We've all seen them, fought them, experienced either complete stupidity or easy spam-alot victories over them. In my opinion, SLO should help to set a new standard in this department. Therefore, I've got a few questions that, although it may be a bit too early to answer, are still valid for the game as a whole.
The three principles that need to be addressed are reaction to damage/stats, reaction to environment, and reaction to allies/enemies. For and example, just how will the AI react to...say...a fire blast dealt by the player, thereby taking out a chunk of their health. A standard AI procedure would be one of the following:
...completely ignore the thought that it might have taken any damage or suffered something called "pain" (much like the Terminator when he smashes his fist through that car windshield) and keep going for the player.
...be "stunned" for a few minutes by, idk, standing still and holding his eyes for the duration, before getting right back up and trudging forward into the same attack.
...running away until other bots arrive on the scene from three feet away (they were watching without doing anything the whole time btw) and actually believing that force in numbers will beat an AoE.
The above ^^, needs to be changed. Will the AI in SLO react to it in a more...intelligent manner? By this I mean it takes the following into effect upon taking the damage from the blast:
...its own strengths/weaknesses to such an attack (fire-resistant clothes for ex).
...the surrounding environment (is it out in the open desert, or is the fight taking place in a heavily wooded forest?)
...its own skills (substitution jutsu, or is it lacking such a jutsu in its arsenal?)
...the distance of the player in relation to the AI when the attack hit (five meters, or fifty?)
...backup help (does it have superior numbers, or is it in a solo fight?)
Based on THESE conditions, the AI could then choose various options to fit the needs of the moment, such as:
...it will still attack if it happens to be close enough and the fire damage didn't severely injure/hamper it.
...it will retreat to the trees, finding that it is alone and the player is launching attacks from range, it substitutes out of harm's way and sets up an ambush position until the player draws within a set radius.
...it regroups with its nearby allies and launches an assault, but each AI reacts differently based on their own strengths/weaknesses to the player (say, a ranged AI takes them on from a distance, while the melee AI go around to try and flank the player, making sure to avoid their line of sight, i.e the player's frontal viewpoint, and surprise the player from behind)
Are you guys considering trying to make such a "condition-sensitive" AI, or will it just be (overall, both in long and short-term views) the same AI that either follow you to the ends of the earth, or run like babies wanting their mothers. And also, imo, there should probably be some different types of AI (as in all MMOs), i.e some that like to stay at range or retreat more often when taking damage, and others that prefer to finish the player as fast as possible despite taking damage.
Sorry for the long post, but I like to try and detail my examples to get the best response possible from you guys, ik you must hate it if someone asks a vague Q like "Will the AI in this game be smart?", without specifying "smart" at all. Again, Dev/Mod only response please, this isn't in the discussions forum.
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