Building Fortz

[BattlezM]

The trick to making a battle level is to have it challenging enough for the player to conquer a fort, but not so challanging that the AIz can't conquer it. Also, it'z frequently a good idea to keep the battle very symmetrical as well. Here are notez on the way Aiz behave to help.

• First, AIz are absolutly horrible at dodging tight timed defensez (fast RBz, anticipation toggle bridgez).
  
• Never have a RB travel faster than 300 for speed in a fortress.
  
• Never ever make a bridge that alternatez with a pattern of )up-down-up-down( that togglez to )down-up-down-up( because the only AI that can cross this is a wing grunt.
  
• It'z best not to use purple and orange switchez, AIz are bad at using these .
  

The best layoutz can best be seen in the standard battlez Rumble in the Rockz and Fantasy Islandz. There are simple brick, switch, bridge, toggle bridge and rolling ball obsicalez in the way.
The best way to tell if your battle is good enough is to start it up, kill all your gruntz, and watch the AIz. If they can't conquer 1 fort within 2 hourz, your battle is too difficult!

Why are the AIz so stupid? see The Way AIz Behave for more information.

[BattlezM]

Outer Areaz of the Fortressez:

For me (and probably most other battle enthusiastz), a good battle should have the following traitz:

• The fortz should be equal in all wayz
  
• The fortz must be possible for both humanz and AIz to conquer easily
  
• The pathz between the fortz should be safe (no RBz, holez, tar pitz, and hazardz in the way)
  
• Powerupz need to be balanced (don't put an invulnerabilty powerup that lastz for 99999 millisecondz)
  

The outer areaz of the fortz should have safe and easily crossed pathz that lead to the fortz. For this to be good, you need to be able to get your gruntz to whatever fort you want by clicking on the fort area in the mini map and seeing that the group you sent survivez with all memberz. Why is this so important? Two reasonz. If the path has too many tile obstaclez (holez, sand pitz), the AIz will manuver perfectly to your fort, but you have to get to theirz one grunt at a time. If there are to many logic hazardz in the way (thunder cloudz, outletz, RBz), both the player and AI will have a hard time getting around. AIz will be worse off because only 1/8 ( :-Xor none ) of their gruntz will make it to your fort. The player will quickly get fed up having to wait for that RB to be in the just right position. Make sure AIz do not start straying off the pathz, they like to take the shortest path possible, even if it meanz moving blindly through a field of RBz.
Powerupz are best pu near the center of the map, here you can put whatever tile obstacle you wish. Cursez can also be put in the center.
Reframe from putting powerupz and cursez around the sidez of the map, unless the AIz will be using the sidez of the map to get to fortz.

[BattlezM]

Creation Point Placing:

This topic is more important than it soundz. AIz like to place their gruntz on the creation point closest to the upper lefthand corner of the map. Why ? The game engine scanz the logicz in the entire level left to right, top to bottom. So the first creation point it sensez along that line is the one that is used. If that creation point is blocked (by a member of the same team) the gruntz will be created at the next closest point. This is the only way the origin of creation for AIz is changed, they won't use a different one unless there is no choice. In the diagram below the 0'z show creation pointz on on a map, 1'z show the origin creation point.

10......10
00......00
..............
10......10
00......00

Why this is important showz quickly when the AI triez to defend it'z fort. It will attempt to take the shortest path possible to the attacker, even if it meanz taking much longer and wasting time breaking through it'z own defense. This is most evident in the standard battle Rumble in the Rockz. Just attack the AI'z fort opposite the fort wall of the origin point, you'll see the desperation and havoc the AI does to itself .
By placing te origin point in an area where the AI can access either side of it'z fort is best. An alternative is to place only one enterance point into the fortz, that way you can place the creation pointz however you want .

[BattlezM]

The Center of the Map:

It is sometimez best to make this area blocked off the rest of the fort pathz. If you want a big battle taking place in the center of the map it can be left open with powerupz near the edgez. If you do choose an open center, make sure there is no way to get to ajacent fortz avoiding the center.
When you do make the center open, don't put ANY logic hazardz within what so ever. Also don't put many tile hazardz either. As putting tonz of hazardz in the center violatez the "easy to get around" rule. If the center is open with hazardz but there are pathz along the sidez of the map, it'z still a problem, AIz diagonal from each other would have a tough time getting to each other (this may or may not be what you want ). A center full of hazardz is best isolated by brickz.

Cursez are best placed in the center because the AI could walk over them much easier, making the level more of a challenge.