General improvements to Fallout core/combat AI...

[Viktor]

Is it just me or does the Fallout series (incl. FO:T) core/combat AI need some work???

- Unless they have vast numerically superiority, raiders etc. armed with spears should not attack PC/NPCs equipped with good armour and weapons in SREs/REs. They most certainly should not attack an APC/Tank (in FO:T) with spears and lead pipes!!!

- All NPCs should have something like the Awareness perk to prevent spear/knife wielding raiders foolishly attacking my heavily armed and armoured PC and NPC. I can except this behaviour in critters, but anything remotely intelligent should have learnt (if it survived..) from watcing its buddies getting smoked the last time they tried this....

If I had a rusty knife as my main weapon and someone in APA started taking potshots at me with a plasma rifle; I'd do 2 things:-

1. Shit my pants/loincloth/fur...

2. Run the f**k away!!

- Enemy NPCs should make use of ranged weapons first before running straight at me with a spear. This is bad enough in FO:T's CTB mode; in FO 1 and 2's TB mode this is excruiatingly boring gameplay!

- NPCs should take cover before returning fire. A smart AI would have them moving behind cover to pop up somewhere else to shoot back.

- Movement AI is quite poor.... NPC should follow 'smart' routes when moving. I've lost count of how many times I've lost troopers in FO:T when the AI translates my order for them to move parallel to an enemy position into a suicuide run right infront of the emeny guns or through a known minefield REGARDLESS of their high PE/traps skill!!!

My 10 Euros worth...

[Kashluk]

Quite true... But at least in FO2 there is an AC-limit for each creature, which makes the enemies to run away. I mean, if you'd have armor class of 200 for example all the low-level dudes would be running away from you. And the higher the AC goes the tougher guys would try to escape the fight

[OnTheBounce]

*hehe* Someone's been playing with cheat programs...

Yes, a very high AC will cause opponents to run away, but that by itself isn't good enough. One of the problems is that opponents don't fight w/anything vaguely resembling team coordination. Basically, the AI makes decisions based only on an individual's circumstances, and not much of anything else.

What I'd like to see is basically a morale system implemented for opponents. Critters can stay dumb and act solely based on their own circumstances - although exceptions might be made, e.g. a Deathclaw mother fighting alongside her pups/cubs/whatever they're called - but a band of Raiders or Highwaymen should act according to a set of group-based or at least group-influenced factors. For instance, rather than having that last Raider trying to take the PC and his/her companions down just as hard as when there were a dozen of them, one would think that at some point said Raider would have an epiphany and realize that often discretion is the better part of valor. The more units/actors that are killed on a side, the more likely the remainder should be to break ranks and flee. You could even have some actors that act as leaders and improve morale (high CH) while active, but induce a penalty when killed/incapacitated.

Basically, I'm wondering why for years morale systems have been in place in tabletop games, and yet - even though we have CPUs capable of millions of cycles of calculations per second - the enemies act in an extremely stupid for the most part.

OTB

[Kashluk]

Basically, I'm wondering why for years morale systems have been in place in tabletop games, and yet - even though we have CPUs capable of millions of cycles of calculations per second - the enemies act in an extremely stupid for the most part.

Well, in general, most of the people think that the best part of candy is the shell - not the stuffing

[Viktor]

Basically, I'm wondering why for years morale systems have been in place in tabletop games, and yet - even though we have CPUs capable of millions of cycles of calculations per second - the enemies act in an extremely stupid for the most part.

OTB

Something along the lines of rout or stand depending on individual and group morale??? I seem to remember this was a big factor in the Warhammer series of games...

[Genghis Khan]

I think it would be fun if say you wiped out a bunch of raiders and there was only one left, he or she surrendered and became a friendly NPC that can join your group.
Or to be more precise it would be cool to have randomly generated NPC's based on Kamer.

[OnTheBounce]

Oh, two more things I forgot to mention this morning:

1. NPCs should have the option to exit a map if they reach an exit grid. No more of this end combat due to no target -> combat starts immediately because one schmuck is in the exit grid.
2. On a note related to the above, but not the topic: You should be given the option to exit a map when entering an exit grid, it shouldn't be automatic. How many times have you accidentally left a map because you click on spot X and the AI decided that the PC needed to run through the exit grid?

You're right Viktor, morale is a huge factor in Warhammer. It's also a factor in most tabletop wargames, for instance Advanced Squad Leader.

OTB

[Grand Lord Penguin]

Ah...Warhammer. I played 40k. I can't count how many times my hapless Guardsmen fled at the first sight of blood. Pansies.

Anyway, the combat AI really needs some help. WHY can't Tycho shoot again after reducing his target radscorpion to a stain on the radiated wasteland sand? WHY??!

Again, why don't the raiders see it coming? I mean, look. My PC has PA and a turbo plasma rifle. I've got Dogmeat and Tycho with me. Tycho aone has enough shotgun shells to level a small building. And yet they still come at me. Do they want to be reduced to little more than a pile of goop??

[king_ota]

Yea Gaurdsmen run away athe the sight of a gun (put I play orks ^_^)

I would like to see the enemy AI use burst shots more often and more effecently (c'mon make it a chalange!)

[Blarg]

I would like NPC AI to be adjusted so that armed NPC's do not switch weapons or go unarmed after reloading. This was a plague for me(especially with Ian) in FO, it was improved somewhat in FO2. If they don't have enough AP's to shoot they should move, preferably in such a way as to minimize friendly fire. Unarmed/Melee NPC's should close with the enemy. I have a problem in FO2 where Sulik puts away his super sledge and goes unarmed when he is short on AP's. I like the FO2 improvement where NPC's reload automatically at the end of combat. I would like to be able to assign weapons to NPC's that are pack-muling multiple weapons, which they would not change without new orders.