Strategic Decicions
With the latest game state at your disposal, your bot can evolve into an "autonomous agent". This transition marks an upgrade in functionality, enabling not just reactions to game states but strategic actions that consider context, energy, and proximity to make decisions.
Writing the Code
Return to your bot.lua file and add the following functions:
-- Determines proximity between two points.
function inRange(x1, y1, x2, y2, range)
return math.abs(x1 - x2) <= range and math.abs(y1 - y2) <= range
end
-- Strategically decides on the next move based on proximity and energy.
function decideNextAction()
local player = LatestGameState.Players[ao.id]
local targetInRange = false
for target, state in pairs(LatestGameState.Players) do
if target ~= ao.id and inRange(player.x, player.y, state.x, state.y, 1) then
targetInRange = true
break
end
end
if player.energy > 5 and targetInRange then
print("Player in range. Attacking.")
ao.send({Target = Game, Action = "PlayerAttack", Player = ao.id, AttackEnergy = tostring(player.energy)})
else
print("No player in range or insufficient energy. Moving randomly.")
local directionMap = {"Up", "Down", "Left", "Right", "UpRight", "UpLeft", "DownRight", "DownLeft"}
local randomIndex = math.random(#directionMap)
ao.send({Target = Game, Action = "PlayerMove", Player = ao.id, Direction = directionMap[randomIndex]})
end
end
The decideNextAction function is now a testament to our agent's ability to think and act based on a comprehensive understanding of its environment. It analyzes the latest game state to either attack if you have sufficient energy and an opponent is inRange or move otherwise.
Now all you need is a handler to make sure this function runs on its own.
Handlers.add(
"decideNextAction",
Handlers.utils.hasMatchingTag("Action", "UpdatedGameState"),
function ()
if LatestGameState.GameMode ~= "Playing" then
return
end
print("Deciding next action.")
decideNextAction()
end
)
This handler triggers upon receiving a message that the latest game state has been fetched and updated. An action is taken only when the game is in Playing mode.
You can refer to the latest code for bot.lua in the dropdown below:
Updated bot.lua file
LatestGameState = LatestGameState or nil
function inRange(x1, y1, x2, y2, range)
return math.abs(x1 - x2) <= range and math.abs(y1 - y2) <= range
end
function decideNextAction()
local player = LatestGameState.Players[ao.id]
local targetInRange = false
for target, state in pairs(LatestGameState.Players) do
if target ~= ao.id and inRange(player.x, player.y, state.x, state.y, 1) then
targetInRange = true
break
end
end
if player.energy > 5 and targetInRange then
print("Player in range. Attacking.")
ao.send({Target = Game, Action = "PlayerAttack", Player = ao.id, AttackEnergy = tostring(player.energy)})
else
print("No player in range or insufficient energy. Moving randomly.")
local directionMap = {"Up", "Down", "Left", "Right", "UpRight", "UpLeft", "DownRight", "DownLeft"}
local randomIndex = math.random(#directionMap)
ao.send({Target = Game, Action = "PlayerMove", Player = ao.id, Direction = directionMap[randomIndex]})
end
end
Handlers.add(
"HandleAnnouncements",
Handlers.utils.hasMatchingTag("Action", "Announcement"),
function (msg)
ao.send({Target = Game, Action = "GetGameState"})
print(msg.Event .. ": " .. msg.Data)
end
)
Handlers.add(
"UpdateGameState",
Handlers.utils.hasMatchingTag("Action", "GameState"),
function (msg)
local json = require("json")
LatestGameState = json.decode(msg.Data)
ao.send({Target = ao.id, Action = "UpdatedGameState"})
end
)
Handlers.add(
"decideNextAction",
Handlers.utils.hasMatchingTag("Action", "UpdatedGameState"),
function ()
if LatestGameState.GameMode ~= "Playing" then
return
end
print("Deciding next action.")
decideNextAction()
end
)
Loading and Testing
Once again, to test out the latest upgrades, load the file in your aos player terminal as follows:
.load bot.lua
Observe your process output to see the decisions your autonomous agent makes in real-time, leveraging the current game state for strategic advantage. But what if another player attacks you and runs away while you are deciding the next move? In the next section you'll learn to automatically counter as soon as you have been attacked 🤺