Ranger AI Question

[Cheshire_Khajiit]

Hey folks! 

Long-time forum lurker getting back into the game and looking to build a Seer hireling that I don't have to manage super carefully - my biggest obstacle currently is that I can't seem to find a way to get the behavior settings right for marked prey. Namely, I've found that even if I use "Target: affected by marked prey (not)" as the condition and place it below an action set that commands auto-attack on marked prey targets, the Seer still spams marked prey on all targets. I'm guessing that's due to the game considering ALL possible targets without marked prey as satisfying the marked prey action set conditions and NOT satisfying the auto-attack action set. I'm aware of the action set cooldown option, but this seems like a really lame way to work around the issue. Basically, I just want the character to cast marked prey if NO target with marked prey exists. FWIW, I am currently using the expanded AI conditions mod. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Nothing I've read online has answered this question specifically, and it's quite possible that it's a lost cause but I figured I'd ask here just in case there's a workaround.

Thanks! 
- Cheshire_Khajiit

[Boeroer]

If I understood you correctly your goal is to cast Marked Prey on a single target (and nobody else) and then attack that marked target with auto-attacks, right? 

[Cheshire_Khajiit]

Yep, that's exactly right! The idea would be to cast marked prey, focus that target until it dies, then recast marked prey on the next target (at least until getting the marked prey upgrade).

[Boeroer]

I checked the scripting tool but I couldn't find
 

On 11/10/2021 at 4:20 PM, Cheshire_Khajiit said:

Target: affected by marked prey (not)

as condition.

You maybe can achieve what you want with setting up two Marked Prey actions. The first one is for the start of combat and will have a very long cooldown (to make sure it only gets used once). 

The second one might also have a cooldown (but just a rel. short one, like 10 secs or so) but it will have a condition that makes sure that only one enemy at a time gets marked. For example you could use your Animal Companion's attack as condition (If Animal Companion attacks, cast Marked Prey).

Anyway - as soon as you get Marked for the Hunt this problem should be solved. Marked for the Hunt will jump to a nearby enemy once the first one is dead. So you just need to set up Marked for the Hunt for the start of combat (give a 500 sec or so cooldown) and set up auto-attacks prioritized by Marked Prey. The Mark will jump top the next foe after death and the Ranger will attack that foe because of the prio.

Until you get there I suggest using your Animal Companion as condition I guess.  

Too bad there are no conditions that take the whole encounter into account. Something like "If there is no marked enemy left, apply Marked Enemy".

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by Boeroer

[Cheshire_Khajiit]

1 hour ago, Boeroer said:

Too bad there are no conditions that take the whole encounter into account. Something like "If there is no marked enemy left, apply Marked Enemy".

Indeed - but it does seem like the "target: affected by marked prey (not)" condition (which I could have sworn was a vanilla condition in the ranger-specific conditions section) checks ALL possible targets and that's why it spams mark prey. In other words, it seems to me like the game scans all possible targets for mark prey and the condition is satisfied as long as it finds at least one that remains unmarked. Either way, thank you for the excellent animal companion suggestion! Too bad we can't set AI targeting for animal companions beyond "aggressive." 

[wih]

I realize I am late, but just in case someone still has this problem, here is how to solve it.

"If there is no marked enemy left, apply Marked Enemy" is doable with just two rules:

1. If there is a marked target, then attack it.

2. If there exists an unmarked target, then mark it.

That's all. When there is no marked target on the battlefield, the first rule won't fire, so your char will reach the second rule and will execute it, i.e. it will mark one of the available targets. After that, your character will rerun the script from the start and this time it will find the marked target and will start attacking it. While there exists a marked enemy on the battlefield, your char won't reach rule 2, because it will be stuck on rule 1.

Works with other such things, like Sworn Rival for example.