RFS AI Pack
The RFS AI Pack is an encompassing name for a trilogy (and soon to be quadrilogy) of supplemental all-stock AI created by Radio F Software (aka RFS, Dracophile) for the Robot Arena 2 game. It is considered to be a groundbreaking AI pack because the original restrictions of the game allowed only 15 AI teams with 3 robots per team. Throughout the first three installments of the AI pack each one built upon a specific part of the game beginning first with the replacement of the stock AI, followed up by extending the AI allotment of robots to 6 per team, and finally by extended the AI allotment of teams to 30 from 15. 30 teams was decided upon because it was a simple doubling of the existing amount, theoretically the number of teams could go on endlessly so long as it was coded correctly.
The designs featured in the pack, originally released in 2003 and 2004 (V1.0 and V1.2 in late 2003 and V1.5 in early 2004) ranged from moderately well received to indifference. The pack encompassed a number of realistic designs with very few "abuses" of what cannot be constructed realistically should someone have the desire to do so. Many claim this design feature is the pack's biggest shortcoming because of the lack of challenge for experienced and seasoned Robot Arena 2 players, but creator RFS claims this is its biggest strong point because it's marketed towards beginner players who aren't familiar with advanced building levels in the game.
The RFS AI Pack series held the rank of being the most downloaded AI pack ever (according to the download counters on RA Reborn), and several pirated copies of Robot Arena 2 that were once available for download online featured the game pre-patched with V1.5 of the RFS AI Pack. Ultimately, though, the RFS AI Pack lost its rank of "most downloads" to the more formiddable AI pack(s) created by Starcore, who cited Radio F Software among his inspirations for wanting to get involved with AI creations of his own and was given permission to use the special files to allow for more teams and robots.
History of RFS AI Pack installments:
- Version 1.0: Released (TBA)
- Version 1.2: Released (TBA)
- Version 1.5: Released (TBA)
- Version 1.7: Previously canceled, announced released date Q1 2010.
Installation
Installation of the RFS AI Pack series was once a simple process but after the closure of AceUplink it became problematic because the installation instructions for the packs were hosted on an AceUplink page and there was no provided readme files until after the packs were unzipped or extracted to their appropriate directories. The proper installation instructions are:
- 1. Unzip the 1.0 pack to C:\Program Files\Infogrames\Robot Arena 2\AI\
- 2. Unzip the 1.2 pack to C:\Program Files\Infogrames\Robot Arena 2\
- 3. Unzip the 1.5 pack to C:\Program Files\Infogrames\Robot Arena 2\
The announced version 1.7 update will be an all-encompassing download that will contain the previous three packs as part of the download so previous installation of the series will not be required for new players using the pack.
Robots Included
The table below contains a complete roster of robots provided to players who have updated the packs to the latest version of the RFS AI Pack (currently V1.5).
- The first three robots from Sgt. Stone to C0MPU73R H4CK3R5 comprise the original 45 robots of version 1.0.
- The last three robots from Sgt. Stone to C0MPU73R H4CK3R5 comprise the additional 45 robots provided by the version 1.2 upgrade.
- All robots contained in Pokemon Robotics to Radio F Software make up the additional 180 robots the 1.5 version included.
| Team Name | Team Motto | LW #1 | MW #1 | HW #1 | LW #2 | MW #2 | HW #2 |
| Sgt. Stone | "Indestructable Forces." | flipMODE | Pneumenace | Detonator | Fang The Mantis | Saturday Night Slammer | Wooden Warrior IV |
| Alien Research Team | "The PROOF is out there!" | It Came From The Moon | Thwacktar | The Truth | This Planet Sucks! | The... Probe | Mothership |
| United Commoners | "We don't need the fancy crap to whopp your ASS!" | 5 Gallon Bucket | Chop Shop | Harry The Potter | Cement Mixer | Padre Diablo | Final Verdict |
| Lethal Dosage | "100 Rads can kill you, 4000 Rads will make you suffer." | Face Scruncher | 4000 Rads | Big 1 | Item | Shockwave | Aftermath |
| The Disturbed Ones† | "Oddly effective..." | Cheese | Monkey Wrench | ||||
| United States Army | "A ROBOT Army of one." | Wire Cutter | Claymore | ||||
| Pyros | "All of our bots will make yours to explode and burn!" | ||||||
| Reptilian Team | "Tough as nails. Deadly as a dragon." | ||||||
| Mode II | "Mortal robots beware!" | ||||||
| Stoners | "Dude we are so stoned right now." | Get High | Tokin' It | Weed Cutter | Bad Trip | Ultra Bong | The Munchies |
| The rObO zOne | "You're going down!" | ||||||
| Brute Force | "Pure Metal. Pure Force." | ||||||
| Under Pressure | "How good can your bots do, under Pressure?" | Thumperizer III | |||||
| chAos | "Take no prisoners." | ||||||
| C0MPU73R H4CK3R5 | "Terminate." | ||||||
| Pokemon Robotics | "Forget the kids' stuff." | ||||||
| p0werh0use tw0 | "Full of it, power, that is." | p0werh0use tw0 | |||||
| Aquas | "Water-proof, Robot-proof." | Harpoon | Watermill | Turbine | Sand Dune | Starfish | Tidal Wave |
| Team Plastic Fruit | "You could say we are a bit fruity." | ||||||
| Sinister Squad | "We would rather die on our feet than live on our knees!" | ||||||
| New Island Technologies | "We use only the best stuff available." | ||||||
| Inventive Minds | "We find ALL of the loopholes!" | Phase IV | |||||
| X-Force | "If you think we're aggressive now, wait until mating season." | ||||||
| United States Navy | "Our torpedoes will SINK your robots." | ||||||
| r3v3ng3 0f t3h n00bz! | "OMG ur goin down!1!!one!1!eleven!!!" | OMG WTF SUSPENDED | OMG WTF BANNED | 1337 | Obvious ICED OUT Clone | ||
| People In The Basement | "We all got bored one day..." | ||||||
| Maximum Resistance | "You're a wimp! You're going DOWN!" | ||||||
| toXic | "This ain't no false alarm!" | toXic | |||||
| Destruction 101 | "Now for a class in Destruction 101." | ||||||
| Radio F Software | "You KNEW it was coming." | Keep BACK 500 Feet | Digital Dragon | Tha Thumperizer | LaunchPad | 404 | Wooden Warrior |
| RA2 Revenge | (TBA) | Holy Moly | Close Shave | Uncare Bear | Sam R. Rye | Best Served Cold | The 'Merge |
| RA1 Remix | (TBA) | Patriot Act | Going Commando | Executioner EX | Menace 2 Society | Gammarazer | Wimpy 2K10 |
| Best of Twilight Foundry | (TBA) | LaunchPad 2 | HACK! | Balls Of Steel Revolution | Thumperizer 9 Yr. Anniversary | ||
| Second Chance | (TBA) | Psygnos 2004 | Steamroller | Thrasher |
† This team was formerly known as "Team Crashed" in the 1.0 version of the AI pack. It was renamed in the version 1.2 update after program assistant TheDisturbedOne (the 3 new robots to the team are also his creations).
Personnel
- Radio F Software - Lead Designer, Main AI-ing
- TheDisturbedOne - Support Programming
Secrets
Despite what RFS claims there are "secrets" hidden in two of the three available AI packs.
- V1.0: No hidden secrets.
- V1.2: C:\Program Files\Robot Arena 2\AI\NOT A SECRET!!! contains various media including a Bahamut dragon graphic, a MIDI version of Green Day's "Basketcase", and an interactive sandwich maker game.
- V1.5: C:\Program Files\Robot Arena 2\Secret contains the pack's readme file as well as some pictures from SomethingAwful.com and a tribute picture to one of RFS' friends.
- V1.7: TBA