Explain wallbreaker AI to me

This might have been discussed already but I'm having trouble finding the actual answer especially with the tweaks with each update.

So they target the closest wall with an enclosed building right? At what point is something considered enclosed? I know sometimes a long wall segment will get targetted. Does anyone know how far a wallbreaker is willing to walk to consider it enclosed? What about a funnel type enclosure? Example - if a building is inside a long segment that wraps 3 sides, will the WB break that wall? Sure if you put the WB at the opening it'll find another target, but what if on the complete opposite side?

What about an empty enclosed wall section that buffers the outer layer? I know I've had the WB target it but it might have some preferential target over this. I am asking more for a long 1x or 2x space wide buffer area and not a false 2x2 bomb/tesla spot.

I'm just having trouble tweaking my attack strategy when the WB can be somewhat of a wildcard.

Interesting questions, would like to see the answers as well :) A SC employee could clear this up, I'm sure it's hard to understand without being the programmer himself.

How fascinating question you ask us, lets go to Mod or maybe even SEE "SC" to get answers

While AI is still a mystery man for most of us, including me, this is what I have witnessed:

They attack the nearest wall in their sight (+- 10 tiles?) if that wall partially (3 sides?) enclose a building. They will target the weakest wall and walk around things like a Gold Mine.

This means if there is a polka dot wall they will attack the weakest wall, but more importantly if a Barb or a Giant has taken a swing at a wall they will target that wall, which may be not what you want with a Wizard Tower in sight.

I don't think SC is gonna give you the answer. I'll do some Goblin mission testing, and maybe find out more.

I have noticed since the last two update they will attack the section of a wall that is closest to an enclosed building. If there are gaps between the side of a building and the wall, that means they will miss the junction ...

You need the Flammy's Ultimate Wallbreaker Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEjOSEN9Llo

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Originally Posted by mtnbkr

This might have been discussed already but I'm having trouble finding the actual answer especially with the tweaks with each update.

So they target the closest wall with an enclosed building right? At what point is something considered enclosed? I know sometimes a long wall segment will get targetted. Does anyone know how far a wallbreaker is willing to walk to consider it enclosed? What about a funnel type enclosure? Example - if a building is inside a long segment that wraps 3 sides, will the WB break that wall? Sure if you put the WB at the opening it'll find another target, but what if on the complete opposite side?

What about an empty enclosed wall section that buffers the outer layer? I know I've had the WB target it but it might have some preferential target over this. I am asking more for a long 1x or 2x space wide buffer area and not a false 2x2 bomb/tesla spot.

I'm just having trouble tweaking my attack strategy when the WB can be somewhat of a wildcard.

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You can't. AI of this game is a joke. After last Heroes update, AI of Wbs is the biggest joke of all time. They literally undo all fix on Wbs' AI that they implemented about a year ago.

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Originally Posted by Lares

You need the Flammy's Ultimate Wallbreaker Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEjOSEN9Llo

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This is too old. They have since broken the WB's AI. See below.

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Originally Posted by o0oAnnyo0o

You can't. AI of this game is a joke. After last Heroes update, AI of Wbs is the biggest joke of all time. They literally undo all fix on Wbs' AI that they implemented about a year ago.

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^Dis. Second last update, I see wb breaking a chain of lateral walls instead of penetrating deeper into the base. WB AI is so broken.

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Originally Posted by Lares

You need the Flammy's Ultimate Wallbreaker Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEjOSEN9Llo

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Originally Posted by Date That Video Was Posted

Published on Mar 18, 2013

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A few updates back, releasing the WB's in pairs seemed to work best. The first pair would peel back the outer layer, subsequent pairs would delve deeper in.

Since the last update, releasing them all at one time (once the threat of splash damage has passed) seems to work best for me. The first one or two will take out the outer layer, than the rest of them will, instead of running around the base like ♥♥♥♥♥♥s, will spot the next wall deeper in.

As others already mentioned, WB AI was completely broken by the hero nerf update.

WBs technically still have the AI shown in the Flammy video that was posted - BUT the hero nerf update also made the WB AI preferentially target previously damaged walls. Considering you almost always need cover troops to use WBs, guess which one almost always takes precedence? Yup, the previously damaged walls, which makes WBs unpredictable and stupid.

Supercell was made aware of this almost immediately after the hero nerf update yet they have done nothing for what should be an easy fix (reverting the WB AI to the pre hero-nerf update). Who knows what the heck they are thinking.

In any case, I only carry 4 WBs now to get my troops into the first level of a base. They are too stupid to rely on for anything else.

Are you not allowed to find out the targetting priorities of the WB? All other troops are straightforward as they attack the next closests XYZ, which is either building or defense depending on unit. Why the diffcultly in understanding WB? These would be the kind of things I would want cleared up. If this is all considered part of learning how to play the game then that's fine, but they keep changing the AI so I can't lock it down.


Here are a few situations that come to mind that I think need some clarification.

1) attacking juntions versus straight sections? how far will the WB walk to accomplish this? if the junction is on the other side of the base, i'd rather it go for the straight wall.2) attacking lower lvl wall versus higher? like above, i don't want the WB running around town finding the 3 lower lvl wall blocks that base didn't upgrade yet.3) i believe a WB targets the closest wall with an enclosed building right? what constitutes enclosed? this might sound obvious, but with funneling, it really isn't straight forward. when will a WB target an open wall section? i've seen them blow up long wall sections, maybe 15 across, is there some max distance they travel to considered it enclosed?4) what about enclosed wall sections with no buildings? some people buffer the TH with this. Is this considered enclosed still because housed within the double layer of walls are more buildings? Think of it as a "B" shape, where you are attacking from the top side, and the buildings are only in the bottom half of the "B" and the top half of the "B" has no buildings. Will the WB break the top side of the B, then go to the center to break the next layer?I'm sure there are more confusing situations that people want cleared up.

I don't know about the enclosed part, I know they do attack the closest enclosed section but do not k ow what would be considered enclosed. You also have to consider the staggered and non-staggered walls. Wall Breakers also target open T-Junctions, but I can't confirm much of this.

I hate the WB's current AI. Guess lots of people complained about offense being OP so SC "fixed" that by making WB's, healers, and wizards dumber than even barbarians. Troops be stupid is funny up until a point, now it is just pathetic how much troop AI has been manipulated. Have yet to see an attacking troop kill another troop, but with how dumb the AI is becoming it would not surprise me. Drop some barbs as meat shields, and watch the wizards mow down the barbs from behind!

From my own observations:
1. The nearest enclosed building targeted by WBs is counted as enclosed if it is surrounded in all directions i.e. your melee troops will have to break a wall before it can attack the target.
2. If a long straight section is in the way, it will prefer to blow it up over walking approx. 10-14 tiles away. Your normal troops (Giants especially) will also prefer to walk approx 10-14 tiles over breaking a wall.
3. WBs do NOT specifically target T junctions that open up more than 1 section at once, that is why if you bump up an enclosed building 2 tiles u will need twice the wb to break 2 layers because they are not smart enough to go for the deeper layer to open up both at the same time.
4. Fun fact: if you use a labyrinth-style base like I do, as there are no enclosed buildings/once they are no more enclosed buildings the WB's will go haywire. I notice they will then favour the T-junctions (probably because troops will otherwise have to go a long way)

Check out Flammy's video

http://youtu.be/jEjOSEN9Llo

I'm not sure what everybody else experiences, but my Wallbreakers act less than intelligent. I'm not saying they just walk around the base, but there is this bus that pulls up, and they get on the bus, and then it drives around the base. And it's like a really short bus.

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Originally Posted by TheUnseenz

From my own observations:
1. The nearest enclosed building targeted by WBs is counted as enclosed if it is surrounded in all directions i.e. your melee troops will have to break a wall before it can attack the target.
2. If a long straight section is in the way, it will prefer to blow it up over walking approx. 10-14 tiles away. Your normal troops (Giants especially) will also prefer to walk approx 10-14 tiles over breaking a wall.
3. WBs do NOT specifically target T junctions that open up more than 1 section at once, that is why if you bump up an enclosed building 2 tiles u will need twice the wb to break 2 layers because they are not smart enough to go for the deeper layer to open up both at the same time.
4. Fun fact: if you use a labyrinth-style base like I do, as there are no enclosed buildings/once they are no more enclosed buildings the WB's will go haywire. I notice they will then favour the T-junctions (probably because troops will otherwise have to go a long way)

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+1 this about matches my observations. Wb's do not target junctions in particular, they may do so by coincidence.

I have noticed they will also run maybe 10 or a few more tiles to avoid a double layered wall section to hit a single layered wall section, which is kind of dumb when you think about it because they can go through a double layer as well as they can go through a single layer.

In my last war, 2/3rds of a base I was attacking was destroyed, and I dropped 2 wallbreakers on the destroyed side, expecting them to run through the wastelands to help out my wall of troops progressing through the other side. As this was a pretty long run, they decided it was too far and ran to the nearest wall, which was not enclosing anything, and blew it up ;)

Lately Ive noticed that my first two wbs that are dropped in battle, dropped imidiately after each other, from the same spot, always split up. I guess this is the 'random' factor that SC sees as being fun.

Not sure why people don't read a short thread.

I said it in my previous post: wallbreakers have the exact AI you can see in the Flammy vid, with the additional preference of attacking previously damaged walls first.

If no wall is damaged, they will target a wall according to the rules mentioned in the Flammy vid. If any wall semi-nearby (probably in the range of 10 units) is even slightly damaged, WBs will target that. If multiple wall sections are damaged, WBs appear to randomly choose one of the damaged sections.

That's it. That's exactly what is happening with them and why they are unpredictable as far as using them in game goes.

also under rage spell they are very likely to aim the nearest walls(not even compartment)

Bump..... in the faint hope that someone from super cell can explain wth happened to WB's AI.

There is only 1 way that will truly tell us how wallbreakers work. We need a programmer to copy the files onto their computer, convert the data into computer language, reconvert the data into a language which they can use and to read through the wallbreakers AI programming to see what it checks, when it checks it, where it checks and all that.

oh. another *complicated* thingamagic missing from the game manual - IF IT HAS ANY TO BEGIN WITH

Artificial ignorance simply can not be explained.

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Originally Posted by Geronimosemiro

Artificial ignorance simply can not be explained.

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I like it :)

Bump... Anyone from super cell or game testers care to explain how wall breakers AI functions?

Bump bump bump, can anyone from super cell please explain why the wall breaker AI is so broken?

They work OK for me. Just don't drop a big pile in one go.