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Gaps in and bugs in enemy AI

Started by KZ, February 05, 2010, 07:48:12 PM

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CraigStern

Quote from: mikew781 on June 14, 2010, 02:33:54 PM
Next up, do you intend to have static shield at such a low priority?

Yes--that's deliberate. Static shield isn't a decoy attack, it's an obstacle.

algebra15

I had a problem with a bandit longbowman attacking me through a tree.

M = me
X = bandit longbow
O = empty
T = tree

OOOO
MTOX
OOOO

Also, I was doing a solo battle and the randomly generated trees boxed me in the corner.
This is Gambit. The cards are about to explode. Goodbye!

KZ

Quote from: algebra15 on July 01, 2010, 08:08:24 PM
Also, I was doing a solo battle and the randomly generated trees boxed me in the corner.

That happens on occaison- got reported to when the randomly generated battles were initially added into the game, but Craig said it's the way the coding works. (I take it re-coding that would be a lot of hassle.)
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Read the rules, use proper grammar and punctuation, play the games, share your ideas and enjoy your stay!

Zhampir

Yes, randomly generating followable paths... pretty difficult, unless it simply uses pre-generated maps with randomly generated actors (the NPCs and the PCs) That's do-able.. in fact if the Arena's coding isn't so different... that's a ton of premade maps right there...

Duskling

I made a map using 10 Greater Ghosts for enemies, the newer ones, at one point in the battle, the Ghost used Cryo Cross in a totally random place where it didn't do any damage to my teammates, being too far away to. Has anyone else experienced this?

KZ

Just today, on the online version, but I wanted to verify with Craig first if he's updated AI since- the greater ghost gave a couple of very strange bugs whilst I was experimenting with it today, this one included.
Welcome to the forums!
Read the rules, use proper grammar and punctuation, play the games, share your ideas and enjoy your stay!

Ertxiem

#36
A bandit attacked Griffin from his front instead of moving to his free side and attacking, thus avoiding Griffin's counter.
(In the Prison Escape Battle #2 of the game, I moved Griffin left to attack the bandit.)

OOO
OBO
OGW
OOW

G - Griffin
B - Bandit
W - Wall
O - Empty space


Quote from: KZ on July 02, 2010, 05:15:29 PM
Quote from: algebra15 on July 01, 2010, 08:08:24 PM
Also, I was doing a solo battle and the randomly generated trees boxed me in the corner.

That happens on occaison- got reported to when the randomly generated battles were initially added into the game, but Craig said it's the way the coding works. (I take it re-coding that would be a lot of hassle.)

Actually, there's an easy way to avoid blocking our characters in the randomly generated maps: just don't allow obstacles in the top line of the map (where our team starts).

A bit harder way would be to generate a position to put an obstacle and try again if one of the diagonals is occupied, this would reduce drastically the probability of being blocked.
OAO
BXC
ODO
X - generated position of the obstacle. The obstacle would be placed if the adjacent corners are free (O), regardless of what is on A, B, C and D (each one could be empty or with an obstacle).
Ert, the Dead Cow.
With 2 small Mandelbrot sets as the spots.

Zhampir

still wouldn't work. you could end up with

0X0X0X0X0X
XPXPXOXOXO
OXOXOXOXO

in which P is a person, X is an obstacle and O is an object.
The people are trapped.

CraigStern

Quote from: KZ on July 04, 2010, 05:47:50 PM
Just today, on the online version, but I wanted to verify with Craig first if he's updated AI since- the greater ghost gave a couple of very strange bugs whilst I was experimenting with it today, this one included.

If possible, a screenie would be helpful. Otherwise, I won't know where to look for the problem. :)

Ertxiem

Quote from: Zhampir on July 18, 2010, 10:48:05 PM
still wouldn't work. you could end up with

0X0X0X0X0X
XPXPXOXOXO
OXOXOXOXO

in which P is a person, X is an obstacle and O is an object.
The people are trapped.

Not really. Notice that I propose forbidding placing an obstacle if another one is on the adjacent diagonal.

Nevertheless, we could end up with N-S walls
OXO
OXO
OXO
OXO

Or with E-W walls
OOOO
XXXX
OOOO

But not diagonal walls.

And if the number of obstacles is low, it would be very hard to have more than 3 close to each other.
Ert, the Dead Cow.
With 2 small Mandelbrot sets as the spots.

Duskling

Quote from: CraigStern on July 19, 2010, 06:02:38 PM
Quote from: KZ on July 04, 2010, 05:47:50 PM
Just today, on the online version, but I wanted to verify with Craig first if he's updated AI since- the greater ghost gave a couple of very strange bugs whilst I was experimenting with it today, this one included.

If possible, a screenie would be helpful. Otherwise, I won't know where to look for the problem. :)
I'm not sure about a screenshot, but I can tell you that it transpired in the map editor.

SmartyPants

In Distract the Guards, I killed the bowmen and then the swordsman faces Arman without attacking him.  I almost always play on Normal.

algebra15

That is a movement "gap". It occurs on all difficulties, and it shows up quite a bit when enemies are going around  corners of some sort, but otherwise, is quite rare. It showed up in TPA2, 1, TRPG2, and SoG. So it's something that, if 'twere to be fixed, 'twould have to be fixed all 'round.
This is Gambit. The cards are about to explode. Goodbye!

ArtDrake

Picture of the longbowman glitch I mentioned earlier:


mezzoforte

#44
You can shoot through a tree.  The only time you can't attack/shoot is when you are right in front of the obstacle.

Quote from: im2smart4u on July 30, 2010, 07:28:37 PM
In Distract the Guards, I killed the bowmen and then the swordsman faces Arman without attacking him.  I almost always play on Normal.

I've noticed that theme elsewhere too: a character could attack, but just chooses not to.  I can only imagine that it was to save on Psy points because an "ambush" on your character would have been non-fatal, and/or to regenerate Psy points.  (But the swordsman doesn't use Psy attacks.)

If the swordsman had faced away from you and had his back to a wall, I'd say it was to avoid a backstab.  (But he faced you.)


There's one other explanation, that might fit, but I don't know if the AI does this:  An enemy chooses "suicide" and tries to appear harmless by not attacking.  If you kill him off the next turn, he'll make room for more enemies (or a stronger or healthier one) that will hurt you more than he could have alone.... it's kind of a stretch, but I've seen it happen, though maybe for a different reason than this.