AI
AI - Computer Players
Checkers includes support for AI (Computer) chess players, using a fairly simple built-in engine. The engine should prove a decent opponent for beginning players, but is unlikely to seriously challenge experienced players (technical detail: it is an alphabeta pruned search using a position-weighted evaluator and configurable search depths, with no opening book or endgame database support).
Playing against the AI
The simplest way to do this is to create a game and start it without inviting a human opponent. If you do this, a random AI will automatically be chosen for you. This AI opponent could be very weak, or very challenging (for a casual player - none of the built-in AI's should seriously challenge a strong player).
Choosing an AI opponent
To see what AI's are available:
/checkers list ai
You can see more detail about an AI with /checkers list ai <ai-name>.
To invite a specific AI, you can use the /checkers invite command, just as if you were inviting a human opponent:
/checkers invite standard5
Customising the AI definitions
You can edit the file AI.yml in the plugins/Checkers folder. The file is well commented, and the layout should be fairly clear.
Each entry is a keyed by the AI's public name (i.e. what gets shown in games, and can be invited with /checkers invite). Each entry can take several parameter definitions, described below.
The valid parameters are:
| Parameter Name | Applies to | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ai | all | This is the only mandatory parameter, and must refer to an AI definition in the AI_settings.yml file (note that AI_settings.yml should not be edited) |
| enabled | all | If true, this AI will be listed in /checkers list ai output, and may be picked at random to join games. If false, the AI won't be listed or randomly picked, but may be explicitly invited to a game with /checkers invite <ai-name>. |
| comment | all | A user-visible comment, displayed when /checkers list ai <ai-name> is used. |
| payout_multiplier | all | For games with a stake, this controls how much a player will win when beating this AI. Default is 1.0. You may wish to raise this for tougher AI opponents, or lower it if your human players are doing too well :) |
You are free to edit AI.yml and add or modify entries. You can have multiple entries for the same "ai" definition if you wish.
Once you've finished editing this file, use /checkers reload ai to reload it (or reload/restart the server).
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