Computer Hero + custom Abilities vs AI Editor

[XeRo13g]

Hello everyone!

I've been making a map with many heroes and custom abilities and now reached a critical time when it comes to the computer behavior. I've been adding custom abilities to custom heroes via triggers and noticed that the computer uses some, ignore others. For example, it loves to cast holy light, it casts soul burn on some occasions, impale at a very rare rate but it mostly refuses to cast anything in general. I see that in DOTA AI, the computer casts normally but I don't know if that is made through triggers or the AI Editor.

I've spent sometime reading an AI editor tutorial and experimenting but it seems like a no brainer. The AI editor gives me the impression that it can only work with non-custom units and non-custom abilities but I haven't given it too much time.

Like many of you, I've spent thousands of hours(literally) in Warcraft Editor and I'm wondering if I should go down the path of spending time in AI editor for what I wish to achieve here or should I go straight into triggers.

Thank you in advance.-

 

[NeuroToxin]

I would recommend triggers. At least that's what I would do.

 

[Darthfett]

The AI Editor is nearly useless for most custom maps, I would highly recommend triggers.

I was once working on an AI Tutorial, it's partially complete, so you may or may not find it useful.

 

[XeRo13g]

+rep to both for taking the time to reply.

As it seems, I'll go with triggers.

At the moment there are 25 heroes for the computer to use and over 40 custom abilities that are given randomly to each hero through variables (4 or 5 abilities to each). The system produces different heroes in terms of abilities but it can be a pain to order through triggers.
-Should I try to create AI for each hero (meaning that each one will have predefined abilities)?
-Should I try to create dummy abilities that will fire triggers to produce another ability?

Obviously there are many ways to go about it, so any suggestions, are enormously appreciated.

 

[KaerfNomekop]

It depends on your map type. If it's a Hero Arena-style map, you could just have the heroes periodically patrol to somewhere, then make tham cast skills when attacked. Otherwise you might want to trigger individual skills. It's going to be very hard to get AI to use skills in combinations if they are random.

 

[XeRo13g]

Well, those abilities might be random as they are picked out from a variable list but it's possible to know which hero has which abilities.

My main concern is how I'm going to have them cast the spells.

Using the normal cast order?
Unit - Order Boss_Unit to Human Priest - Heal Temp_Unit

Or give them a dummy ability they usually cast on their own, have a trigger to capture the event... and then create the wished effect via a trigger?

 

[Darthfett]

Getting the AI to use it intelligently requires you to keep track of what units are nearby, if he's likely to win a fight, where the nearest 'exits' are, and so on, because not every fight is winnable. Depending on the map's terrain, simply being in range will not necessarily mean that the unit is able to use a charge type spell, as there may be trees in the way or some other obstacle. Simply being far away from an enemy does not mean it's safe to shoot from the current position, as you may already be under attack.

I would recommend basing some of the dummy spells off of how the regular AI uses it, and see if that works for you. In my map, I have a charge spell, and I found AI's using it frequently when they were far away, as it was based off of Berserk. This worked great. Other spells, not so much.