Just did a local test on Regulus and all of his snipe action had Killshot = true.  This apparently means only use the skill for a killshot.  Took killshot off the hero target function and it is fire at will now.   The default function finds the weakest hero in range, so not really anything else to do. 

Put 4 on my team, took off fog of war and they sniped from the center of the map to demigods retreating by the corner flags

I think the AI respects fog of war, so should I add that skill that tags a target, so he can snipe demigods that back into the fog?

It used to do that because it was flag-lazy, but now it probably does that because it specifically looks for enemy flags to capture.  Should probably have it looking at portal flags first (unless very far away from its citadel), then neutral flags (also unless far from its citadel), then a normal enemy flag.

That should be an unnecessary exception - only portal flags should have higher priority than neutral flags.  Might have to do the distance check for all flag capture actions from both their position and their citadel though (if this isn't already done; I think it might be), to catch flags that they're near enough to, even though they might not be near their base.

Basically, what's happening when they move off of an uncapped flag prematurely (which I don't think I've seen happen when it's clear they went specifically to cap that flag) is that they're being assigned another, higher-priority cap-enemy-flag action, when they should be assigned any nearby / near-base neutral flag cap actions first, then enemy flags.

The flag search might include neutral flags, but it isn't pushing their priority above that of other non-portal enemy flags.  I think it should be.  I would break neutral flags out of the combined flag search / randomization routine, do them first, but if they're 'hostile' (radius 20 tower check?), then add them into the 'enemy flags' table, which it then proceeds to find a random flag from or however you have it doing that now.

Neutral flags should always belong to the neutral civ army, and thus be gathered by a neutralbrain:GetListOfUnits.  They may have a class var on them that shows their last ownership, but I don't know if that should be relevant for purposes of capturing them - we don't want to prioritize prev ownership, as it could result in say, excessive pressure on a random enemy flag that some AI capped and then lost, while other more accessible flags go uncapped.

If you want to specifically prioritize flags the AI 'should' own, there should be a way to search one of the Scenario tables containing markers for the flag unit's Name, checking if it belongs to a particular army.  But so far, the only problem I've seen the AI have with recapping its own flags is the accidental-neutral ones (where it goes to attack a demigod, chases the demigod off, and neutralizes the flag - for example).

Changes coming in H (before i forget them):

Attack demigod actions tweaked to chase in some cases, but retreat in most when towers are encounted.

Regulus Snipe skilled allowed to fire more often than just a kill shot.  Skill used only for demigod targets.

Regulus achievement items updated.  Removed Renewel added blade of serpent.

TB, Frost Nova and Deep Freeze used mostly for interrupts or severely damaged heroes (to slow them down).

TB, Fire mode/Ice mode Switch based on skills he has rather than random. 

Sedna and UB,  Interrupt skill usage tweaked.

Process to select flag to capture updated.  Tower threat scan range increased.  Should result in ally flags being recaptured more consistently as their threat is low.

Removed cloak of night from general's achievement item pick list.  Health all the time seems more useful than flee occasionally for the AI at least.

Queen Shield allies:  Added condition that ally has to be below 75% health.  Maybe she won't blow through all her many as quickly.

Generals Sharing Priests: AI will inspect ally generals and not send a priest to that general if they both own the same level idol.  So if you are an assassin with two normal generals at the start, they will both buy monks, they will see that eachother has monk, and each send their spare monk to you.

Probably other stuff i missed.

Is TB faster in ice mode?  I have in there if doesn't have any ice skills, but an enemy is near and he is low health that it is ok to switch to ice mode.

No, unless he has at least Permafrost or Frost Nova, he shouldn't do this.  He should only be switching to ice mode with no skills momentarily, for the weapon damage / mana boosts.  And definitely not when he's pursuing / fleeing.

Yeah, that's more or less what I was getting at.  If there are any non-dangerous neutral flags, always get those first.

TY!

also, i agree with pacov, definitely add the tracker, as it is beneficial for allied demigods as well

AI skirmish (mod version) .26h/uberfix 1.03 (last version published by miriyaka)

Settings:  cata/High Towers - all other settings on default
AI settings:  normal
3v3

rook (human)/reg/qot v rook/reg/qot

Observed results:

noticed something strange right of the bat.  My reg made its purchases and announced its build.  Then sat at the shop for a little over a minute.  Never bought anything else - just sat there.  Then, after a min or so, he gets to work.  Not sure why he was just standing around.

reg went - sniper mines build.  Snipes weren't great, but did see the ai starting to snipe some, so its an improvement.

ended game early as rawrr joined me for testing... doing another test now..

I think there is something in the sniper_mines build causing it to hanging running 4vs5 Regulus games and seems to be that build.  I'll see if something looks funky about it.

Seems to be tied to the finger of god achievement item.  Add that to any class's build and it kills it.

Thanks for another release.  I'm going to start looking at ability builds now.  Anyone know where the file is?  Going to dig around, but I imagine I'll find it shortly.

edit - found it.  Taking a look.

Here comes an ugly paste.  New skill tree for DA:

SkillBuilds = {

   Warp_Spine_Swap =
       {
        'HDemonWarpStrike01',       # 1
        'HDemonSpineAttack01',      # 2
                'SAVE',                     # 3
                'HDemonWarpStrike02','HDemonSpineAttack02',  # 4
                'HDemonShadowSwap01',       # 5
                'SAVE',                     # 6
                'HDemonWarpStrike03','HDemonSpineAttack03',  # 7
                'SAVE',                     # 8
                'SAVE',                     # 9
                'HDemonWarpStrike04','HDemonSpineAttack04', 'HDemonShadowSwap01',  # 10
                'HDemonWarpArea01',        # 11
                'HDemonWarpArea02',        # 12
                'HDemonDemonsSpeed01',     # 13
                'ADD THE NAME FOR EVASION HERE',     # 14           
                'HDemonDeadlyWarp',        # 15
                'HDemonDemonsSpeed02',     # 16
                'ADD THE NAME FOR EVASION HERE',     # 17           
                'HDemonDemonsSpeed03',     # 18
                'ADD THE NAME FOR EVASION HERE',     # 19     
                'ADD THE NAME FOR ASSASSIN's SPEED HERE',     # 20      

AI skirmish (mod version) .26i/uberfix 1.03 (last version published by miriyaka)

Settings:  cata/High Towers - all other settings on default
AI settings:  normal
3v3

rook (human)/reg/reg v rook/reg/reg

Observed results:

hmm... regs performance was so so leaning towards bad.  I'm thinking that based on the way the ai plays, it might be best to have the ai always pick up a level of scope so it can peck away at towers at the least (probably at level 2).  Snipes still really aren't where I'd like them to be.  I'm seeing alot of super close snipes (can be good, but generally really bad).  Watched 1 reg walk right up to a rook and choose to snipe while rook was swinging away at him.  Wonder if we can get some overrides in place.  For instance, perhaps its ok to snipe up close if the opponent is down to 10% hp or so.  it's probably a difficult rule to program, but the underlying principal is that its always best to snipe at max distance.  I didn't see any ai spamming snipes on a single target ever, though.  I'd be pretty happy if we could see that working.  Maybe having tracker in kits will help that, but we'll see.  The way qot is shielding (still needs some tweaks, but good) makes me want to have her as an ai teammate.  If we could get reg so that he's harassing regularly with snipes, then I'm game. 

saw a rook port into a recently locked flag and try to relock it while the lock was still on there (eg no effect).

question about portal control logic.  I took the ai's portals 2 times prior to ws 6 or 7 or so.  The ai made VERY little effort to try to retake. Is that intended?

I tried to take a portal late game and the ai was all over me.

Another thought - ai rook could really use a build tower farm routine.  It would start after it has lev 3 towers.  Basically, the ai would camp a flag IN A LANE (eg creeps are coming by) and it would spam towers for like a minute or so.

Also, a farm routine would be good for early/mid game.  Basically, this means that an ai would plop down in a lane or just behind one of its towers and wait for creep waves to come back and attack them. Generally, when farming, unless you are quite strong, you avoid fights with other dgs.  This would would be a short override if the ai is 1) behind on levels or 2) has > flag control than the other team.  Anyway, farming makes a big difference imo (in good MP games, it means the difference between a win and a loss).