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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 28, 2015 12:49:46 GMT -5
As always, thanks for the push everyone (esp. fallen and @rearick) AI is sometimes really hard to get right, and the behaviors it will express can be baffling at times. Because of an awesome alpha team and this post I'm happy to say that I have made huge progress on the AI's planning module and the "sense of urgency" has never been more real =) I know I'll come to regret posting about the AI!  Haha, actually I will probably regret it more because it turns out some of the balance in the game was based on the AI being approximately 25% stupid. Analysis shows it is now only about 5% stupid and that means it is a lot, lot more aggro. Which means I will have a lot of re-balancing to do on the maps. |
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Post by contributor on Jul 28, 2015 14:47:36 GMT -5
I know I'll come to regret posting about the AI! Haha, actually I will probably regret it more because it turns out some of the balance in the game was based on the AI being approximately 25% stupid. Analysis shows it is now only about 5% stupid and that means it is a lot, lot more aggro. Which means I will have a lot of re-balancing to do on the maps. Yeah, I just finished Detonation Site on Nightmare Ironman and was thinking about how dead I would be if all of those xenos actually decided to attack. |
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 28, 2015 15:17:13 GMT -5
Well, there are many Xeno who are on "defense" you'll see them lurking in groups, waiting to ambush you.
Those haven't changed. This is more like Xeno who were definitely in range of moving towards you, but skipped their turn.
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Post by johndramey on Jul 30, 2015 18:46:14 GMT -5
Well, there are many Xeno who are on "defense" you'll see them lurking in groups, waiting to ambush you. Those haven't changed. This is more like Xeno who were definitely in range of moving towards you, but skipped their turn. That's cool to know, I've seen defense groups around and wondered if it was a feature or bug. Also, scary to know that the xeno AI has been fixed. I've gotten through a whole lot of levels by the skin of my teeth. One question, I've noticed (as with HoS) that when a bottleneck is blocked, all enemies behind the bottleneck will freeze if no other path is available. Is this by design? I mean, I can see it going both ways, you don't want all the enemies to bunch up for a single napalm lance or grenade but on the other end if the enemies don't move forward then what happens is a train of single enemies move through a bottleneck one at a time. |
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 31, 2015 13:24:38 GMT -5
The defense groups haven't changed -- you may still run into the AI building them for parts of the map-mesh it feels it needs to control.
If you compare HoS and BF now, you'll see that the BF AI works quiet a bit differently -- making a different choice about 70% of the time.
Part of that is that HoS, each room is controlled by a single AI. In BF, each team is made up of no less than 3 AI -- and each TP controlled adds another AI to team. Some BF teams might be made up of 4 strategic AI and 25 individual agent AI.
HoS would never really go much above 3 AI, and they don't share any state.
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Post by Brutus Aurelius on Jul 31, 2015 15:39:59 GMT -5
The defense groups haven't changed -- you may still run into the AI building them for parts of the map-mesh it feels it needs to control. If you compare HoS and BF now, you'll see that the BF AI works quiet a bit differently -- making a different choice about 70% of the time. Part of that is that HoS, each room is controlled by a single AI. In BF, each team is made up of no less than 3 AI -- and each TP controlled adds another AI to team. Some BF teams might be made up of 4 strategic AI and 25 individual agent AI. HoS would never really go much above 3 AI, and they don't share any state. So, each TP that is xeno controlled makes the Xeno smarter? Makes sense, especially considering that the Xeno TP are covered with biomass different than the fungal mats we see elsewhere. Pheremone producers/amplifiers maybe? Or more of a Tyranid route with telepathic coordination? Or maybe I'm just reading way too deep into this  |
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 31, 2015 17:21:40 GMT -5
Does it make it smarter? I don't know about that. It is another equally intelligent AI.
It makes it harder to predict, and it gives the AI another sub-division of labor, planning and resources.
Maybe the first TP you are fighting is loosing, but the second TP is coming up with a different plan on how to take you out.
None of a Team's TP AI can run the same defensive logic routine, so they'll all be different, even on different plays of the same map.
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Post by Brutus Aurelius on Jul 31, 2015 17:49:36 GMT -5
Oh, OK. I see now. Definitely read too much into it tho |
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Post by contributor on Sept 1, 2015 7:02:28 GMT -5
I'm working through the Rychart Prime levels and finding something that I don't like, which is related to the discussion in this thread about knights that get added to our team. I find the addition of Nyra to the team annoying because I can't customize her at all. I've invested my RP into unlocking specific techs so that I can build my Paladin the way I like and then Nyra gets added to the team and she is far less useful than my own Paly. The biggest example is that she only has 4 points in tactics which makes her buffs much less helpful than they could be otherwise. Her Inspiration buff is also wasted because I've got plenty of accuracy and most of the enemies in these levels have ranged attacks so I don't need the Parry. High Warding Fire (which I stretched my RP to get for my own Paladin) would be far more useful. It's also frustrating because my own Paladin is now languishing for XP because I'm not deploying him at all during these levels. Sorry this sounds like a gripe. I don't necessarily want to say, "don't add any other knights to my squad" because they do help drive the story and I see that Nyra is going to be an enduring character in plot, but there could be some other ways to make her less of a lame duck, such as allowing us some control of her build. That would also help me to have more endearing feelings for her rather than seeing her as dead weight that I have to drag around.
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Post by Cory Trese on Sept 1, 2015 7:54:30 GMT -5
That's a bummer! I've really tried to make Nyra's auto-leveling AI and point spending routine as intelligent and your-build-driven as possible.
I'll go back and try again.
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Post by fallen on Sept 1, 2015 10:15:17 GMT -5
I'm working through the Rychart Prime levels and finding something that I don't like, which is related to the discussion in this thread about knights that get added to our team. I find the addition of Nyra to the team annoying because I can't customize her at all. I've invested my RP into unlocking specific techs so that I can build my Paladin the way I like and then Nyra gets added to the team and she is far less useful than my own Paly. The biggest example is that she only has 4 points in tactics which makes her buffs much less helpful than they could be otherwise. Her Inspiration buff is also wasted because I've got plenty of accuracy and most of the enemies in these levels have ranged attacks so I don't need the Parry. High Warding Fire (which I stretched my RP to get for my own Paladin) would be far more useful. It's also frustrating because my own Paladin is now languishing for XP because I'm not deploying him at all during these levels. Sorry this sounds like a gripe. I don't necessarily want to say, "don't add any other knights to my squad" because they do help drive the story and I see that Nyra is going to be an enduring character in plot, but there could be some other ways to make her less of a lame duck, such as allowing us some control of her build. That would also help me to have more endearing feelings for her rather than seeing her as dead weight that I have to drag around. Wanna post your Paladin build so we can compare and take notes on how to perfect our auto-leveler? |
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Post by Brutus Aurelius on Sept 1, 2015 13:21:59 GMT -5
That's a bummer! I've really tried to make Nyra's auto-leveling AI and point spending routine as intelligent and your-build-driven as possible. I'll go back and try again. I also find it strange that Nyra is only about level 5 when my Templars are 11. Seems that such a veteran Paladin would be a bit higher in level. |
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Post by fallen on Sept 1, 2015 13:33:25 GMT -5
Brutus Aurelius - that does seem odd. However, is 5 your recruit level if you brought on a new Templar?
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Post by Brutus Aurelius on Sept 1, 2015 13:40:32 GMT -5
Brutus Aurelius - that does seem odd. However, is 5 your recruit level if you brought on a new Templar? I believe so. However my core Knights are ranged from 8 to 11. |
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Post by fallen on Sept 1, 2015 13:58:20 GMT -5
Brutus Aurelius - that does seem odd. However, is 5 your recruit level if you brought on a new Templar? I believe so. However my core Knights are ranged from 8 to 11. Good feedback! We will work on this one. |
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