So you know when you create a skirmish map and add skirmish players and start positions and waypoint paths and all that, there's "Center", "Flank" and "Backdoor". But when i looked through some scripts I found one that said something like "Have team X move to the start of enemy path X", and where the path X is there's a drop-down menu and you can choose between "Center", "Flank", "Backdoor" and "Special".
Now I wonder what that "Special" path is. Can you just make a path like "Center1" and name the path "Special" or do you have to script that path?

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The fourth path is typical of RVMECH's "Almost Human" scripts. These scripts include a fourth path called "Special", look at the readme file. Download here 

You can name waypoint paths anything you want. It is my experience that a skirmish controlled player will use the shortest path into a base if there is no paths named Center, Flank, or Backdoor. I would THINK that any path into a base is a way in, so the ai *might* use it, but I dunno fer sure. However, I have tried naming three ways in, different names than Center, Flank, and Backdoor. This works, but I don't know about a fourth. Just try it. It may or may not work, but I think it will when conditions on the battlefied are right for the units out in the thick of it.

Another thing: You don't need no CombatZone. It really isn't necessary. However, if you want to draw attention to certain areas of the map so that skirmishControlled players can find them, then put the CombatZone around them. When you go into these zones, they'll follow you and find the ai recruitable objects there.

Ai Recruitable objects are found by skirmishControlled players when they are close to a path. About 18 feet wide is good for a door (you put garrisonable structures on each side of the entrance this far apart), so Ai Recruitable objects that are 9 feet away from the center lines will be found by skirmishControlled players. Even farther away works, such as 12-15 feet from center at corners, but I can say with certainty that if you place these recruitables close to paths, they will be found by the skirmishControlled player. Try this on a fourth path into a base. It may work, who knows?

One last thing:

You can make a path into a base that has a Y shape. The end is inside the base. The outside is where the Y is. Like this:




At times, this can make a poor playing map into a good one. Try that!

In fact you don't need ANYTHING to make an AI play, every tool just makes it better. the AI tends to send the full-scale assaults head-on, following the 'center' path. small to medium sized attacks come from the 'flank' path, minor attacks tends to come from 'backdoor' and non-combatant and special and elite units come from 'special'. Heroes, stealth-enabled and other special units like taking that route but if there is no special path those will follow the backdoor

combatzone is yes needed for a better AI as the units that he is not using to attack or defend will be set to guard the combat zone (pay attention, for example, to raptors and migs just "standing" in the center of a map), special scripted AIs also often have a specific team set to guard combat zone

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the AI will definitely not use pathes without a name or with a bad name.
it only was a coincidence if it worked for you once.

as BR_Alexandre pointed out: CombatZone and waypoint pathes are not necessarily needed but they will make the AI player A LOT more intelligent.

Funny that this thread is still active... ^^
Also, I just love how you correct half of the users on this site I^Love^Mixery, but, I think we can close this thread now. 😁 👍

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