diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Player.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Player.cs
index d25c7e21be..9cf4f2cf8f 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Player.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Player.cs
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ namespace OpenRA
 			
 			Index = index;
 			Palette = "player"+index;
+
 			Color = pr.Color;
 			Color2 = pr.Color2;
 			ClientIndex = 0;		/* it's a map player, "owned" by host */
diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Widgets/Delegates/LobbyDelegate.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Widgets/Delegates/LobbyDelegate.cs
index c14186573c..f2d7c6c28e 100755
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Widgets/Delegates/LobbyDelegate.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Widgets/Delegates/LobbyDelegate.cs
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ namespace OpenRA.Widgets.Delegates
 		}
 		
 		// hk is hue in the range [0,1] instead of [0,360]
-		Color ColorFromHSL(float hk, float s, float l)
+		public static Color ColorFromHSL(float hk, float s, float l)
 		{		
 			// Convert from HSL to RGB
 			var q = (l < 0.5f) ? l * (1 + s) : l + s - (l * s);
diff --git a/OpenRA.Mods.RA/CreateMPPlayers.cs b/OpenRA.Mods.RA/CreateMPPlayers.cs
index a7ec278c5e..0c196ec669 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Mods.RA/CreateMPPlayers.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Mods.RA/CreateMPPlayers.cs
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
 
 using System.Linq;
 using OpenRA.Network;
-using OpenRA.Traits;
+using OpenRA.Traits;
+using OpenRA.Widgets.Delegates;
 
 namespace OpenRA.Mods.RA
 {
@@ -47,6 +48,14 @@ namespace OpenRA.Mods.RA
 				else if (slot.Bot != null)
 				{
 					/* spawn a bot in this slot, "owned" by the host */
+
+					/* pick a random color for the bot */
+					var hue = (float)w.SharedRandom.NextDouble();
+					w.Map.Players[slot.MapPlayer].Color = LobbyDelegate.ColorFromHSL(hue, 1.0f, 0.7f);
+					w.Map.Players[slot.MapPlayer].Color2 = LobbyDelegate.ColorFromHSL(hue, 1.0f, 0.2f);
+
+					/* todo: pick a random name from the pool */
+
 					var player = new Player(w, w.Map.Players[slot.MapPlayer], playerIndex++);
 					w.AddPlayer(player);