Robot Arena > Tutorials and Tips

Orc's Simple(ish) Guide to Wiring Up DSL Bots

(1/1)

TheOrcCorp:
Right, ol Orc has heard enough bitching about AI that he's decided to make a tutorial series so that NONE of you have an excuse. Grab a snack/drink and read thoroughly!

Wiring involves naming your controls and adding smartzones so that the AI knows what kind of robot it is as well as when to fire it's weapons. We need to check our controller and make sure everything is named/wired correctly. You MUST name your controls precisely or they will not work. Button and smartzone names are in bold.

DRIVE
Forward - This makes the robot drive forward and backwards. For drive on the left side of your robot, the positive axis is Counter-Clockwise while the negative axis is Clockwise. For drive on the right side of your robot, it's the opposite: the positive axis is Clockwise while the negative axis is Counter-Clockwise.
 
LeftRight - This makes the robot turn to the side. No matter what side of drive you're wiring up, positive axis is Clockwise and negative axis is Counter-Clockwise.
 
Apparently, if you attach a wheel with the attachment point on the other side then you'll need to reverse your Clockwise/Counter-Clockwise settings (so Clockwise becomes Counter-Clockwise and vice versa). That's the drive done! Now we'll look at a few different bot types and what buttons/extras they need. I'm going to use a few examples of my own robots here.
FLIPPERS
Vivacious C is a flipper (a terrible one but he'll do for this tutorial). He needs a button as well as a smartzone to function properly.
Flip - this enables the flipper to fire up AS WELL as function as a srimech. Wire this button up to your flipping motors and make sure they have "Fire" selected so that they work.
 
Smartzones are found at the end of the Power section in Bot Construction. If you hit F12, you'll be able to see your selected smartzone and place it. You want to pick a smartzone suitable for your flipper's size and place it down accordingly. You'll need to experiment to find the best spot for your smartzone and name it flip . This combined with the button will make the flipper work!
 
 
SPINNERS
It's my boi, Deadgnaws! Spinners are extremely easy, requiring no smartzones: just one button (YES BUTTON, NOT SWITCH) for the spinner to work.
Spin - This enables your spinning motor to work. You'll have to adjust what direction it spins (Counter-Clockwise or Clockwise) to suit your robot.
 
Do NOT wire your spinners to a switch as the AI constantly turns them on and off during the battle. Wire it to a button and you're good to go.
AXES/PISTONS/FLAMETHROWERS ETC
Axes/piston spikes/flamethrowers etc all use the same base controls. I'll use Necky as my example here.
Fire - This enables your weapon to attack when a robot is in your smartzone.
 
You'll need a smartzone for these bots called weapon , again placed appropriately which will take some experimenting. Flamethrowers can also be assigned to your Forward button so that they are on when your robot drives but the choice is up to you.
 
SRIMECHS
Srimechs are easy.
Srimech - This enables your srimech to function when the robot is upside down.
 
BETA/OVERKILL MOTORS
These can be tricky buggers but the base settings are:
Hammer - This enables the motor to swing down. You will have to possibly mess with the axis settings when it comes to AI'ing but we'll come to that in the AI tutorial.
 
You'll need a smartzone named weapon and placed where you want it like the other smartzones
 

Right, think that's everything. Feel free to poke me if I missed anything but as far as I'm aware this has all the most used basic AI wiring needed. I've never done anything like this before so I HOPE it's helpful. Stay tuned for the next part which will focus on AI'ing!

Herabitix:
I'd say it looks good to me chief!

Hoppin:
Alternatively this is also a good guide. It's what I used when starting out. https://gametechmods.com/forums/tutorials-and-tips/how-to-ai-for-newbies-(with-pics!)/

Great job green man. Reminder that Ai fights are 50% design, 50% AI people :))

TheOrcCorp:

--- Quote from: Hoppin on August 17, 2020, 01:32:09 PM ---Alternatively this is also a good guide. It's what I used when starting out. https://gametechmods.com/forums/tutorials-and-tips/how-to-ai-for-newbies-(with-pics!)/

--- End quote ---
It's most likely very similar but figured if I titled this DSL then people would most likely be drawn to it.

kix:
IIRC, some wheels do the funny when attaching on the opposite ap, by p much reversing the drive. It might be very specific tho. Gj nevertheless

Navigation

[0] Message Index