What is this thing?

Right now, not much -- a set of libraries for simulating StarCraft II build orders, a data file with some (but not all) of the unit data for the Zerg and Protoss inventories, and a set of RSpec tests.

However, this is under active and rapid development right now, and my goal is to very shortly have all of the unit data entered, the simulator tested and debugged, and then start working towards my real goal -- an optimizer that uses some simple dynamic programming and AI techniques to generate optimal build orders for given strategies.

What's done?

The basic resource model is sound but not tested against real SC2 play, so the assumptions underlying the timing of resource gathering and building placement (which does have a tangible impact on the build order) are still educated guesses rather than having been tuned by real play.

Within those bounds, mineral and gas harvesting are working, supply caps are enforced, and the inventory management class can automatically generate a skeletal (without workers + supply unit addition) build order based on the dependencies expressed in the data file (i.e. that information isn't hard- coded). There's no front-end, but run from inside irb it's already possible to poke around with things and learn some interesting things.

Due to a byproduct of how the scheduling algorithms work, the library will automatically reorder the construction of some units based on resource availability automatically. This is neat, but it isn't the same as the optimizer.

What remains to be done?

• Finish entering Protoss data (about 80% complete right now).
• Finish entering Zerg data (about 30% complete right now).
• Enter Terran data.
• Specialize the relevant bits of the resource calculation models for the different races.
• Add support for economic abilities like Chrono Boost, Spawn Larvae, and the MULE Calldown.
• Write the worker + supply optimizer.
• Add all of the slots to producers so that units can be queued to be built when their resources are available rather than when the producer is idle, while respecting the queue caps on each producer.
• Write a simple front-end that allows you to express both complete builds for calculation as well as goals such as, "2 Colossi with range enhancement" that can then be further tailored.
• Write user documentation (see the specs as well as doc/sample-starcraft-runs.rb for now).
• Figure out how to incorporate information about changes to units from balance patches in a non-poochy way.

How can I use this?

Go wild, folks. This was done to satisfy my own curiosity and help me become a better StarCraft II player. As such, it's distributed under a Simplified BSD License, which asks only that if you credit me if you decide to incorporate it into your own software. If you find it useful, please let me know, and of course I'm happy to fix any bugs you may find.

Also, I took the unit data and calculation from a number of sources:

• Obviously, much of this stuff is ™ and © Blizzard, and all rights are reserved by them. Also, their game is pretty good, so they deserve credit for that too.
• Much of the original unit data was taken from Brady Games' official StarCraft II Strategy Guide.
• Further unit details and information about resource gathering times were derived from information posted on the Team Liquid Liquipedia at http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Main_Page, which everyone serious about getting better at SC2 should both use and contribute to.