AI

[Veilan]

We really need one.

The NWN 2 vanilla seems unchanged from NWN 1, it's stupid, nonsensical, easily exploited while at the same time disallowing proper uses of genuine realistic tactics.

It seems to be simply that the AI attacks whatever damaged it last.

Good rules of thumbs for a more playable AI would be stuff like:

Melee:
- AI changes target only after a significant amount of damage difference, making ping-ponging less likely
- AI that gives priority to engaged melee targets, thus both making archers viable and AoO-exploitation infeasible
Ranged:
- swaps to melee weapon if engaged in melee, avoiding an insane amounts of AoOs if rushed

I'm not sure how easily we can script an AI ourselves, or what there is already on the vault. If you could give me some example what the AI could check for relatively low-ressource intensive, I could formulate some more specific ideas.

Anyway, this is brainstorming mostly, but neither the NWN vanilla nor the "improved" (checks for lowest AC, only attacks that...) AI really cut it.

Brainstom / educate me away, I guess...

[AcadiusLost]

I'd recommend waiting for the switch to 1.22 / SoZ (which integrates TonyK's AI from nwvault as base NWN2 content), as it should be within a week or two. It's supposed to help significantly in this regard. Once we've got a sense for how it works, we can look to adjusting it from there.

If anyone has experience with NWN1 AI coding/configuration, please let me know. I remember how long I had to work at getting untrained rideable horses to run away all the time during my early forays into scripting, and it's still traumatic .

Not the most user-friendly system, anyhow.

[Veilan]

Any new observations?

I've been managing to stay out of fights since the inclusion *knocks on wood*, but perhaps we should do some testing some weekend? Seems the best chance for our times to mesh reasonably.

[AcadiusLost]

I would say in most aspects, the new AI seems to be an improvement. In testing mods, I've seen hostiles who lose sight of a PC move to the last known location, then fan out somewhat to look for where he or she might have gone. The scripts seem to work OK alongside our morale scripts, which is nice.

One downside is that pretty much everything seems to be spawning in stealth mode, even merchants and questgivers. For those with significant skill ranks, this can be a major frustration with standard NPCs. For mobs, this is sometimes OOC behaviour (mindless undead who wouldn't sneak normally, etc). This seems to come out of some AI controls that are buried in one of the new include files, and overrides the builder option in the ALFA Spawn System which normally allows the choice of stealth/no stealth.

The new AI also really liked to kill bleeding-out downed PCs... took a lot of adjusting to get it to stop doing that. So, not a fan of that part, but it's also a testament to how robust the re-targeting system is in the new AI. I think where it's supposed to shine most is with things like spellcasters/archers/mixed mobs, which have complicated tactical decisions to make in combat. Not sure how many times it's been put to that sort of test yet. (Testing module might be best for that sort of thing).

I'm interested in hearing what others think of the new AI so far, since my PC isn't exactly out there mixing it up with the spawns with any kind of frequency.

[Veilan]

I was dragged out to shoot at trolls today, which revealed that the archery behaviour is still about the same: If you get shot, rush towards it, even by drawing 4 AoOs from the guys in melee with you, forcing the archer to run in circles while his friends draw bows / bring in AoOs, or going to melee. That said, I think it was a little more lenient, and didn't react like that to every last hit, but I may have been mistaken - combat is always laggy, and with four people in melee, a new attack / AoO might simply have overridden the last damage dealt mechanism before the mob seemed to turn away.

Sadly, this is still less than optimal. It's both detrimental for the mob - which would last longer and wreak more havoc if it stood its ground - and it's making it impossible for the archer to play his role, even if, undoubtedly, forcing a mob to draw that many AoOs is a massively valuable asset to a party.

[AcadiusLost]

It's also possible the mob had a low enough INT score that the AI was having it make some regrettable choices; much like NESS, the TonyK AI takes the mob's statistics into account when determining behaviour.

I'd like to organize some testing, perhaps for this weekend. There may be some settings we can tweak as well on a per-blueprint basis.

[HEEGZ]

I may be free to help test this weekend if necessary. Just catch me on IRC and try to give me some notice ahead of time if that is possible.

[Veilan]

I don't think I can help on easter sunday, unless maybe late my evening. Saturday I should be around quite a bit, and will linger in chat.