No AI behavior scripts?

[Ineth]

Just make characters reliably attack the nearest enemy with the weapon they're currently holding, when they haven't been given a manual order. That's all that's needed really.

 

"Smart" AI that starts randomly spamming spells that I've carefully memorized and am saving for a specific purpose? No thanks.

[Night Stalker]

Isn't combat predominant in this game, like in IWD?

 

 

Everything I have read, including statements by the developers point towards this game being more like BG1 than any of the other IE games.

[Luckmann]

 

Isn't combat predominant in this game, like in IWD?

 

 

Everything I have read, including statements by the developers point towards this game being more like BG1 than any of the other IE games.

 

 

You probably shouldn't use that as a blanket statement, because so far PoE doesn't really have anything up on BG1. However, yeah, in regards to the combat, it appears to be predominant in the same vein as BG1.

[morhilane]

 

 

 

 

Anything new about the scripts? Do party members have some sort of AI now? I want to try out beta again, but if its combat is still as micromanagement heavy as it was before then I'm not sure I want to bother.

There will be no AI scripting for the initial PoE release, but they have mentioned that it might be included in the expansion.

 

  It's very strange that in this modern day and age it is so difficult to implement them, even though PoE is modeled after Infinity Engine games and those old games had scripts. I guess I'll just wait until release date and if combat's still going to be a chore I'll just wait until that expansion, or better yet, go and play BG/BG2/IWD: EE.

 

 

It's not necessarily difficult, it's time consuming and many other features were considered more important for the first game.

 

Isn't combat predominant in this game, like in IWD? How making it more manageable for the players is less important than anything else? If I'm gonna spend majority of the game in combat that I can't enjoy, how can I enjoy the game in general?

 

 

It's less  important than getting a playable game. It's less important than everything tied to classes mechanics, enemy AI, pathfinding, combat resolution and dialogues. The dev have priorities to get a playable game, even in the latest build the pathfinding was still wonky, enemy AI is still super stupid and there was bugs the combat resolution and classes mechanics.

Edited February 2, 2015 by morhilane

[Falkon Swiftblade]

You'd think they could at least have default ones for the classes, such as attack the closest enemy, or attack with ranged weapons, or attack the wizards, or search for traps. I'm not a programmer, but I do design websites, and I would think it's a few lines of code to add something like that... a bit of a let down.

[Lillyhime]

I bet some modders can get something done once the game is out. 

[Flow]

I tried scripting once in BG2. Hated it, never used it again.

 

Am I unusual? I thought most people just did the pause spam+micro thing in IE games.

[Heijoushin]

It seems that I'm swimming against the tide here but... I don't think we really need scripts. I never used them in IWD and I hate games that "play themselves" (*cough* FF13, I'm looking at you *cough*).

I mean, great if they can include them, but I don't think its the end of the world if they can't.
 

[Yellow Rabbit]

I tried scripting once in BG2. Hated it, never used it again.

 

Am I unusual? I thought most people just did the pause spam+micro thing in IE games.

Same goes for me. AI script controlled characters in BG series always did everything except things I wanted them to do.

 

I can understand, though, why people would want these scripts in PoE. With current combat speed in BB player ends up pausing/unpausing too frequently indeed.

[Sensuki]

It seems that I'm swimming against the tide here but... I don't think we really need scripts.

You're right we don't need scripts.

 

I'd prefer they improve the enemy AI, and the pathfinding than spend money doing player AI scripts so the game plays itself for you.

[morhilane]

I tried scripting once in BG2. Hated it, never used it again.

 

Am I unusual? I thought most people just did the pause spam+micro thing in IE games.

 

You're not the only one. I always play with the AI off actually.

[Luckmann]

I'm not sure I ever used the scripts in BG2. Honestly, I often have to even turn off the AI, but I do play with it on most of the time, simply because I don't want my companions to stand there dumbfounded in the middle of combat unless I give them specific orders to hit something adjacent to them.

 

But with the Engagement mechanic working (sic) like it does in PoE, I'll probably have to turn AI off permanently and hope for the best. Imagine trying to script around that, yikes.

[Qbert]

I like to use the thief controlled script in the EE version of the BG's. I'm not sure if it was there in the originals.  It automatically searches for traps when not instructed to do anything else.  It saves time clicking the search for traps button when scouting ahead with the thief.  I find it breaks sometimes and stops working for some reason though.

[Shevek]

I remember those scripts being mostly crappy and I rarely used them. Still, it would be nice if they were done well.

[Leferd]

I used the IE scripts only for automation of detect traps or hide in shadows.

 

Since scouting/stealth mode applies to all party members, this feature is moot for me.

[bigsun123]

I used the default scripts that would auto attack and fight back if being hit, and the thief trap detection scripts.  I understand that the traps thing is no longer necessary, but the basic combat scripts were useful enough so you don't have someone standing there getting wailed on.  Is this default, or will your party literally stand there getting attacked if you don't give them any commands?

 

It seems like if the enemies are getting AI it wouldn't be too hard to have some sort of basic AI for the player characters, but I'm not a programmer.

[Leferd]

Once given an order to attack, party NPC's will auto attack for the rest of the combat until given alternate orders.

[Lephys]

I like to use the thief controlled script in the EE version of the BG's. I'm not sure if it was there in the originals.  It automatically searches for traps when not instructed to do anything else.  It saves time clicking the search for traps button when scouting ahead with the thief.  I find it breaks sometimes and stops working for some reason though.

Which is why it's usually a terrible idea to make searching for traps not just a passive thing. In a PnP campaign, active-search is fantastic, because the DM can make ANY particular place a significant place to reward your searching, and provide negative consequences for over-searching, etc. But, in a cRPG, all we ever get is "inconvenience yourself by covering every square foot of every area with the search function, or miss out on things that were designed specifically to be found with the search function," and that's it.

 

I want to see active searching actually springing traps, instead of just finding them. I think active searching should be more like rummaging. I mean, what do you do, switch your vision mode like Superman, to see inside containers and zoom and whatnot? Why is there a toggle between "blindly trudge forward into trip wires and loose tiles and other little details that denote terrible things" and "actually pay attention in this dark, scary dungeon that no one's entered in years"?