NPCs behaviour and AI

Since the last release, using ranged attacks has become slightly more complicated when you don't know what I'll be talking about in this thread.

Initialy, everyone was able to fire at everything. The NPCs took the hits, even if the attacker was unreachable and I think it was the reason why range attacks are limited now. As it was easy to exploit the game when going on the right place and firing at everything without being worried about any counter-attack, the developpers felt forced to introduce one of the worst mechanic ever : a rule which neutralized any attack coming from an inaccessible point for the targeted NPC. Therefore, if you use a ranged skill or attack against any NPC (especially the melee warriors), the result will be 0 if the game think that the NPC can't fight back.

With the last release, this mechanic has been pushed a little further, so that as soon as you get too close to a rock, as there are too many obstacles between you and your target or when the target simply has too much trouble moving, then you simply lose your attack :

Spoiler: Videos as a demonstration

People will probably say that it's a bug here, but the problem here is that this whole mechanic should be a placeholder. The AI should be able to adapt its behaviour to the circumstances, instead of forcing the player to adopt illogical behavior. That would change the way people are grinding. More generally, the behavior of NPCs in Shroud of the Avatar needs to evolve. Especially since, for immersion, such a thing is very negative.

There are plenty of possible solutions :

• when a melee NPC is attacked and can't strike back, he could try to run out of the enemy range,
• when a melee NPC is attacked, he could hide himseld (stealthy NPCs),
• when a melee NPC can't reach his attacker, and if he is humanoid, he could simply use a ranged weapon as an exceptional behaviour.

The AI need to be a bit smarter, to bring the combat in this game to a new dimension :

• NPCs should avoid to go near the dead corpses when they were previously hit by a death spell,
• NPC mages should be able to place Area of effects spells when the player don't move at all.
• etc...

One of the funniest experience I had in this game is in the Etceter Crag Mines, where the ghosts and the skeletons are grouping together to try to kill me as soon as they hear that one of them is attacked. There is a real challenge, because of a believable behaviour.

Why is this so important ? Most of the MMORPG games out there are just games where fighting the AI is about going from one point to another to use the skills of the character against static targets, without worrying about the rules of engagement. Give some love to your AI, and I can assure you that she will reward you a hundredfold. I have people around me who are still talking how amazing it was to fight marines in Half-Life. Of course, it's not about doing the same thing here, but the IA is always far too neglected especially in multiplayer games, probably because it need a lot of involvement and maybe also because it's not easy to code a good AI without affecting performances.

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That brings me to another problem : the spawn. Currently, for exemple, when you are hunting bears in the forests, you will see new bears "pop up" just in front of you as soon as the game replace the killed ones. NPCs should have many points to come from, which could also be used to flee. With the forest canopy in most scenes, it should not be that hard.

Also, there are some tricks to make NPCs spawn out of nowhere. Think about the undeads in Ultima 8 :

Add this sort of animation for all the undead spawns in the game and you'll bring a new dimension to how the player will perceive the game.
Think about how the dwemer mechanic creatures spawn in Skyrim. Could be an inspiration for the watchers in the Kobold Cities.

Think about a Monkey Room where some surviving shock Monkeys return to their containment chest if they judge that the fight is too hard. Yes, the player who is used to grind mindlessly will be upset, but the guys who fight wisely and use movement debuff would be pleased.

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To summarize here, I think better AI behaviours would reduce the grind feeling. It's definitely a way to go for most games, so why not SotA?

 

Another idea would just be give the NPCs engage opponents so that if you are out of range of all their attacks they can engage up to where you are at. You might still get a momentary attack on them but you would not be immune from them pursuing you.

 

@Hornpipe

Agreed. Especially about the spawn. My old suggestion was for spawn at out of sight patrol points which then have them leash back to their origin.


But a curious sidetrack here. You consistently use IA instead of AI. Is that because you think of them as agents?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_agent

 

intelligence artificielle in french its the opposite way

 

My mistake.

IA is the french version of AI, and I'm sometimes confused with the two.

Fixed