ellysh/dota2-combo-bots

Dota 2 Combo Bots project

Dota 2 Combo Bots 1.3b version

This project is closed and no longer supported.

These are bots for Dota 2 and a toolkit to configure them.

A current development state is available in the CHANGELOG.md file.

Why this project appeared?

Dota has default bots that are fit excellent for new players training. But they are too weak to compete with more experienced players. Therefore, these players do not have reliable computer opponents, which allow them to train some tactics and ideas.

There are several well-known projects that suggest more powerful bots for experienced players. But most of them have some drawbacks that make them unreliable for daily Dota training.

The aim of this project is providing a reliable solution for experienced players training.

Architecture

The main issue with any Dota bots is to transform knowledge from the game experts and pro players into the source code. The Combo Bots project has a solution to this issue.

The knowledge about the game is extracted from the source code into the Excel document, which is named Database. Any player can edit this document and use generator script to produce Lua files. These files have the format, which can be read by the bot. Thus, we have a flexible mechanism to configure the bot and adapt it for your purposes.

System Requirements

You need nothing except the Dota 2 game to play with Combo Bots.

These applications are required to edit the Combo Bot Database:

• Free LibreOffice or MS Office.
• Python interpreter of the 2.x version.
• Windows, Linux or Mac OS.
• Bash interpreter to automate Lua scripts generating and unit tests launching (optional).
• The Lua interpreter of the 5.3 and above version is required to launch unit tests locally.
• The luacov Lua module to get a test coverage statistic.

Installation

You can download a current version of Combo Bots on Steam.

These a steps to download the bots and install them manually in the Dota 2 game directory:

1. Download the Combo Bots archive.
2. Unpack the archive.
3. Copy all files from the bot sub-directory to the $DOTA\dota 2 beta\game\dota\scripts\vscripts\bots directory.
4. Start the Dota 2 game.
5. Create a lobby (Play Dota -> Create Lobby).
6. Specify the Local Dev Script option in the lobby bot settings for one of the teams.

More details about installing custom bots you can find in this Dota 2 AI Quick Start guide.

Customization

You can find Combo Bots Database file in the generator/database/docs/Database.ods path. It has the standard Excel document format.

There are several sheets in the document:

• HEROES
• ITEM_RECIPE
• ITEM_BUILD
• ITEM_SELL
• SKILL_BUILD
• SKILL_USAGE
• TEAM_DESIRES
• PLAYER_DESIRES

You should use the internal (built-in) game names of the items, units, heroes, and abilities to fill these sheets. These are links, where you can find this information:

1. Item and hero names:
   https://dota2.gamepedia.com/Cheats
2. Names of the hero abilities:
   https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Dota_2_Workshop_Tools/Scripting/Built-In_Ability_Names
3. Names of the items abilities match the items names.

These are steps to generate Lua scripts from the Database document:

1. Save each sheet of the Database document as the CSV file with the ; field delimiter and " text delimiter.
2. Use the generator/generator.py file to create Lua script from each of saved CSV files. The script has three parameters: name of the sheet, number of columns and a name of the input CSV file. You can get examples of the script usage in the generator/launch.sh file.
3. Copy all generated Lua scripts to the bot/database directory.

HEROES

The HEROES sheet specifies a list of heroes that can be selected by bot on the draft step.

These are columns of this sheet:

1. Hero - this is the built-in name of the hero to select.
2. Position - these are two values that match a possible hero's farm position in a team.
3. Combo Heroes - these are three possible heroes that can be effectively combined with the current hero.
4. Counter Heroes - these are three possible heroes that can be effectively countered by the current hero.

The bot uses data from this sheet to select heroes on the draft step.

Now only the All Pick draft mode is supported.

ITEM_RECIPE

The ITEM_RECIPE sheet describes a list of components to assemble the recipe items.

These are columns of this sheet:

1. Item - this is a name of the recipe item to assemble.
2. Components - these are four or fewer components, which are required to assemble the current item. If a component is a recipe item too, you should specify the name of this item here instead of its components.

The bot uses this data in the item purchasing algorithm. Thanks to this sheet, you can specify only final recipe items in the item builds.

ITEM_BUILD

The ITEM_BUILD sheet describes a list of items that bot should buy when playing on different heroes.

These are columns of this sheet:

1. Hero - this is the built-in hero name.
2. Starting Items - these are three or fewer basic items that will be bought at the beginning of a game.
3. Early Game - these are three or fewer items that will be bought at the early stage of a game.
4. Core Items - these are three or fewer items that will be bought after the starting ones.
5. Extra items - these are four or fewer items that will be bought after the core ones.

The bot follows the sequence of items on this sheet when buying them. If the inventory of a hero is full, the bot will sell some items according to conditions from the ITEM_SELL sheet.

ITEM_SELL

The ITEM_SELL sheet describes the conditions when the bot should sell the specific items.

These are columns of this sheet:

1. Item - this is a name of the item to sell.
2. Level - this is a hero level when the current item should be sold.
3. Time - this is a game time when the current item should be sold.

The bot will sell the specified items when its inventory is full and either Level or Time condition happens.

SKILL_BUILD

The SKILL_BUILD sheet describes a sequence, how the bot will level up abilities and talents when playing on the specific heroes.

These are columns of this sheet:

1. Hero - this is the built-in hero name.
2. 1..25 level - these are abilities and talents that will be leveled up when the hero reaches the corresponding level. The columns with abilities are marked green color. Red color match the column with a talent.

The abilities are numbered from the 1st:

Default ability hotkey	Number
Q	1
W	2
E	3
R	4

This is the scheme of the talents numbering

Talent level	Position in the tree	Number
10	right	1
10	left	2
15	right	3
15	left	4
20	right	5
20	left	6
25	right	7
25	left	8

We use the numbers instead of the abilities and talents names because of two reasons:

1. This way is shorter for writing.
2. Official documentation is deprecated and uses obsoleted talent names. Please do not use them and read the actual values from the game instead.

The bot will follow rules from this sheet when it gains a new level and updates its abilities.

SKILL_USAGE

The SKILL_USAGE sheet describes desires and conditions when the bot should use each of hero's abilities. The conditions are implemented as the functions in the bot/utility/ability_usage_algorithms.lua file. If you want to add a new condition, you should implement the function in this file with the corresponding name. Each condition-function returns a boolean result of its checking and the target for the ability.

These are columns of this sheet:

1. Skill Name - this is the built-in name of a hero ability.
2. Any Mode - this a condition of the skill usage for any active mode of the bot. The second sub-column contains a desire (from 0.0. to 1.0 value) to use this ability.
3. Team Fight - this a desire and condition of the skill usage when the bot is in a team fight.
4. BOT_MODE_ROAM - this is a desire and condition for the BOT_MODE_ROAM mode.
5. BOT_MODE_TEAM_ROAM - this is a desire and condition for the BOT_MODE_TEAM_ROAM mode.
6. BOT_MODE_PUSH_TOWER - this is a desire and condition for any of BOT_MODE_PUSH_TOWER_TOP, BOT_MODE_PUSH_TOWER_MID and BOT_MODE_PUSH_TOWER_BOT modes.
7. BOT_MODE_ATTACK - this is a desire and condition for the BOT_MODE_ATTACK mode.
8. BOT_MODE_LANING - this is a desire and condition for the BOT_MODE_LANING mode.
9. BOT_MODE_ROSHAN - this is a desire and condition for the BOT_MODE_ROSHAN mode.
10. BOT_MODE_FARM - this is a desire and condition for the BOT_MODE_FARM mode.
11. BOT_MODE_DEFEND_TOWER - this is a desire and condition for any of BOT_MODE_DEFEND_TOWER_TOP, BOT_MODE_DEFEND_TOWER_MID and BOT_MODE_DEFEND_TOWER_BOT modes.
12. BOT_MODE_RETREAT - this is a desire and condition for the BOT_MODE_RETREAT mode.
13. BOT_MODE_DEFEND_ALLY - this is a desire and condition for the BOT_MODE_DEFEND_ALLY mode.

The aggressive bot modes are marked red color on the sheet. Green color marks the defensive modes.

The bot will use the most desired ability when checking all of them with the condition, which matches to its active mode.

TEAM_DESIRES

The TEAM_DESIRES sheet describes desires to choose a specific mode for all bots on the team level.

These are columns of this sheet:

1. Algorithm - this is a name of Lua function that returns a boolean value. If the function returns true, the positive number will be added to a corresponding desire. Otherwise, the desire will be decreased. All algorithm functions should be implemented in the bot/utility/team_desires_algorithms.lua module.
2. Push TOP desire - this is a pair of positive and negative numbers (weights) that affect the resulting desire to choose the BOT_MODE_PUSH_TOWER_TOP mode.
3. Push MID desire - these are weights to choose the BOT_MODE_PUSH_TOWER_MID mode.
4. Push BOT desire - these are weights to choose the BOT_MODE_PUSH_TOWER_BOT mode.

The team desires for all modes will be passed down to each bot. Then, the bot considers team desires to choose an own mode.

PLAYER_DESIRES

The PLAYER_DESIRES sheet describes desires to choose a specific mode on the bot player level. It has the same structure as the TEAM_DESIRES sheet. Algorithms, which are specified in the first column, should be implemented in the bot/utility/player_desires_algorithms.lua module.

The bot will summarize the team desire and player desire to choose own current mode.

Contributing

I will be glad to any help with the development of this project.

If you are familiar with Lua scripting, you can help with the code development. Please, send your patches via email or make push commits on GitHub.

If you are a game expert, you can help with filling the Database. You can send me your Database.odt file. Then I will use it to generate Lua scripts and merge new features in the project repository.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to adamqqqplay and his great Ranked Matchmaking AI project. Some of his ideas and concepts are used here.

Contacts

You can ask any questions about usage of Combo Bots via email [email protected].

License

This project is distributed under the GPL v3.0 license