TotalBotWar: An Innovative AI Challenge and Competition for Pseudo Real-time Multi-action games

Abstract

This paper introduces TotalBotWar, a novel pseudo-real-time multi-action challenge for game AI. Additionally, it includes initial experiments that assess the framework’s performance with various agents. TotalBotWar is inspired by the real-time battles found in the popular TotalWar game series, where players command armies to defeat their opponents. In this game, each turn comprises a set of orders to control one’s units. As the game progresses, the number and specific orders that can be executed in a turn change. An intriguing aspect of TotalBotWar is that if a unit doesn’t receive an order in a turn, it continues the action it performed in the previous turn. This characteristic results in a rapidly increasing turn-wise branching factor, making it challenging for traditional algorithms. Furthermore, the game’s partial observability of the game state makes it a valuable platform for testing modern AI algorithms.