try to build a moho mine on its spot
When one mex has been replaced, the group AI looks for more mexes to replace, until there are none left. If that is the case, an alert "No more mexes to upgrade" will be issued. Once this alert has been issued, the builder will not look again for any mexes to upgrade, unless automatic mode will be set once more.
[edit] Manual mode
In this mode, only one builder will upgrade mexes to moho's. If there are any others in the group, they automatically will be set to guard the former. In order to set the AI to work in this mode, you will have to give one or more "Area Upgrade" commands by right-clicking on the map and dragging out a circle.
For every area that you define this way, the AI does the following:
- Find the nearest mex that is available (e.g. which isn't being reclaimed by another unit in the groupAI
- Reclaim it
- Try to build a moho mine on its spot
And so on, untill there are no mexes left in that area, after which it moves on to the next area. Every area that you defined will be shown when you select the groupAI. Note that you don't have to hold down SHIFT to queue up areas.
[edit] Which mode should I use?
The advantage of automatic mode is that you only have to assign the AI and put it to automatic, after which you don't need to issue further orders. The disadvantage is that you can't really control where and in what order your builders will wander off to.
Therein lies the power of manual mode: you can set the specifically where the AI may upgrade moho's, and you can determine the order in which the moho's will be built. But this is a bit more cumbersome than the automatic mode.
[edit] Limitations
What the MexUpgrader AI currently doesn't yet do, is this:
- Keep track if mexes have been destroyed or reclaimed by other units that aren't in the group AI.
- Look if there are other Moho's in the area or if it's convenient at all to replace a mex with a Moho.
This groupAI is bundled with spring 0.73
