Post by lycaeon on Jan 3, 2018 5:40:33 GMT
Teleport AI Guide
This is an intermediate to advanced teleport guide for mid-level players who understand the basics of teleport use and have read Worf's AI Bible. For players new to the use of the teleport, a simple summary of its use is as follows (Also refer to the SQUID basic AI guide in the workshop):
Condition => Action
The basics of conditions and actions are explained in Worf's AI bible. In the case the teleport action is:
Condition => Target enemy room
This will make your crew go to the teleport (Once the condition is met), wait until the teleport is fully charged, then teleport to the specified room. Once there the crew will first attack any enemy crew occupying the room, then destroy the room. Should more of that room type exist it will then move to them and destroy them too. Afterwards depending on your AI you can configure it to hold the room, move to additional enemy rooms to destroy them, or return to your ship.
Note that crew waiting to teleport will not repair the teleport, lend the teleport their weapons skill bonus, nor attack enemy crew in the teleport. In effect they are essentially helpless. For this reason it's suggested you configure your AI to only teleport one crew at a time.
There are two teleport stages in the ordinary round; Stage 1 takes place at the immediate start and Stage 2 takes place over the remainder of the round.
Guide to Rushing and Teleport Manning
Before we can get to the actual boarding AI, however, we must first address the use of support crew for your teleport, which are just as important if not more so than your actual boarders.
A crucial support to the teleport is the use of rushers, that is, crew with the ‘rush command’ ability that instantly advances the load progress of a room by the ability amount (ie. 30 ability = 30% load). Teleports, especially low level teleports, load slowly, while your first 1-3 boarders need to get into the enemy ship as soon as possible to have the best effect (explained in the later sections). The gold standard is to reach 90-100% rush by adding up the ability of all your rushers in the teleport at the start of the round; this will close to instantly teleport your first boarder into the enemy ship for maximum effect.
The best three star crew will have a maximum of 30 rush at level 40.
The best four star crew will have 45 rush at level 40.
The best five star crew will have 50 rush at level 40.
Beyond this you can increase rush ability with gym training and equipment.
Right away the main problem is obvious; it takes a lot of rushers to reach 90-100 instant load. And the teleport only has space for three crew (Discounting boarders, who don’t occupy a crew space while they’re waiting to teleport). The easiest approach is to fill the teleport with three 30 ability rushers with the following AI on top of Worf’s repair AI:
1. None => Use Ability : Rushes the teleport
2. Your Shields Are Full => Target Your Teleport : Keeps the rusher in the teleport long enough to rush it before going to his regular station/repair duties.
3. Worf’s AI Repair List: The normal AI for repair you would give your crew.
Your first boarders can be placed in an adjacent room and will head to the teleport (Already fully charged thanks to your rushers) to board the enemy ship.
If you want to rush the teleport multiple times, however, you can place a second set of rushers in an adjacent, non-rushable (Such as reactor) room with the following AI:
1. None => Use Ability
2. Worf’s AI Repair List : The normal AI for repair/defense you would give your crew.
3. Your Ship HP < 100 => Target Your Normal Idle Room : The normal idle room (For example your weapons room) as specified by the AI Bible. However, this won’t take effect while your ship is at full health.
4. None => Target Your Teleport Room : The initial idle room, which is the default room your rusher will head to so long as your ship has full HP.
The net effect is that your secondary rusher(s) will wait in the reactor with his ability primed. Once your first rushers leave (Upon your shields getting hit) and make space for more crew in the teleport he will immediately enter the teleport and rush it again, staying there until your ship hp drops below 100 (Which happens shortly afterwards), at which point he will man his weapons room and act as an ordinary crew.
This way you can have multiple sets of rushers rush the teleport in sequence, allowing you to rapidly teleport multiple boarders onto the enemy ship in the first 10 seconds of the round.
The second type of support is a critical hit crew, who can be stationed in your teleport to guard against enemy poison gas boarders sent to gas your teleport and everyone inside it. Do note that he will occupy one crew slot, leaving only two spaces for rushers (Both the first rushers and any secondaries). He can also be configured to use the teleport himself later in the round (Explained in the following sections).
Note: Using more than three teleport rushers is very crew intensive and so is not advised if you have less than 12 crew. In the end, a single boarder is superior to a single rusher, and non-rusher crew can support your ship in other ways.
Room and Crew Order: Using multiple rushers/guards/boarders will require optimally laying out your teleport and adjacent non-loading rooms (eg: reactors or engines) and the crew who occupy them so that everyone runs into the teleport in the right order (The goal being to rush the first boarder(s) out as soon as possible). See the following examples:
[ Reactor ] { Teleport } (Engine) => Rest of Ship
G = Critical Hit Guard
R = Rusher
B = Boarder
Example 1: One Guard, Two Boarders, Two Rushers
{ R, B, G } ( R, B )
Rushers and boarders should always enter from the right as they can reach their position in the teleport the fastest. If there are more than three entering put any extra boarders in the left room.
Example 2: Four Rushers, Three Boarders
[ B ] { R, B, R } ( R, R, B )
The number of rushers waiting outside the teleport cannot exceed the number of rushers inside the teleport at round start. This is because only the first rushers will immediately leave after rushing...the second rushers coming from the adjacent room will wait inside the teleport after rushing until your ship is damaged.
Example 3: Two Rushers, One Guard, Three Boarders
[ B3, B2 ] { R1, B1, G } ( R2 )
The first boarder should always be in the teleport to be ready for immediate boarding.
The remaining boarders 2 - 3 will enter the room regardless of how many crew are inside (as they are waiting to teleport, not occupying the room).
The guard should always be in the teleport to kill any enemy instant boarders.
The first rusher (With your shield full condition) rushes then leaves as soon as your shields get hit.
The second rusher (With teleport idle condition) immediately enters the room as soon as the first rusher leaves then rushes. He then waits in the teleport until your ship takes damage before running off to repair and man his weapons.
Now for the actual boarder AI design!
Stage 1: Initial Disruption (Round start)
At the beginning of the round, your opponent will have full crew, with a portion of those devoted to anti-boarder defense. This all but guarantees your first boarders will either die or escape with a sliver of their health. There are two means of making your first wave of boarders effective despite this.
Disrupt and Evade (Requires 1-2 boarders): Your first 1-2 boarders will board rooms most likely to be filled with enemy crew at the start of the round, gas the crew, destroy the room, then move to other rooms, evading enemy boarder defense. Once their health is low they will retreat to one of your rooms their skills can support. Recommended targets: Teleport, hangar.
Board and Hold (Requires 2-3 boarders): Your first 2-3 boarders will board and hold a critical but lightly defended room. They will keep killing enemy crew coming to repair the room until they themselves are killed (Or retreat). This strategy is recommended against enemies who use Security Gates, and is particularly effective at killing enemy crew as your crew will always get the first 1-3 shots on any defenders entering the room (Unless they use an ability). Recommended targets: Ion cannon, reactors, hangar
Gdonkeyers are the most effective first boarders as they will often be teleporting into fully occupied rooms. In the late game a highly skilled system hacker can be even better (A +100% skilled Thomas can disable a crucial room for upwards of 30 seconds, an eternity in the round). Both means require that your initial boarders are rushed as in many cases your opponent will be directly targeting your teleport with the same strategies as above.
Countermeasures: At later levels most enemies will station critical hitters in the above rooms to counter this tactic, as they will always hit first and kill your boarders. To counter this it's recommended to target secondary rooms that will still be filled with enemy crew to gas (Lasers, plasma cannons, missile launchers). A better alternative is to rush two gas boarders in a row to a crucial room you know will only be filled with one critical hitter at most (ie. Their Teleport).
Stage 1 boarders only need a very basic AI as they will not survive with more than 25% health (If they survive at all). Should they survive they will station themselves in a room of your choosing where their skills can still help you in the fight.
AI Configuration and Explanation:
Disrupt and Evade:
1. None => Use Special Power : The boarder uses their special ability at the first available opportunity.
2. Current HP < 25% => Target Your Laser Room : The boarder retreats from the enemy ship and mans your laser room once he's damaged below 25% health for the rest of the round, contributing his weapon skill instead of dying uselessly. This can be changed to any room your boarder has the skill for, or removed entirely if you want your boarder to fight to the death.
3. None => Target Enemy Teleport : donkeyuming your teleport is rushed at the start of the round, this will send your boarder instantly into the enemy teleport, where they will use poison gas to kill all enemy crew in the room (Including their boarders!) then destroy the teleport. Don't use this if you can't rush your teleport, or if you're facing enemies who station critical hit defenders in their teleport.
4. None => Target Enemy Hangar : Does the same to the enemy's hangar. Does not need to be rushed.
5. None => Target Enemy Reactor : Destroys the reactor, then moves onto the next undamaged reactor. Your standard boarder target as the loss of power will greatly disrupt the enemy's everything.
6. None => Target Your Reactor : Some enemy ships will have split hulls or inaccessible rooms. This line allows your boarder to reach them by returning to your ship and teleporting back.
Configured in this way your boarder will target and destroy the first room in the list, then move onto the next available enemy room until he is either killed or reduced below 25% health at which point he will retreat to your ship and man one of your rooms. The advantage of moving between rooms is your crew will not be targeted by any enemy crew while moving (Except by the abilities of enemy crew stationed in rooms your boarder moves through), but makes them vulnerable to security gates.
Board and Hold:
1. None => Use Special Power
2. Current HP < 25% => Target Your Laser Room : This command is optional if you want your boarder to hold the enemy room until death.
3. Your Ship Has Full Shield => Target Enemy Room : Your boarder will target and hold this room due to the loss of Full Shield (See Worf's AI Bible). Additional boarders with the same command will target the exact same room, and will add additional DPS (Highly effective against enemy crew without poison gas).
4. Your Ship Has Full Shield => Target Enemy Room 2: To be used in case the enemy ship doesn't have the first room type (Not needed if the first room is enemy reactor).
Configured in this way your boarder(s) will target and destroy the first room in the list, then stay there to keep it destroyed and kill all enemy crew who attempt to repair it. Using more than one boarder with this AI is recommended as multiple boarders in a single room can kill enemy repairers much faster. Should the 25% health command be included they will retreat to man one of your rooms once their health drops below that.
A special hybrid boarder can be created with the following lines replacing 3 and 4 above.
3. Enemy ship hp > 50 => Target Enemy Room : As your enemy’s ship will start with 100 hp, this command will also make your boarder target and hold this room, however, there can be only one of this room type or else he will proceed to the next undamaged one. Examples include shield, teleport, and AA (Unless they have two). There can only be one of this command.
4. Enemy ship < 50 => Target Enemy Room 2 : This command will remain dormant until midway through the round at which point your hold boarder will leave his position and target the listed rooms, transitioning into a disrupt and evade boarder. This command can be repeated for multiple rooms. If left out the boarder will continue holding the first enemy room.
Configured in this way your boarder(s) will destroy and hold the room specified in command 3 until the enemy ship drops below 50% health, at which point they will leave and target the remaining rooms.
Stage 2: General Sabotage (Mid Round)
Note: It is recommended you either have at least 12 crew or more than your enemy before using this strategy as otherwise it could deprive your ship of repairers/defenders at crucial points in the round. It is critical that your weapons focus enemy security gates as they will disrupt this strategy.
As the round goes on the enemy's crew will be gradually killed by your weapons (And your boarders if Stage 1 was successful). This will reduce resistance to subsequent boarding efforts, at which point a second wave of boarders will wreck havoc and possibly even cripple the enemy ship. The boarders will consist of your own boarder defense crew, who up to this point have hopefully repelled most enemy boarders.
Critical hitters and hero gdonkeyers are the most effective Stage 2 boarders as they can fulfill multiple necessary roles; boarder defense, repair, and manning your rooms. Likewise in the late game system hackers are also effective (Though less effective than if they were used in Stage 1). Be careful not to devote all of your defense crew to boarding as a competent enemy will be using these same tactics against you.
Unlike the Stage 1 boarders, who aren't expected to survive and so only need basic AI, Stage 2 boarders will have an AI built on top of Worf's repair AI discussed in the AI bible and repair guides. Configured properly, they will not only repair your ship's rooms, but will also take every opportunity to teleport to your enemy's ship, destroy a room and kill a repairer or two. Better yet, should they run out of enemy rooms to target they will return to your ship to repair damaged rooms and man weapons.
AI Configuration and Explanation:
1. None => Use Special Power
2. Your Reactor HP < 50% => Target Condition Room : This boarder will prioritize defending your reactors above all else, both to kill enemy boarders, and to keep your ship (And Teleport) powered. Note that this command can be moved under lines 4/5 if you have other reactor defenders available.
3. Your Teleport HP < 50% => Target Condition Room : As a mid-round boarder this crew has to make sure the teleport is repaired before attempting to board as otherwise he will sit uselessly in a damaged or destroyed teleport. Note that this makes your boarder useless against enemies focusing the teleport as they will immediately return to try to repair it. If facing enemies focusing the teleport move this command under lines 4/5 and give other nearby non-boarders teleport repair priority.
Following this there are two ways of configuring a Stage 2 boarder (Commands 4 and 5). You may use one or both according to your needs.
4. Current HP < 50% => Target Enemy Room : While his HP is above 50% this crew will act as any other normal crew configured using Worf's repair AI. Once he goes below 50%, he will transition into a boarder and will prioritize destroying the target room above his normal repair AI. This command can be duplicated for every enemy room type you want to destroy. Once all listed enemy rooms are destroyed the crew will return to his normal repair duties (But will return to boarding if any of the enemy rooms are repaired).
Advantages: Your condition is automatically varied, sending a trickle of boarders throughout the round as your ship takes damage. It also triggers earlier in the round than most other conditions. This method is best used when you have fewer crew and can only afford to send over one or two as a distraction/disruption mid round, and cannot be considered a win condition (You still have to kill your enemy the old fashioned way). Once you advance past level 7 it’s recommended to switch to the next method (Command 5).
Disadvantages: The boarders are sent with low health, making them vulnerable to damage both from enemy crew and your own weapons (Don't send them at rooms your weapons are targeting!) They are also sent one at a time, making it easier for enemy boarder defense to deal with them.
5. X Condition => Target Enemy Room : Use this if you want your crew to transition into a boarder by any trigger other than health.
Advantages: Your boarder will board with full or close to full health, making them more effective. Several boarders can be sent at the same time, overwhelming the enemy crew. This method is best used when you have large numbers of spare crew you can afford to send over mid round, and when configured properly can end the round by themselves.
Disadvantages: All boarders with the same condition will board at once when that condition is fulfilled, clogging up your teleport with multiple crew at the same time and making them vulnerable to enemies focusing your teleport. This can be avoided by varying your conditions, which incidentally gives you much more flexibility with your boarders.
Example: Using Enemy Ship Health < 50% as your condition will send your boarders over when the enemy's ship (And crew) are already heavily damaged. This makes finishing them off much easier. Using Your Ship Health < 50% can buy your ship valuable time in a losing battle by disrupting the enemy before they can finish you off. Using them both ensures your crew will board midway through the round no matter what.
Following this is your standard Worf's Repair AI format (See the AI Bible and AI Repair Guides for details).
6. Your X Room < 50% => Target Condition Room
7. Your Y Room < 50% => Target Condition Room
8. Your Z Room < 100% => Target Condition Room
9. Current HP < 50% => Target Your Shelter Room
10. Your Ship Has Active Shield => Target your Weapons Room
11. Current HP < 100% => Target Your Shelter Room
12. None => Target Your Weapons Room
Configured in this way your crew will act as a normal repairer/boarder defender from the start of the round until his condition is triggered, whether it's through damage from enemy weapons/boarders or the condition you set. Once that happens your crew will board the enemy ship and destroy their rooms/kill their crew until either they get killed or destroy all the targeted rooms (At which point they will return to your ship and continue repairs as normal). A notable side effect of this AI is they will continue to teleport back and forth should enemy repairers repair the destroyed rooms, essentially hitting and running while avoiding defenders.
Advanced Tactics (To be updated, suggest your own in this thread to have them added!)
Board and Hold Combinations: Boarding and Holding with multiple boarders allows you to take advantage of synergies between different crews. High hp, high attack crews (Such tanks include Rocky and Taura) paired together and/or with a high hp, high ability healer (Such as Lolita) can hold out against immense enemy response, even ones that would normally instantly kill the average boarder.
Special Configuration: Stage 2 Boarder and Holder
A boarder that waits until midway through the round before boarding and holding a room can deal devastating damage as by this point the enemy’s primary repair and anti-boarder crew have been killed by your weapons and boarders, leaving behind weaker secondary crew that can’t dislodge a held room. This comes at the cost of limited functionality...before boarding they will man the room they are stationed in at the start of the round and won’t dodge enemy fire or repair other rooms; it’s recommended that you use boarder defenders who are donkeyigned to a single room (such as a reactor) for this.
1. None => Use Special Ability
2. Enemy Ship < 50 => Target Enemy Room : Make sure the opponent can only have one of the specified room so the boarder will stay there after teleporting.
3. Your Ship < 50 => Target Enemy Room: Same enemy room as line 2.
And that’s it.
Configured in this way the crew will man/defend the room they are stationed in until the enemy ship (Or your ship) drops below 50% health, at which point he will teleport over to the specified enemy room and hold it for the remainder of the round. Two boarders who complement each other well (See combinations above) can grind up large numbers of enemy crew.
Special Configuration: Random Destruction
This boarder AI is simple.
1. None => Use Special Ability
2. Any enemy room > 0 => Target Condition Room
3. None => Target Your Reactor
Your boarder will randomly attack different enemy rooms. Lacks focus but is fun to watch and in rare instances can confuse your opponent’s boarder defense.
This is an intermediate to advanced teleport guide for mid-level players who understand the basics of teleport use and have read Worf's AI Bible. For players new to the use of the teleport, a simple summary of its use is as follows (Also refer to the SQUID basic AI guide in the workshop):
Condition => Action
The basics of conditions and actions are explained in Worf's AI bible. In the case the teleport action is:
Condition => Target enemy room
This will make your crew go to the teleport (Once the condition is met), wait until the teleport is fully charged, then teleport to the specified room. Once there the crew will first attack any enemy crew occupying the room, then destroy the room. Should more of that room type exist it will then move to them and destroy them too. Afterwards depending on your AI you can configure it to hold the room, move to additional enemy rooms to destroy them, or return to your ship.
Note that crew waiting to teleport will not repair the teleport, lend the teleport their weapons skill bonus, nor attack enemy crew in the teleport. In effect they are essentially helpless. For this reason it's suggested you configure your AI to only teleport one crew at a time.
There are two teleport stages in the ordinary round; Stage 1 takes place at the immediate start and Stage 2 takes place over the remainder of the round.
Guide to Rushing and Teleport Manning
Before we can get to the actual boarding AI, however, we must first address the use of support crew for your teleport, which are just as important if not more so than your actual boarders.
A crucial support to the teleport is the use of rushers, that is, crew with the ‘rush command’ ability that instantly advances the load progress of a room by the ability amount (ie. 30 ability = 30% load). Teleports, especially low level teleports, load slowly, while your first 1-3 boarders need to get into the enemy ship as soon as possible to have the best effect (explained in the later sections). The gold standard is to reach 90-100% rush by adding up the ability of all your rushers in the teleport at the start of the round; this will close to instantly teleport your first boarder into the enemy ship for maximum effect.
The best three star crew will have a maximum of 30 rush at level 40.
The best four star crew will have 45 rush at level 40.
The best five star crew will have 50 rush at level 40.
Beyond this you can increase rush ability with gym training and equipment.
Right away the main problem is obvious; it takes a lot of rushers to reach 90-100 instant load. And the teleport only has space for three crew (Discounting boarders, who don’t occupy a crew space while they’re waiting to teleport). The easiest approach is to fill the teleport with three 30 ability rushers with the following AI on top of Worf’s repair AI:
1. None => Use Ability : Rushes the teleport
2. Your Shields Are Full => Target Your Teleport : Keeps the rusher in the teleport long enough to rush it before going to his regular station/repair duties.
3. Worf’s AI Repair List: The normal AI for repair you would give your crew.
Your first boarders can be placed in an adjacent room and will head to the teleport (Already fully charged thanks to your rushers) to board the enemy ship.
If you want to rush the teleport multiple times, however, you can place a second set of rushers in an adjacent, non-rushable (Such as reactor) room with the following AI:
1. None => Use Ability
2. Worf’s AI Repair List : The normal AI for repair/defense you would give your crew.
3. Your Ship HP < 100 => Target Your Normal Idle Room : The normal idle room (For example your weapons room) as specified by the AI Bible. However, this won’t take effect while your ship is at full health.
4. None => Target Your Teleport Room : The initial idle room, which is the default room your rusher will head to so long as your ship has full HP.
The net effect is that your secondary rusher(s) will wait in the reactor with his ability primed. Once your first rushers leave (Upon your shields getting hit) and make space for more crew in the teleport he will immediately enter the teleport and rush it again, staying there until your ship hp drops below 100 (Which happens shortly afterwards), at which point he will man his weapons room and act as an ordinary crew.
This way you can have multiple sets of rushers rush the teleport in sequence, allowing you to rapidly teleport multiple boarders onto the enemy ship in the first 10 seconds of the round.
The second type of support is a critical hit crew, who can be stationed in your teleport to guard against enemy poison gas boarders sent to gas your teleport and everyone inside it. Do note that he will occupy one crew slot, leaving only two spaces for rushers (Both the first rushers and any secondaries). He can also be configured to use the teleport himself later in the round (Explained in the following sections).
Note: Using more than three teleport rushers is very crew intensive and so is not advised if you have less than 12 crew. In the end, a single boarder is superior to a single rusher, and non-rusher crew can support your ship in other ways.
Room and Crew Order: Using multiple rushers/guards/boarders will require optimally laying out your teleport and adjacent non-loading rooms (eg: reactors or engines) and the crew who occupy them so that everyone runs into the teleport in the right order (The goal being to rush the first boarder(s) out as soon as possible). See the following examples:
[ Reactor ] { Teleport } (Engine) => Rest of Ship
G = Critical Hit Guard
R = Rusher
B = Boarder
Example 1: One Guard, Two Boarders, Two Rushers
{ R, B, G } ( R, B )
Rushers and boarders should always enter from the right as they can reach their position in the teleport the fastest. If there are more than three entering put any extra boarders in the left room.
Example 2: Four Rushers, Three Boarders
[ B ] { R, B, R } ( R, R, B )
The number of rushers waiting outside the teleport cannot exceed the number of rushers inside the teleport at round start. This is because only the first rushers will immediately leave after rushing...the second rushers coming from the adjacent room will wait inside the teleport after rushing until your ship is damaged.
Example 3: Two Rushers, One Guard, Three Boarders
[ B3, B2 ] { R1, B1, G } ( R2 )
The first boarder should always be in the teleport to be ready for immediate boarding.
The remaining boarders 2 - 3 will enter the room regardless of how many crew are inside (as they are waiting to teleport, not occupying the room).
The guard should always be in the teleport to kill any enemy instant boarders.
The first rusher (With your shield full condition) rushes then leaves as soon as your shields get hit.
The second rusher (With teleport idle condition) immediately enters the room as soon as the first rusher leaves then rushes. He then waits in the teleport until your ship takes damage before running off to repair and man his weapons.
Now for the actual boarder AI design!
Stage 1: Initial Disruption (Round start)
At the beginning of the round, your opponent will have full crew, with a portion of those devoted to anti-boarder defense. This all but guarantees your first boarders will either die or escape with a sliver of their health. There are two means of making your first wave of boarders effective despite this.
Disrupt and Evade (Requires 1-2 boarders): Your first 1-2 boarders will board rooms most likely to be filled with enemy crew at the start of the round, gas the crew, destroy the room, then move to other rooms, evading enemy boarder defense. Once their health is low they will retreat to one of your rooms their skills can support. Recommended targets: Teleport, hangar.
Board and Hold (Requires 2-3 boarders): Your first 2-3 boarders will board and hold a critical but lightly defended room. They will keep killing enemy crew coming to repair the room until they themselves are killed (Or retreat). This strategy is recommended against enemies who use Security Gates, and is particularly effective at killing enemy crew as your crew will always get the first 1-3 shots on any defenders entering the room (Unless they use an ability). Recommended targets: Ion cannon, reactors, hangar
Gdonkeyers are the most effective first boarders as they will often be teleporting into fully occupied rooms. In the late game a highly skilled system hacker can be even better (A +100% skilled Thomas can disable a crucial room for upwards of 30 seconds, an eternity in the round). Both means require that your initial boarders are rushed as in many cases your opponent will be directly targeting your teleport with the same strategies as above.
Countermeasures: At later levels most enemies will station critical hitters in the above rooms to counter this tactic, as they will always hit first and kill your boarders. To counter this it's recommended to target secondary rooms that will still be filled with enemy crew to gas (Lasers, plasma cannons, missile launchers). A better alternative is to rush two gas boarders in a row to a crucial room you know will only be filled with one critical hitter at most (ie. Their Teleport).
Stage 1 boarders only need a very basic AI as they will not survive with more than 25% health (If they survive at all). Should they survive they will station themselves in a room of your choosing where their skills can still help you in the fight.
AI Configuration and Explanation:
Disrupt and Evade:
1. None => Use Special Power : The boarder uses their special ability at the first available opportunity.
2. Current HP < 25% => Target Your Laser Room : The boarder retreats from the enemy ship and mans your laser room once he's damaged below 25% health for the rest of the round, contributing his weapon skill instead of dying uselessly. This can be changed to any room your boarder has the skill for, or removed entirely if you want your boarder to fight to the death.
3. None => Target Enemy Teleport : donkeyuming your teleport is rushed at the start of the round, this will send your boarder instantly into the enemy teleport, where they will use poison gas to kill all enemy crew in the room (Including their boarders!) then destroy the teleport. Don't use this if you can't rush your teleport, or if you're facing enemies who station critical hit defenders in their teleport.
4. None => Target Enemy Hangar : Does the same to the enemy's hangar. Does not need to be rushed.
5. None => Target Enemy Reactor : Destroys the reactor, then moves onto the next undamaged reactor. Your standard boarder target as the loss of power will greatly disrupt the enemy's everything.
6. None => Target Your Reactor : Some enemy ships will have split hulls or inaccessible rooms. This line allows your boarder to reach them by returning to your ship and teleporting back.
Configured in this way your boarder will target and destroy the first room in the list, then move onto the next available enemy room until he is either killed or reduced below 25% health at which point he will retreat to your ship and man one of your rooms. The advantage of moving between rooms is your crew will not be targeted by any enemy crew while moving (Except by the abilities of enemy crew stationed in rooms your boarder moves through), but makes them vulnerable to security gates.
Board and Hold:
1. None => Use Special Power
2. Current HP < 25% => Target Your Laser Room : This command is optional if you want your boarder to hold the enemy room until death.
3. Your Ship Has Full Shield => Target Enemy Room : Your boarder will target and hold this room due to the loss of Full Shield (See Worf's AI Bible). Additional boarders with the same command will target the exact same room, and will add additional DPS (Highly effective against enemy crew without poison gas).
4. Your Ship Has Full Shield => Target Enemy Room 2: To be used in case the enemy ship doesn't have the first room type (Not needed if the first room is enemy reactor).
Configured in this way your boarder(s) will target and destroy the first room in the list, then stay there to keep it destroyed and kill all enemy crew who attempt to repair it. Using more than one boarder with this AI is recommended as multiple boarders in a single room can kill enemy repairers much faster. Should the 25% health command be included they will retreat to man one of your rooms once their health drops below that.
A special hybrid boarder can be created with the following lines replacing 3 and 4 above.
3. Enemy ship hp > 50 => Target Enemy Room : As your enemy’s ship will start with 100 hp, this command will also make your boarder target and hold this room, however, there can be only one of this room type or else he will proceed to the next undamaged one. Examples include shield, teleport, and AA (Unless they have two). There can only be one of this command.
4. Enemy ship < 50 => Target Enemy Room 2 : This command will remain dormant until midway through the round at which point your hold boarder will leave his position and target the listed rooms, transitioning into a disrupt and evade boarder. This command can be repeated for multiple rooms. If left out the boarder will continue holding the first enemy room.
Configured in this way your boarder(s) will destroy and hold the room specified in command 3 until the enemy ship drops below 50% health, at which point they will leave and target the remaining rooms.
Stage 2: General Sabotage (Mid Round)
Note: It is recommended you either have at least 12 crew or more than your enemy before using this strategy as otherwise it could deprive your ship of repairers/defenders at crucial points in the round. It is critical that your weapons focus enemy security gates as they will disrupt this strategy.
As the round goes on the enemy's crew will be gradually killed by your weapons (And your boarders if Stage 1 was successful). This will reduce resistance to subsequent boarding efforts, at which point a second wave of boarders will wreck havoc and possibly even cripple the enemy ship. The boarders will consist of your own boarder defense crew, who up to this point have hopefully repelled most enemy boarders.
Critical hitters and hero gdonkeyers are the most effective Stage 2 boarders as they can fulfill multiple necessary roles; boarder defense, repair, and manning your rooms. Likewise in the late game system hackers are also effective (Though less effective than if they were used in Stage 1). Be careful not to devote all of your defense crew to boarding as a competent enemy will be using these same tactics against you.
Unlike the Stage 1 boarders, who aren't expected to survive and so only need basic AI, Stage 2 boarders will have an AI built on top of Worf's repair AI discussed in the AI bible and repair guides. Configured properly, they will not only repair your ship's rooms, but will also take every opportunity to teleport to your enemy's ship, destroy a room and kill a repairer or two. Better yet, should they run out of enemy rooms to target they will return to your ship to repair damaged rooms and man weapons.
AI Configuration and Explanation:
1. None => Use Special Power
2. Your Reactor HP < 50% => Target Condition Room : This boarder will prioritize defending your reactors above all else, both to kill enemy boarders, and to keep your ship (And Teleport) powered. Note that this command can be moved under lines 4/5 if you have other reactor defenders available.
3. Your Teleport HP < 50% => Target Condition Room : As a mid-round boarder this crew has to make sure the teleport is repaired before attempting to board as otherwise he will sit uselessly in a damaged or destroyed teleport. Note that this makes your boarder useless against enemies focusing the teleport as they will immediately return to try to repair it. If facing enemies focusing the teleport move this command under lines 4/5 and give other nearby non-boarders teleport repair priority.
Following this there are two ways of configuring a Stage 2 boarder (Commands 4 and 5). You may use one or both according to your needs.
4. Current HP < 50% => Target Enemy Room : While his HP is above 50% this crew will act as any other normal crew configured using Worf's repair AI. Once he goes below 50%, he will transition into a boarder and will prioritize destroying the target room above his normal repair AI. This command can be duplicated for every enemy room type you want to destroy. Once all listed enemy rooms are destroyed the crew will return to his normal repair duties (But will return to boarding if any of the enemy rooms are repaired).
Advantages: Your condition is automatically varied, sending a trickle of boarders throughout the round as your ship takes damage. It also triggers earlier in the round than most other conditions. This method is best used when you have fewer crew and can only afford to send over one or two as a distraction/disruption mid round, and cannot be considered a win condition (You still have to kill your enemy the old fashioned way). Once you advance past level 7 it’s recommended to switch to the next method (Command 5).
Disadvantages: The boarders are sent with low health, making them vulnerable to damage both from enemy crew and your own weapons (Don't send them at rooms your weapons are targeting!) They are also sent one at a time, making it easier for enemy boarder defense to deal with them.
5. X Condition => Target Enemy Room : Use this if you want your crew to transition into a boarder by any trigger other than health.
Advantages: Your boarder will board with full or close to full health, making them more effective. Several boarders can be sent at the same time, overwhelming the enemy crew. This method is best used when you have large numbers of spare crew you can afford to send over mid round, and when configured properly can end the round by themselves.
Disadvantages: All boarders with the same condition will board at once when that condition is fulfilled, clogging up your teleport with multiple crew at the same time and making them vulnerable to enemies focusing your teleport. This can be avoided by varying your conditions, which incidentally gives you much more flexibility with your boarders.
Example: Using Enemy Ship Health < 50% as your condition will send your boarders over when the enemy's ship (And crew) are already heavily damaged. This makes finishing them off much easier. Using Your Ship Health < 50% can buy your ship valuable time in a losing battle by disrupting the enemy before they can finish you off. Using them both ensures your crew will board midway through the round no matter what.
Following this is your standard Worf's Repair AI format (See the AI Bible and AI Repair Guides for details).
6. Your X Room < 50% => Target Condition Room
7. Your Y Room < 50% => Target Condition Room
8. Your Z Room < 100% => Target Condition Room
9. Current HP < 50% => Target Your Shelter Room
10. Your Ship Has Active Shield => Target your Weapons Room
11. Current HP < 100% => Target Your Shelter Room
12. None => Target Your Weapons Room
Configured in this way your crew will act as a normal repairer/boarder defender from the start of the round until his condition is triggered, whether it's through damage from enemy weapons/boarders or the condition you set. Once that happens your crew will board the enemy ship and destroy their rooms/kill their crew until either they get killed or destroy all the targeted rooms (At which point they will return to your ship and continue repairs as normal). A notable side effect of this AI is they will continue to teleport back and forth should enemy repairers repair the destroyed rooms, essentially hitting and running while avoiding defenders.
Advanced Tactics (To be updated, suggest your own in this thread to have them added!)
Board and Hold Combinations: Boarding and Holding with multiple boarders allows you to take advantage of synergies between different crews. High hp, high attack crews (Such tanks include Rocky and Taura) paired together and/or with a high hp, high ability healer (Such as Lolita) can hold out against immense enemy response, even ones that would normally instantly kill the average boarder.
Special Configuration: Stage 2 Boarder and Holder
A boarder that waits until midway through the round before boarding and holding a room can deal devastating damage as by this point the enemy’s primary repair and anti-boarder crew have been killed by your weapons and boarders, leaving behind weaker secondary crew that can’t dislodge a held room. This comes at the cost of limited functionality...before boarding they will man the room they are stationed in at the start of the round and won’t dodge enemy fire or repair other rooms; it’s recommended that you use boarder defenders who are donkeyigned to a single room (such as a reactor) for this.
1. None => Use Special Ability
2. Enemy Ship < 50 => Target Enemy Room : Make sure the opponent can only have one of the specified room so the boarder will stay there after teleporting.
3. Your Ship < 50 => Target Enemy Room: Same enemy room as line 2.
And that’s it.
Configured in this way the crew will man/defend the room they are stationed in until the enemy ship (Or your ship) drops below 50% health, at which point he will teleport over to the specified enemy room and hold it for the remainder of the round. Two boarders who complement each other well (See combinations above) can grind up large numbers of enemy crew.
Special Configuration: Random Destruction
This boarder AI is simple.
1. None => Use Special Ability
2. Any enemy room > 0 => Target Condition Room
3. None => Target Your Reactor
Your boarder will randomly attack different enemy rooms. Lacks focus but is fun to watch and in rare instances can confuse your opponent’s boarder defense.
All in one big loooong post