Real-Time Strategy Game Competitions

In this report we motivate research in this area, give an overview of past RTS game AI competitions, and discuss future directions. TS games -- such as StarCraft by Blizzard Entertainment and Command and Conquer by Electronic Arts -- are popular video games that can be described as real-time war simulations in which players delegate units under their command to gather resources, build structures, combat and support units, scout opponent locations, and attack. The winner of an RTS game usually is the player or team that destroys the opponents' structures first. Unlike abstract board games like chess and go, moves in RTS games are executed simultaneously at a rate of at least eight frames per second. In addition, individual moves in RTS games can consist of issuing simultaneous orders to hundreds of units at any given time.