Evobot v1.21

This is version 1.21 of Evobot for Natural Selection. If you are already on v1.2 of the bot, then you only need the patch to replace the binaries. Otherwise, grab the full version and replace all files if needed,

Fixes and Changes:

• Fixed an issue where sometimes bots on both sides would not register resource nodes and would not attempt to cap them.
• Fixed a crash if a player requests a HMG or grenade launcher when there isn't an advanced armoury on the map.
• Fixed a bug where marines would attempt to build an unfinished structure while it was being recycled.
• Commander will now drop multiple ammo/health packs when requested rather than 1 at a time.
• Commander will also drop medpacks and ammo more rapidly rather than once per second.
• Fixed an issue with bots being unable to perform duck-jumps correctly (they would incorrectly judge it too high to reach).

Evobot v1.2

Version v1.2 of Evobot. If you are upgrading from an earlier version, you can download just the patch and extract to your existing directory, saying "yes" to overwrite any files.

• Lerks, Fades and Onos are now configurable in evobot.cfg and can be disabled to prevent bots using those lifeforms

• Made lerks and fades slightly better at skirmishing and less likely to get stuck on corners when trying to retreat

• Bots now track human evolutions, so if a player is actively gestating into a lerk, the bot will understand this and not go lerk themselves

• Added a cooldown to aliens evolving lerks. This is to stop situations where the whole alien team blows through their res replacing lerks as they get killed. Cooldown is configurable in evobot.cfg, and default is 1 minute

• Bots will also not go lerk if they have 40 or more res (so they can save for fade or hive). Combined with the cooldown, this should mean more fades appear earlier in the game rather than a parade of lerks.

• Aliens planning to cap a resource node will abandon it if a human is a gorge or evolving into one nearby with enough res to cap it

• AI Commander will focus on securing whichever hive is furthest from the alien's starting hive rather than nearest to the comm chair. This should help them establish themselves a little better early game, and reduce predictability

• AI Commander will research catalysts now

• Aliens playing the "destroyer" role will now save for Onos if 25% or more of the team is already fade

• Aliens will focus on taking out marine RTs that are furthest away from the marine base (and therefore most vulnerable)

• Aliens will now always use upgrades if the chambers exist, even if the original hive has been destroyed

• Humans can now request items from the AI commander via chat. Typing any of these into chat (lowercase only!) will request the commander drop them for you:

  • "heal" / "medpack" / "health" / "med" - Health pack
  • "ammo" - Ammo pack
  • "catalyst" / "catpack" / "cat" - Catalysts
  • "welder" - Welder
  • "shotgun" / "sg" / "shotty" - Shotgun
  • "mines" / "mine" - Mines
  • "gl" - Grenade Launcher
  • "hmg" - Heavy machinegun

• Fixed a logic bug where aliens would neglect going gorge when they had a lot of resources in favour of fade/onos, even if they were needed

• Fixed a bug which would cause bots to "faze out" and stop playing randomly for a few seconds during the Combat game mode. This was caused by misinterpreting a network message as indicating the match hadn't started yet.

• Fixed a bug on Linux HLDS which would cause bots to lag and rubber band like they were on dial-up in the Australian outback

• Fixed a bug which would cause bots to instantly lose track of enemies that left their field of view

• Fixed a bug where items that had sunk under the floor would be incorrectly marked as reachable to marines in some circumstances

• Fixed a bug where bots would sometimes horde resources as skulk in some circumstances

• Bots are better at climbing down ladders when approaching head-on (less likely to fly off the top and take damage)

Evobot v1.1.1 (Hotfix)

This is a hotfix for Evobot to make it fully compatible with NS 3.3 beta 5:

• Fixed bots being unable to pick up weapons in NS 3.3 beta 5 due to it now requiring the player to manually throw their standard MG by default to collect a better weapon (before it would automatically pick up new weapons if the player had an MG).

Evobot v1.1

Version 1.1 of Evobot. If you're upgrading from v1.0 then you only need the new binaries which are held in evobot_v1.1_patch.zip.

New features:

• Commander will now recycle old siege bases once the marines have moved into the empty hive.
• Commander will drop mines, and marines can place them around key structures.
• Marines will use the grenade launcher (and commander will drop one).
• Modified the Linux build process (thanks Anonymous Player!) to hopefully have a more stable and reliable Linux build.

Evobot v1.0

• Full Lerk support added, including proper flight mechanics and skirmishing / hit-and-run tactics
• Skulks will ambush rather than suicide charge when appropriate
• Added full support for Combat game mode
• Added door and weldable obstacle support (bots don't weld, but they understand when paths are blocked/opened by welding)
• All official maps are now supported except ns_nothing (due to lack of lift support at this time)
• Commanders are better at placing structures where marines can get to them
• Commanders are also more decisive and less likely to get distracted or horde resources unnecessarily
• Marines and aliens are much more aggressive in securing empty hives
• Gorges are better at placing structures where they can reach them
• Significant performance improvements
• Lots of bug fixes in navigation and decision making

Evobot v0.4a

Evobot Alpha 0.4

• Bot difficulty is now configurable. See evobot.cfg for examples on how to set it up. Marine and alien difficulty is configured separately to adjust for different play styles.
• Big overhaul of the role and task systems. It is now dynamic, with bots adjusting roles and tasks on the fly to respond to the game state rather than the static roles of previous versions. For example, if a team has too few resource nodes, more bots will focus on capping nodes to compensate.
• Marines are affected by cloak. Currently it's very simplistic: they will fail to see you if you are fully cloaked (blue bar fully filled), otherwise they will act like you're not cloaked. Will need to improve this in the future to include chance to be detected if you're only slightly visible (e.g. running while cloaked).
• Marines more actively defend their structures when under attack.
• Marines now make much better use of phase gates, and judge distances based on phase gate placement. This means that they understand that if an armoury is just on the other side of a phase gate, then it's close enough for them to pop in and resupply if needed. Overall, you should see marines using phase gates at every opportunity.
• Further improvements to bot movement, they get stuck less often.
• Commander is more aggressive in placing phase gates down so marines can be more mobile, and will attempt to secure both empty hives early in the match.
• Lots of general fixes to behaviour and bug fixes.
• Crash fixes.