tools to change compagnions AI Behavior

[gamer08]

Hello everyone i'm wondering something about the AI behavior of compagnions in the game.

 

An option to control the AI of the compagnions depending of the conditions and events could be great !!

 

Exemple : this compagnion if your life drop under 50 % defensive mode and stay away.

 

I do remender this option in games likes baldurs gate 2, neverwinter nights 2 or dragon age origins.

 

As a game programmer i always enjoy let the player do customs behavior in a game when its possible

 

 

So what do you think about that ? Do a panel to control  behavior could be good or not ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Prometheus]

Hello everyone i'm wondering something about the AI behavior of compagnions in the game.

 

An option to control the AI of the compagnions depending of the conditions and events could be great !!

 

Exemple : this compagnion if your life drop under 50 % defensive mode and stay away.

The companions won't have a "clever" AI. You need to control and micromanage the whole party. You can use the auto pausing feature for some events(e.g low health, target destroyed etc.), but you still need to decide how your character reacts.

 

source

 

 

When you say "high maintenance," I get the worrying idea that if I have wizards in my party I'm going to have to spend most of my time controlling them instead of my character or someone else "lower maintenance," unless I specifically spec them to have fewer active abilities. Can the AI handle running active abilities without my constant guidance so I can pay more attention to other classes if I want?

 

I don't particularly like playing wizards in DnD games because of their often cludgy rules and whatnot, but playing Icewind Dale I had to spend most of my fighting running the wizard, sorcerer and cleric instead of the other guys. I would like to avoid being obliged to "play" the wizard by default, regardless of my own character choice, so I'd really like it if the AI of allied NPCs can handle its own "maintenance."

I apologize, but that is the way that the game is likely to play. Part of the IE (specifically, BG and IWD) combat experience involved higher micromanagement of spellcasters and we believe it's something the majority of our backers enjoy. We want to put in automated controls for things like auto-pausing and similar high-level functions, but we don't want to transform tactical (i.e., in the moment) decision-making into strategic (i.e. pre-conditioned) routines.

 

That said, our lower levels of difficulty will not require as much micromanagement overall, and we have included the slow combat mode if you'd like more time to think without constant pausing/unpausing.

 

source

Some of the classic auto-pause settings got new sub-options. E.g. "Enemy Spotted" now has a sub-option to halt the party when the pause is triggered. We also put in a few new ones like Extraordinary Defense which will come up when a PC's attack's pre-roll Accuracy is 50+ points below the enemy's corresponding defense. So if you take a bunch of 2nd level scrubs and start hurling standard melee attacks at a 7th level fighter with a large shield (i.e., super-high Deflection), it's probably going to pause right after your first attack and give you feedback indicating your chances of hitting the guy are really, really bad.

[gamer08]

sound great, as BG2 I will be able to preset little things such as be aggrisve or defensive

 

Thanks

[Jarmo]

Too bad.

 

I like being able to micromanage everything when the going gets tough,

but I don't look forward to having to do it all the time.

 

I hope it's not as bad as having to keep the wizard from rushing in and slapping the demon with his bare palms,

or having to tell the archer it's ok to start firing at the approaching opponents. Or to tell the fighter it's just fine to

pick a new target once the current one drops dead.

[Kjaamor]

It would be lovely if what they did do was presented in a Fallout 2 style pattern rather than a BG way. That is to say that rather than taking a pre-defined script, there are a handful of different options for different triggers. I.e.

 

Attack: Melee/Melee then Ranged/Ranged then Melee/Ranged/Passive

 

Engage: Enemies I see/Enemies that I see but remain near party leader/Enemies that are attacking the party/passive

 

Etc.

 

I appreciate that this is a party-based game and that we'll have full control over the companions, but basic scripts are useful for the trash fights and particularly exploration. In the significant fights, I want to micromanage everything. When I'm walking through some fields, I'd like it if my party could handle those few Gibberlings themselves.

[injurai]

The thing I don't want to have happen. Is some sort of FFXII gambit system, or pseudo-programming of companions through what would be unnecessary (and surely would end up near necessary) setup of your party behavior.

 

Companions should have traits, and characteristics that make them desirable/undesirably for your play style. If you keep someone in your party of a long duration of the game, It would be neat if you could influence their AI mechanics in traits in a way that bonding or growing with someone in real life you change both party members. So over time there could be a sort of hidden dynamic that allows you to suggest to a party member ways in which they could do things.

 

I feel many people want the power to customize and manipulate all aspects of there character, party, items and stats in these sorts of games. It's true that developers can neuter games through abstraction of stats and mechanics. But in terms of AI, that is a mechanic to emulate human characteristic, and I would find it unnatural to program the people around you.

 

When influencing party members over a duration of time, that should be a mechanic to allow you to 1. fine tune your party, 2. A change to change dynamics after you have heavily invested your story and development of those characters.

 

It shouldn't be a feature that has to be used, just something to give a different flavor to your party instead of having to reestablish your party members, their gear items, and leveling (perhaps potential companions don't fall behind in experience if they aren't used... hopefully)

[comport9]

I'm sorry, but not giving your party members ANY AI is beyond (I'll say it) stupid. I really hope the quote was based on early decisions that don't reflect current direction. Even BG games had an AI you could adjust. As mentioned, I don't want to have to pause the game every time I need my mage to cast Magic Missile or my priest to cast Cure Light Wounds. I would also like my characters to judge who to attack, and what weapon to use. However, I do want the ability to intervene at any time to override their decisions with my own.

 

I also want the ability to select the circumstances in which the characters make their decisions. Just like the OP said, "Heal party member when their health is less than 50%". (Or whatever). Micro-managing sucks. There are many, many, examples of once great games whose sequels got bogged down with micromanagement, killing the FUN of the game.

 

I also don't want to hear any excuses about how this will cut into development time. That's BS, and we all know it. The dev's already have to code all of this into the game for all the opponents anyways. Porting the same code, and giving the player the ability to manipulate it, is not asking a lot.

 

Some do enjoy micro-managing every little aspect of every encounter. But I'm not one of them, and I'm certain there are many out there who don't want the "action" part of the game dragging out the time inbetween the story elements.

[Kissamies]

Yeah, poor party member AI would be extremely tedious. As Jarmo said, having an option to micromanage (especially when AI is being stupid) is good, but being forced to do it all the time is terrible. If I have to babysit the casters all the time it won't be very fun. NWN2 before Tony_K's AI is a good example of this. Had to lobotomize the casters and play them manually all the time.

 

I too loved those little AI script functions in BG, but I also have always liked those games where you "program" a bunch of robots, tanks, spaceships or whatever and then watch them fight so it's no wonder. Even the simplified version of it that DA:O used was OK. Had fun setting "if enemy starts casting, knock him down" and such behaviors with that. Less pausing, less micro and more focusing on the party member I want to play instead of the one I have to because of poor AI.

[Epic Nick]

I am digging this back from the grave here. Hopefully something will be added it terms of ai

[mudd1]

Oh, how cool would it be if the whole agent state would be accessible to some Lua API and you could program as complex AI behaviors as you like? 

[pnhearer]

If that would ever be implemented, I'd have to ask you to do that for me...

[mudd1]

If that would ever be implemented, I'd have to ask you to do that for me...

Well, sharing such code over this internet thing is not unheard of And yeah, I'd personally love to tweak and implement such behaviors.

[Tsuga C]

If the PoE system is at least as robust as the NWN2 system when it comes to assigning default behaviors to members of the party, then I'll be satisfied. Anything beyond that will be gravy--or frosting--depending on your culinary desires.

[SymbolicFrank]

With an RPG, the idea is that the stats of the player matter less than the stats of the characters. And with a party, it stands to reason that the other members act on their own, according to their stats. Like they would in P&P. Otherwise it's not an RPG, but a RTTG (Real-Time Tactical Game). But those only work when they're turn-based. As soon as APM or twitch reflexes matter, it's the skill of the player that is the most important, not those of the characters.