Heuristic Search Exploiting Non-additive and Unit Properties for RTS-game Unit Micromanagement

Abstract

This paper presents an approach that integrates fuzzy integral and fast heuristic search for improving the quality of unit micromanagement in the popular RTS game StarCraft. Unit micromanagement, i.e., detailed control of units in combat, is one of the most challenging problems posed by RTS games and is often tackled with search algorithms such as Minimax or Alpha-Beta. Due to vast state and action spaces, the game tree is often very large, and search algorithms must rely on evaluation methods from a certain limited depth rather than exploring deeper into the tree. We therefore attempt to apply fuzzy integral and aim for an evaluation method with high accuracy in the search. To achieve this aim, we propose a new function that allows fuzzy integral to cope with not only non-additive properties but also unit properties in RTS games. Experimental results are reported at the end of this paper, showing that our approach outperforms an existing approach in terns of win rates in this domain.