LiquidMetal v2.0

The LiquidMetal AI is one of the most impressive non-cheating AI's for Total Annihilation I have ever seen. Through a policy of aggressive expansion, it can utterly dominate a map within twenty minutes. This AI plays on a scale shunned by other AI's, aiming to increase its borders ever outwards. Yep, it's not for those of you clinging tight to the 250 unit limit.

All this expansion isn't without merit either. Forsaking most forms of defence, except for the odd HLT or Guardian/Punisher, it can move out rapidly, absorbing many attacks with construction units. This AI never sits on its laurels, always pushing its resources hard.

Its attack groups are fairly well thought out, based mainly around Missile Trucks and Rocket Kbots, with some other units thrown in here and there. I dislike its love of the Bulldog, but for the most part it does a good job.

When you watch it, you see the AI swarming to take over the map rapidly, starting out with small attack groups, which eventually expand into massed hordes as the AI's industry gets into gear. Yet it is in the playing that a few cracks begin to show.

With an AI this dedicated to expansion, even more so even than Mostly Harmless, you have to wonder where the troops are coming in. Unfortunately the AI shows itself as vulnerable to raids. Where as Mostly Harmless would be pushing you back with a small army, LiquidMetal is still expanding, taking more and more territory. This is not to say it always does, no AI is that predictable, but it does seem to sacrifice a lot of the early game in its efforts to own the map. Better employed on the larger maps where raiding isn't such an option? Quite possibly.

Also, while the AI does expand quite rapidly, taking large chunks of map, it does seem to push its resources *too* hard. It is rarely more than just above nano-stall, and this is under test conditions when its only threat is itself. In the case of a human, this can only be trouble. So it appears, for the AI never quite gets its army together. Far too often it seemed to be on the verge of a big push, only for the building of some metal hungry building to effectively cut off the supply of units to the front. A little tightening of the waistline, and perhaps losing some of the more costly structures would do this AI the power of good.

Profile support is currently limited to Default (i.e. most land maps), but this is hardly a problem. Since the AI is non-cheating, you can easily use other non-cheating AI profiles to compliment this one. I would like to see some AI nuke support though, as this seems a bit of a glaring omission for such a powerful AI.

Does it beat Mostly Harmless and Queller? I have to admit, I'm not sure. It appears powerful, yet there are chinks in its armour that suggest a bit too much AI on AI testing, and not enough aggressive human play. However, at the very least I can say this joins Queller and Mostly Harmless as one of the top non-cheating AI's for Total Annihilation. Considering this is only the third iteration of this particular AI, that's some achievement.

- Quitch