Artificial intelligence(its weak form) gradually becomes more and more skillful. The computer successfully solves even those problems that only a few years ago were considered accessible only to humans. One example is the game of go, where only those who have well-developed intuition and logical thinking can become a champion. Go for the car was considered an unattainable "ceiling". Now we see that there are no people on Earth who can beat the machine.

It is clear that AI is not only playing Go, the range of tasks is much wider. Nevertheless, specialists from various IT fields are trying to train a computer to fight on equal terms with a person and in computer games in order to test the capabilities of their software platforms. In this case, the human and the bot are in the same conditions. Usually, opponents are pushed head-on on a strategy map with a “fog of war”, so that both opponents are not aware of what objects and where they are on this map (under normal conditions, the game “AI” knows where everything is). It was under such conditions that a man defeated a machine in StarCraft.

It's about professional StarCraft player Song Byung-gu taking on four different StarCraft bots. One of them, "CherryPi" was developed by Facebook Corporation. Other bots are created by companies from Australia, Norway and Korea.

The game was held at Sejong University, Seoul, Korea. Since 2010, StarCraft competitions involving humans and machines have been held here. The event is supported by various organizations (both commercial and research and public). This particular competition was supported, in particular, by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

It is clear that Go and StarCraft matches cannot be compared. In the first case, the player sees the entire board and needs to find a winning strategy. In the case of StarCraft, you also need a winning strategy, but here you have to keep in mind many objects on the map, have a good reaction and be able to act suddenly, unpredictably. Understanding all this, the AI ​​developers decided to use the StarCraft environment to train the machine.

Well-known StarCraft players have previously stated that they would very much like to fight with a computer opponent. AI companies such as DeepMind welcomed this desire, stating their intention to hold similar competitions in the future.

And this future has come - people were able to fight with AI. The computer did not work out - the man defeated all four bots in 27 minutes in the overall standings. The maximum duration of a match was 10 minutes and 30 seconds. The shortest match lasted 4 and a half minutes. And this despite the fact that bots performed much more actions per unit of time than a person. For example, a system created by Norwegian specialists is capable of performing 19,000 actions per minute. Cyber ​​champions from the world of people in best case capable of performing several hundred moves-actions per minute.

Son stated that bots act differently than humans, their play style is noticeably different. "We, professional players, we start the battle only when we have a chance to win with our army and other elements,” he said. People start a fight when they are confident in their abilities. But the bots that Son fought were somehow trying to keep their units alive without making particularly bold decisions. According to the e-sportsman, the only thing that favorably distinguished bots from people in the game was the organization. In particular, the bots managed the crowd of their units quite skillfully, trying to protect themselves from Son's attacks.

According to Kim Kyung-Jung, the organizer of the competition, the bots that competed with a person simply did not have enough experience. They played too few matches. For example, AlphaGo played tens of thousands of matches, both with human opponents and with copies of himself, before he learned to play at a high level. But the bots playing StarCraft did not have this opportunity.

However, this situation will soon change. Back in August DeepMind and Blizzard Entertainment announced AI development tools compatible with StarCraft II. On the this moment it is this version of the game that is most popular among cybersportsmen. Some experts believe that AI will soon "tolerate" a person in the same way as it happened in Go. “Once bots are equipped with high-level decision-making systems like AlphaGo, people will no longer be able to win,” said Jung Han-min from the University of Science and Technology, Korea.

A Facebook spokesperson behind CherryPi said that the company has long wanted to see AI take on an esports player. After the match, Facebook received great amount useful information that will be used to improve the bot.

Release year: 2010
Genre:
Developer:
Publisher:
Developer site: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/sc2/
Interface language: Russian
Platform: PC
System requirements:
Installed game Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty version 1.0
Description:
StarCraft II is the continuation of the epic saga of three powerful races: Protoss, Terran and Zerg.
They will have to fight again in a new real-time strategy sequel to the legendary starcraft games.
In this fierce struggle for survival in space, you will have at your disposal new combat units,
as well as the previous ones, with advanced features.

Agria Valley
"Blistering Sands"
Burial Grounds
"Crossfire"
"Desert Oasis"
"Incineration Zone"
"Jungle Basin"
Junk Yard
Novice Blistering Sands
Novice Desert Oasis
Novice Steppes of War
Scrap Station
Steppes of War
"World Ship"
Xel Naga Caverns
"Elysium"
"Arid Wastes"
Debris Field
Delta Quadrant
Discord IV
"High Orbit"
"Kulas Ravine"
Lost Temple
"Metalopolis"
"Monlyth Ridge"
"New Antioch"
"Nightmare"
Novice Discord IV
Novice Kulas Ravine
Novice Metalopolis
Novice Monlyth Ridge
Novice Terminus
Novice Twilight Fortress
"Red Stone Gulch"
"Sacred Ground"
"Scorched Haven"
"Shakuras Plateau"
Tarsonis Assault
"Terminus"
"Twilight Fortress"
"War Zone"
Arakan Citadel
"Colony 426"
"Dig site"
"Dirt Side"
"Frontier"
"Moonsoon"
"Quicksand"
"Tectonic Rift"
"Bio Lab"
"Typhon"
"Ulaan Deeps"
"Abyss"
"Extinction"
"Forbidden Planet"
"Hight Ground"
"Lava flow"
"Megaton"
"outpost"
"Primeval"
Sand Canyon
"Tempest"
"Toxic Slums"

Copy maps to My Documents(Documents)StarCraft IIMaps
- If the "Maps" folder does not exist, then you need to create it.
- Go to the folder with the game and run the file "StarCraft II Editor" or "SC2Editor"
- In the program, select the map on which you want to play, then click on the "Map" tab from above,
- Select "Player Options" and starting position put Start location 1,2.
- Set AI difficulty to yourself (set in the map editor - File -
Editor Settings - Trial Run - Game Difficulty) and then click Trial Run or Ctrl + F9
- Don't forget to change control from "User" to "Computer".

renewing the most popular game StarCraft 2: Wings Of Liberty,
making changes and corrections to game process and troubleshooting the game itself.
Designed for the Russian version of the game.
With this file, you can update the game, without the need to go online,
for example, if you want to install it (the game) on a computer that does not have the ability to connect to the Internet.
List of changes:
update 1.0.3
The Friends tab on the Leagues & Rankings page now works correctly.
Fixed an issue that prevented some users from accessing single player without an internet connection.

update 1.0.2
Fixed mechanism for checking victory conditions in campaign missions.
Fixed an issue that prevented some users from accessing single player mode.

update 1.0.1
Optimized the save process in campaign mode.
Fixed audio playback issue on some 7.1 systems.

With the development of the Internet in the world, the gaming industry began to worry more and more about multiplayer. The first matches in DOOM I ( , of course) were held on the grid, but as time went on, Counter-Strike gave a powerful impetus to online games, at the same time promoting Steam. with the transition to pure online, computer opponents began to lose popularity, and most of the players did not pay attention to this. I'm in the minority and will talk about why bots are important and where to find them now.

Why bots are needed

Many people ask this question when this topic pops up here and there on the forums. Like, the days of 56k modems are over, the Internet is in every house, I don’t want to play, people are unpredictable, it’s more interesting with them, you can’t upgrade weapons with bots, and so on. In fact, they are right - multiplayer with live players will not be replaced by bots. However, AI does not count on this.

Bots don't cheat, don't spam, they can be customized, they don't bug or suffer from rage quit. An MLG player who even makes NOSCOPE 720 in the toilet will not enter the server with bots, and will not start methodically and with impunity to mock others. These are obvious points. Among the non-obvious ones - the game with bots can most often be paused, and you can go about business, you can work out the technique of shooting, flying, dodging and dodging on them.

With bots, you can more effectively explore the map, test weapons, and so on. And if the bot got into the transport, it can most often be kicked out of there. Network code, the scourge of modern shooters (Battlefield 3, keep your eyes open, shameless), is also most often irrelevant with bots, because you can play with them without the Internet at all!

Another important point- the so-called power fantasy. Sometimes it's nice to feel like an unstoppable death machine - the same MLG pro-player who tears everyone left and right without spoiling anyone's nerves. If the bots are smart enough, and sometimes only crookedly capable of shooting, the scenario is ideal.

Yes, bots are not required in the gameplay. Just as optional as good graphics, rich sounds or hit marks. The game might be good without them, but with them it will be even better and certainly not worse. First, let's talk about games that have bots initially, and then move on to various crutches worthy of attention.

Star Wars

The first part is almost perfection in any of the plans. Powerful single-player mode, good multiplayer, smart enough bots, although malleable. For example, if you aim at an AI ship taking off, it will not take off, and you can climb into it.

Rebooting the franchise in 2015 was controversial, but a recent update brought something to the game that made me think about buying the game. That's right, bots in private matches! They work in only two modes, yes, but they have three difficulty settings and are capable of almost everything that an ordinary player can do.

Counter-Strike Series

This is one of the most stable game series in terms of AI. Bots were in versions before 1.6, and in Source, they did not disappear even in Global Offensive. Their task is usually simple to let the player explore the modes and maps, feel the weapons and learn how to shoot them without compromising online statistics.

At the same time, bots, although they do not have super-smartness, can sit in ambush, throw grenades, talk on the radio, and even listen to the player's commands. Their complexity determines how quickly the dummy will react to the enemy, how accurately it will shoot and whether it will move at the same time.

Brink

Not as well known as CS, the shooting parkour sim called Brink is very gentle with bots. The fact is that, like in Battlefield, the single-player campaign consists of standard missions with AI, only the tasks differ. At the same time, bots play the role of extras, and the plot is presented through well-made video inserts.

Since the class-role-playing system is quite nicely designed in the shooter, the campaign works as a preparation for online matches and at the level of pumping. That is, you can enter a fight with live players already at the tenth or fifteenth level, knowing a bunch of tricks with grenades, with mines, knowing all the passages on the map and the details of the missions.

Battlefield Series

After the release of Bad Company 2, this series of shooters switched to a purely online component. There was a target Battlelog plug-in for the browser, the list of servers was issued there. And the future is unlikely to correct the situation - the declared offline or cooperative component is not there.

So if you want to do boticide, you should pay attention to the classic parts. And personally, my attention is riveted to the unforgettable Battlefield 2. Initially, there is only a co-op with bots on maps of 16 people in size. That is, 8 by 8, almost without aviation - planes were on one map, helicopters - on two, it seems. Out of eight or nine cards, yes.

Saved the day, as expected, fashion. Back in the days when Battlefield 2 was sold in stores, mods came out to it, like unlocking all weapons in a single game, full-sized maps for 64 people in co-op, or harsh realism. Some of them affected the network mode and led to a ban, some were ignored.

The dawn of mods came with the close of sales of Battltfield 2. People who were disillusioned with DICE's approach to BF3 sat down at their Battlefield with blackjack and aviation. In a purely multiplayer component, he showed himself smartly Mod Project Reality, and in co-op, in my opinion, the best is .

The fact is that in AIX, bots behave almost the same way as humans. Smart, experienced people. Airplanes use all the weapons they have available, including bombs and rockets against other aircraft, tanks do not hesitate to shoot at helicopters, and rocket launchers too. More than once or twice my Notar Littlebird was hit on the bottom from an RPG-7.

Well, the little things - the number of bots is not limited to 48, and in the settings you can set up to 255 (!) Blanks. Naturally, the brakes from this will start colossal, but the slaughter is a slaughter, especially in the place of the helicopter gunner.

Even better balances the situation, which adds several key elements - for example, extra points are given for killing vehicles, headshots kill to death and remove the possibility of reviving by a medic, and the ammunition of vehicles is reduced. The mod is very realistic, juicy and fun, and differs from AIX 2.0 as much as AIX 2.0 differs from the vanilla version. The only thing I don't like about fashion is that airplane pilots don't use rockets. Generally.

I also advise you to replace exe in combination with mods. BF2 file to open all weapons - the focus applies to all modifications of AIX, and since of. Servers are closed, no one will ban.

Call of Duty series

Strong multiplayer, awesome story, high dynamics, compact maps - and no AI support at all. The co-op from the last parts does not count. The sadness about Battlefield is also relevant here - cheaters and pro-players often spoil the mood of the less experienced, and sometimes you want to relax.

There is a solution. This is a mod written for Modern Warfare that adds AI to the game for network game. latest version modification allows bots to use grenades, RPGs and perks. After the first round, they also begin to use a series of murders. The crutches in this case are that the bots move in jerks, their names cannot be changed, and the experience in the modification is not dragged to the rest, including the vanilla version, although the difference there is only in the presence of bots, in fact.

The second part of Modern Warfare brought active online elements, binding to the host, and in this regard, the hope for bots went nowhere. However, pirated hosts have some rather crooked but working modifications that also add AI to online mode. The best example is Bot Warfare.

Compared to PeZBOT, Bot Warfare from MW2 has become brutally wiser. If earlier one could expect a rush from them by the whole crowd, now they do not disdain even to sit in an ambush. AI has no problem using available weapons and a kill streak reward, learned how to use underbarrel weapons, easily climbs ladders and watches killcams! Sense from the last shish, but, as they say, the presence in the presence!

The modification is bad with one thing that made my purchase of an MW2 license the most mediocre acquisition in my entire life - it does not work on new patches, because there is simply no way to open the console. But for the sake of fashion, I bought the game! Well, and to salute the awesome multiplayer too... Luckily, a few pirate hosts are still up and running, and now I can honestly play all sorts of React and the like. Here for modification - I advise you to install the penultimate version, the latter does not allow you to open the desired menu.

Bots, as it turned out, are also on Call of Duty 2, and their name is . The local multiplayer, although devoid of any pumping, is still fun and class-oriented. The bots there are almost as smart as they are in Modern Warfare, although they start a little more tightly.

These are the brightest and most interesting examples of shooters with bots. If you know something else, or you have an opinion about the topic or the article itself, do not forget to comment on the material. And remember - we are not technical support, your opinion is REALLY important to us!

On October 31, 2017, a duel took place between professional StarCraft player Song Byung-gu and four different AIs. The man won every fight. One of the bots was developed by the Facebook FAIR laboratory, the rest - by programmers from Australia, Norway and South Korea.

Human versus AI

The competition took place at Sejong University in Seoul, South Korea, which has hosted an annual StarCraft AI competition since 2010. In previous years, the matches were only between bots and were organized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Despite the fact that the duels in Seoul did not attract as much attention as between AlphaGo and go professionals, they still have a great importance in the development of AI. The research community considers StarCraft especially difficult game for bots. After AlphaGo's success in Go and some AI advances in chess, the attention of scientists turned to the idea of ​​teaching AI real-time strategies such as StarCraft.

In contrast to the same go, in which constant control of everything is possible playing field, due to which players can develop a game strategy in the first step, StarCraft requires using memory and developing tactics on the go within a limited and virtual game world. As a result, StarCraft becomes an effective tool to help AI take a step forward in development.

Past fights are just the beginning

A number of professional StarCraft players have said they are ready to host live-streamed matches against bots, similar to AlphaGo matches. The leaders of the DeepMind project have already agreed to organize similar matches in the future.

Returning to past matches, it is worth noting that the total time spent by Song in 4 matches was only 27 minutes. The longest match lasted 10.5 minutes, the shortest was only 4.5 minutes. This is despite the fact that bots could move their units much faster than a human, as well as manage multiple tasks at the same time.

The Norwegian bot, for example, at one point in time reached a speed of 19 thousand actions per minute. This is despite the fact that professional players cannot perform more than a few hundred actions per minute.

The winning man noted in a post-match interview:

Professional players start the battle only when they have enough army and unit management skills to win. The bots, on the other hand, tried to save their units without making any bold decisions. However, the way they deflected my attacks was sometimes overwhelming.

Kim Kyung-jong, a professor of computer science at Sejong University, said the bots were limited in part by the lack of data available for preparation. He also added that AlphaGo was able to defeat champions in Go only by studying a large number of matches played by human professionals.

Development perspective

Note that Google has long wanted to teach AI how to play StarCraft. Also in this quest for her Facebook and Alibaba. In August 2017, DeepMind and StarCraft developer Blizzard released a highly anticipated set of AI development tools compatible with the most popular version of StarCraft II among professionals.

Experts are already predicting a complete collapse of human dominance in StarCraft. According to Jung Han-min, a professor of computer science at South Korea's University of Science and Technology, when AI bots are equipped with high-level decision-making systems like AlphaGo, humans will no longer be able to defeat them.