Separation of Bot and Level

Bots usually won't have anything to do with the level - they need to be added separately. As in, when I start a server, I can have an option to have Bots in the command line. Or a way to add them in through a menu.

[karamazovapy]

I definitely see the appeal here, but there's also something nice about deciding which bots will load in each level.

Can you think of a compelling reason why the current system doesn't work?

The best I can come up with is that if you wanted to host identical bot and non-bot servers, you'd need two copies of each level file...but then, I prefer using -leveldir, so this wouldn't be a big deal for me.

It's a pain to have to edit the level file every single time you want to change the settings for a bot. It also makes it so that bots can't be used as a way to even the teams because the number of bots would be static per team and level.

While having bots able to be put in a level file is a great feature, it makes novelty bots more useful and make more sense than bots created for actually playing with/against.

I'd like both -- be able to add in bots "on the go" and also be able to use the bots pre-selected.

[karamazovapy]

I may have misunderstood, but I think unknown was requesting a command line option, not a real on-the-go ability.

[watusimoto]

It should be possible, in the future, to have a supervisor script that will, for example, add/subtract bots to ensure there are the right number of players for a 3v3 or 4v4 or whatever game. Of course, the supervisor script would be tied to the level...

No no - on the go AND command line. Because number of people on teams isn't always an accurate way of adding bots - the people on the other team could be WAY more skilled, making it unbalanced.

[karamazovapy]

...the people on the other team could be WAY more skilled, making it unbalanced.

Honestly though, we already have that problem. There isn't a really reliable way to pick teams. I don't see how giving the short-sided team a bot or two would make the current problem any worse.

I might be way out of line, but I think you're overthinking this a bit.