It was brought up in another thread that monster AI needs to be improved. I think for purpose of this discussion, monster AI pertains to the monster killing/stealing/otherwise harrassing the player, not about NPC & scripting.
I'd like to discuss a bit more about improvements people would like to see. I'm not 100% sure it is a major project - it may be more a minor project, but that depends on what people are doing. I say that because it could turn out to be improvements to the logic, and doing that is fairly localized. Smarter monsters may mean some maps are tougher than before, but one would not have to go through every map to have the monsters use this new intelligence - in fact, they all would use it by default which is why some would be tougher. Quick thoughts off the top of my head: - For monsters that use equipment (rings, swords, armor), they probably need to be smarter in what they pick up and use - in many cases, they may use the best based on straight values, but not look at how it affects movement, etc. They should also drop equipment they seem worthless. - Spell selection should be better - monsters are still dealt whatever spells they get, but what they decide to cast could be improved. - Monsters should better tailor their attacks to their opponents. If the player is vulnerable to cold, monster should hit it with cold more often than not if possible, and shouldn't hit fire immune characters with fire. This applies to both spells and melee/weapon attacks (but for weapon attacks, monsters don't have lots of choices). - There is already different logic in for monsters to use hit and run or circle player tactics - more monsters should be modified to use these less direct tactics, especially if they have missile weapons. Lots of maps are not designed for this however (wall to wall monsters, so until a bunch are killed, no room to move about0 - Monsters should be more careful about single row/column attacks, like arrows or bolts - there is little point casting the bolt spell if the monster can not line it up so it hits the player. For example, if in a 2 wide hallway (going north/south) with the monster along the east wall and player to the south along the west wall, there is little point for the monster to cast a bolt spell south, as unless the player moves, he won't get hit by it. - Related to point above, monsters should coordinate and/or have memory/planning. In the above example, if that monster cast the bolt spell south, then moved west and cast another bolt south, the player is now caught with no place to go. Or if there are two monsters at the top of the hall, after the first one casts the bolt spell, the second one sees it and does the same. Likewise, some form of planning for monsters like 'hit player with weakness to fire. Then hit them with fireball' type of thing. Right now, for every action the monster goes, it newly figures out what to do, which is largely random - do I hit them with a spell or bow (random chance of each). What spell do I hit them with (random chance of each), etc. If monsters had 5 or 6 tick plans what to do, could be much more deadly. - Path to player logic to better find players/not get stuck would be good. This seems to me at least less and issue, because there is usually few ways for the player to hit the monster if the monster can't hit the player, but having monsters be smart enough to circle around players, etc, would be really nice _______________________________________________ crossfire mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.metalforge.org/mailman/listinfo/crossfire
