Monster AI?

[ITS'aME'aMARIO!!!!]

Sorry, I don't like to lump my ideas next to other peoples' in the same thread... BAN ME!


Here's my idea...

Monster AI... (more like lack thereof)

I am gonna sound pretty retarded here like "Pro-monster rights!" or something but... when you can sit atop a hill or behind something and fire spells down on an enemy w/o taking damage... that's pretty lame... especially when the monster just kind of takes it and doesn't run away from the hopeless situation or climb up and pwn...

It is just a game, and it can't be too realistic without people actually bleeding in real life from an axe wound... but i'm sure orcs as thick headed as they are might be able to understand the concept of basic jumping... or climbing... instead of standing there while another fireball seers his upper half...

Monster clips are good I suppose.... keeps them from going to places you don't want them to... but like in nightmare_thornlands... why keep the boars and orcs separated like that? they are compelled to attack one another but an unknown force prevents them?

Meh... imma go tork hunting..

 

[The Man In Black]

Firstly, the enemies aren't supposed to sit there and take it. That little "chicken run" thing they do (the twitchy run when they hit the wall) is programmed in (function call chicken run) (or at least it was, and I think still is in Thothie's version) to make them try to find their way around obstacles.

Secondly, I don't know if it's entirely possible to make them jump and such, especially since it would require a lot of new animations, and since it's not always a direct path to the enemy. I think the better, but most likely impossible, solution would be to try and get the source style AI where they have a sampled walking space and are smart enough to know how to get to everywhere that we can (sans exploits of course >_>)

 

[Orochi]

Source actually has NPC jumping support, all you need are properly flagged pathnodes built into the level. One of the perks of the engine, I suppose.

 

[The Man In Black]

Exactly. The source bots can pretty much do anything you can, and probably better because their timing is PERFECT.

EDIT: Or at least could be. I don't know if they programmed in "stupidity" and "inaccuracy" like they did for weapons =\

 

[Thothie]

HL1 monsters can be made to jump easily - just, maybe without the animation in the case of those models that lack it. Working out the script where they realize you are shooting them from above and then come 'hopping' after you maybe a bit of an issue though. Certainly, the monster would start "hopping" up towards you, even if he didn't have any actual way to get to you, and that'd be an issue as well. (Wind up with orcs humping cliff faces.)

Under the new AI, a monster that is struck more than 5 times without striking back, should run away for a good long time, then attempt to re-acquire you. The old AI has some similar trigger, but it seems less dependable. (They both actually use the npcatk_flee function - the chicken_run function is something else entirely.)

In the December AI, I'm attempting to unite the old AI and new AI's "cant hit back" frustration systems in the same script. So they should both behave more or less the same in that regards, mayhaps with greater sensitivity.

FYI, atm, only orcs, goblins, and a handful of other monsters use the new AI - most of the others are still running on the old. There are a number of reasons for this, ranging from time consumption, to the 'if it ain't broken don't fix it' philosophy, and of course, sheer laziness.