Fixing stupid followers A.I in combat.

I believe that in Arcanum follower combat sucks because actually followers are like berserker animals. They run to hit any opponents blindly no matter how hard those opponents are.

I made some scripts that change the followers AI combat behavior. Now they will stand very close to you. That means that a) If you run away from the monsters they will follow you even if the monsters manage to hit them once or twice. They no longer fight to the death. b) Your followers will be concentrated around you in combat.3 tiles away the most. That means that they have a much higher chance that everyone in the party will hit the same opponent at once from a pack of many. c) You can heal them much more easily.

Than means no more stupid follower deaths.

If also thing that I can program different behavior for them that can be controlled by you.

No interface but say a few books in your inventory that when you read them they modify the party behavior. a) The berserker book (old behavior) b) Stay close book c) Stay even closer book. Variations of b) and c) but followers do not fight (so pc can get full experience (when npc kill pc gets only 25 % of experience) Or old behavior but everyone now attacks the most injured monster.

What do you ppl think ?

(That scripts will be in Hard Arcanum 1.06)

 

Sounds like a good idea. A few more points:
Archers and gunners should learn that using a ranged weapon means keeping distance from the enemy.

Would be nice if magic oriented followers (like Jormund and Perriman Smythe) used more direct damage spells in turn based combat, instead of relying on their lousy melee skills. Also, would be nice for them to go melee when given a sword and casting spells when given staves or left empty handed.

 

one of my favorite tactics when battling ore golems in the BMC mines is to run and my followers attack their backs. i wouldnt be able to do this with those scripts

 

Leave them on old style.

I think another option should be for them to attack the strongest monster.

If you are fighting a Sewer Rat and a Yeti, don't ask me WHERE you found them together, you shouldn't have Chukka waste his massive friggin attack killing a rodent!

 

I'd personally like to see technocrats attack other technocrats, and magic users attack other magic users--especially the latter. Nothing is more frustrating than watching all your followers immediately beat on the nearest opponent, when some magic user further away is patiently waiting their turn to unleash something very unpleasant. And if I could tell my spellcasters to go after other spellcasters--with their spells, instead of their melee weapons--I'd be much, much happier.

 

I, for one, am sick an tired of watching Arronax 'mr magic' walk up and thump things with his fists. For the entirity of the time he was with me last game he unleashed one, count 'em, ONE lightning bolt. The rest of the time he just wandered around using his suckful melee to do nothing much.

Some 'great and powerful wizard'.

I have just downloaded the latest patch and have noticed a change in Kite behaviour, anyway. The archers now run away and get some distance before turning and firing, while the beserkers and warriors just charge in. I wish that followers would show as much intitative or intelligence as Kites.

 

Gives a whole new meaning to the saying "Dumb as a Kite". Also it should now be "Dumber than a Kite".

And I have never seen Arronax cast a single spell.
Stupid mages, I wonder why I even bother.

-Stuart

 

Read the whole post .

You will be able to change the scripts by reading books.
So if you prefer old style and followers dying you could just read the book of berkserker.

 

Clearly, this was a slipup at Troika. They originally meant to give us control of the kites, while letting us fight the NPC followers employing their usual sub-par combat strategies, but someone misread the design specs. By the time everybody realized the mixup, it was too late to repair without embarassment.

Chris, I hope you can give us the ability to force spellcasters to use their attack spells rationally, then consume fatigue potions as needed.

 

chris this is the best idea i've heard from you yet! except for the whole 100%from folloer's kills, that just sounds like cheating. i like the idea of having to try to kill the little guys before my follorwers do, try not to look at it as losing something you deserve, but gaining a bonus when you actually do complete a kill.

 

Why not add a user option for full experience from follower kills vs partial experience?

 

Looking forward to this addition because the way the followers fight now is a real pain in the @#$!!! :-o It would be nice if you could release it as a stand-alone mod, too, for folks who just want to add this capability to their standard versions of Arcanum, but understandable if you think that's too much trouble.

 

Oh man, a mod with AI for your followers :thumbup: . That's what we all need, because frankly, the AI sucks. I just got my tech dwarf in the BMC(that is short for Black Mountain Clan, right?), and Virgil, Magnus and Dog always get me killed because they trigger way to many rats and golems at once with their berserk behaviour :-x . So i would be thrilled with new AI. It's like the best proposal i've ever read (to be honest, i read like 3 :lol: ).

 

Not AI for your followers, Herald. Just a few basic sets of instructions that work in context.

What we really, ideally need is the ability to tell a party member where to go and what to do; or at the least, what type of strategy to employ in battle. "Go for the most powerful spellcaster," "Get the guys with the guns," "Stay back, shoot arrows, and if anyone approaches me, switch to a melee weapon and attack them." That kind of detail, which turns combat from being a large, uncontrollable mess into a strategic sub-game.

But this kind of adjustment isn't moddable. Chris is offering us the best he can, a few additional, simple actions that make good sense. And that will certainly help.

 

Ok, i'll settle for less then i want :cry: . I hope he can get followers to obey, because when i say "stand back" or whatever, it seems to have no effect at all when in combat.

 

Yeah! I've wanted to tell Virgil where to go and what to do a LOT of times!!! Especially when that idiot runs in and gets himself killed by getting between me and my target instead of staying out of the way or when he simply stands still and lets the baddies beat him to death and yells for help. :roll: :-o

 

Chris, I read the whole post. You said that there would be a book that encouraged the followers to attack the weakest moster, I was just wondering if there was going to be other specific fighting style books, like attack the strongest, attack the most magical or whatever the fuck you plan on adding. Even without them it's a great idea though.

 

Personally, I wish this could be handled as a conversational option, rather than as a matter of holding and passing along books. Books take up inventory space. They have to be used, then (presumably, in this case) dragged onto the follower you want to affect. It would seem easier to me as an end-user to access any combat strategy instructions through the already extant strategy dialog, which currently only offers suggestions about getting closer or farther away.

But again, that's just my opinion.

 

He said "most injured monster", not the weakest. This means that your follwoers will be focusing on those monsters that can be taken down faster, reducing the total number of enemies. Makes perfect sense to me.

 

Controlling FOllowers better - in hard arcanum only?

Chris, If I understand correctly, the ability you added, to control followers better, is strictly part of hard arcanum. Is this right? As a newby, I'm not sure I'm ready for hard arcanum! I'm currently playing at the "moderate" setting. I can't guess from the text at http://www.terra-arcanum.com/~chris/ whether you've added a new difficulty setting, or whether maybe I should try playing "hard Arcanum" at the easy setting while I'm learning the game. Suggestions?

Also, please confirm: I believe your Q&A page says that after I upgrade to HardArc, my save files will be useless and I will have to start a new game. Is that right?

(I'm not cirticizing! Hard Arc sounds great, and I've just got to figure out when to switch to it. Does anyone have advice about a newby playing hard arc?)
-trobs