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But you do want to ensure that your production facilities are always producing. It is well known in RTS games that you generally don't really want units queued up, since those resources could be used elsewhere (like building a new building). Elements where scripted behavior suffices. You want to reduce the round trip time, which is related to queueing theory. An example of this is optimizing mineral gathering. Elements that can be easily formulated mathematically. My wall-building algorithm has several seconds to calculate a wall, because the first supply depot is only built after 5 extra worker units are built. Elements that don't need an immediate solution (so they're less real-time constrained). MR: The easiest elements of StarCraft for a bot are: Pip: Which elements of playing StarCraft are easiest to achieve with bots? Over time I added more modules into it like my mineral-gathering algorithm and my wall-building algorithm. MR: LetaBot was build upon the framework of UAlberta bot, since that framework is very modular. Pip: How did you first approach the problem of designing a Starcraft AI? (For example, were you looking at existing bots or did you start from scratch? Were you looking to solve particular challenges?) Use the air dominance to gain map control and get more expansions Tech up to air unit while keeping your bases safe Try to expand as fast as possible when it is safe to do so. Open with a build order that is safe from early aggression. LetaBot is still a work in progress, but in general it works as follows: So I decided to focus on that problem first. While experimenting against other bots, I found that all of them had problems with the early game. MR: I started out LetaBot with the idea to create a Terran version of the Berkeley Overmind with Wraiths instead of Mutalisks as the air unit that will dart around the place. Pip: Can you introduce LetaBot and tell me a bit about how the AI works? The reason for participating in the SSCAIT is to test how well my algorithms perform against other bots. Designing a StarCraft bot is part of my master thesis. Martin Rooijackers: I am Martin Rooijackers, a master student at Maastricht University. Pip: Hi Martin, can you tell me a little about yourself and why you take part in SSCAIT? Are some of Starcraft's races easier to build bots for than others? What's the hardest thing to get bots to do? And is LetaBot built to dominate a bot meta or could it take on humans too? While the bots continue to battle I've been asking Martin to tell me more about how they work. This year Martin and LetaBot made it through to the quarter-finals. They also won the 2014 student and mixed division. Last year's student division title went to Martin Rooijackers and his creation, LetaBot. SSCAIT started in 2011 and is one of three major Brood War AI tournaments. The Student StarCraft AI Tournament is an AI vs AI tournament which pits bots programmed to play StarCraft: Brood War against one another.