I was wondering about actor AI recently. According to my observations, there's only a slight probability of a stand-alone actor to actually "activate" and fire at the enemy. Is this an intentional decision undertaken by the developers, or is it a glitch that should be corrected? I've set up an elaborate system of sentries multiple times before, only to have them mauled by the enemy team's onslaught as they stood there and pointed their guns in random directions. is there a particular percent chance of an AI activating? If yes, is that percentage editable through non-hardcode means? Either way, I have a couple of suggestions for the AI system:

-Ability to use the actor inventory menu to change the way AI behaves itself. Perhaps another scroller field, so the whole menu looks like this:
^ PICK UP
< WEAPON >
< COMBAT >
V DROP

The "COMBAT" field would have options such as "ATTACK" "GUARD" and "INACTIVE" to change the way ana ctor would act when left alone.

-Make the NPC capable of firing more weapons. I've noticed that the AI only uses bullet-based weaponry. I've made a squad of 10 guys with long cannons before and spaced them out evenly. They all had SMGs as backup weapons, and 2 of the 10 definitely had their AI active because when switched to SMG they fired upon the enemy. When the long cannon is equipped, though, they didn't do anything. Perhaps there should be a way for the weapon creator to determine if the AI can use this weapon or if it's manual-only. Perhaps a way to calculate target solutions based on the weapon's projectile mass, firing speed and so on? That way, ballistic-trajectory weapons could be utilized by the AI as well.

I hope this should at the very least start an interesting discussion and I doubly hope Data answers this.

AI is completely hardcoded, I doubt it was (or is) his highest priority, and he probably just can't fix it. Though actor AI could certainly be improved for both enemies and friendlies, it's more of a player-central game, and I think that CC will veer more towards turrets than actual AHuman actors. It's also difficult to code AI to fit whatever weapon they're holding. The AI fires bullets at the enemy just fine, but shooting a longcannon round point-blank at a nearby enemy isn't the brightest thing to do.

The point-blank problem could be solved with two simple variables in the weapon code, something like AIMinRange and AIMaxRange.

Not a bad idea, I play a lot of single-player and it's frustrating when the best attack the enemy can muster is spawning onto my guys and crushing their heads.

Also, Lazer- Facepunch?

The very one. Hamburgler.

Hmm, I just had my own guard and a bot both sitting there with SMGs to each other, not moving or shooting, then I switched to my guy and shot the robot.

The current AI implementation is literally two evenings' work.... it will get a lot better. Basically all it does now is it casts random detection rays out from teh head, and if it hits and actor of the opposite team, the guy starts aiming with a tighter raycasting pattern (this is when you can see him go into aim mode). If he spots the enemy again at this stage, he fires.

As you know, there are tweaks and improvements needed with this, and they're coming.

I figured you had just thrown it together for the time being.

Anyways, why do my teammates always seem less competent than the computers soldiers?

They're outnumbered? ;p

We're not talking numbers, but competence! We might as well replace the idle actors with turrets right now..

I think the turrets from FF and mines SWM are better than AI sometimes...

I noticed their pathetic nature myself, and though I can deal with it, it makes the whole experience less entertaining to not have my sentries actually doing their job. (And not having the enemies try to kill them.) What is the timeframe on this feature? I can't wait for the scene editor, but where's the fun if I fight a horde of skeletons burrowing through the dirt with their heads? I don't want to play mole exterminator, I want to play intense invasion!

Also, is there any way the scene editor (in a later build, don't worry about it right away) could include ways to specify spots for them to drop off troops? Random spots is good, but I'd love to have some maps where the invasion comes from the sides only, a little more classic warfare. Easy to exploit, but oh well.

As for how to do the A.I., instead of shooting the rays randomly, try taking every actor in a 200 unit (or something) radius from the original actor and sending rays from the original actor to each actor's head and each actor's body. The radius keeps it from doing too many calculations at once, and it should be pretty accurate. (Though little floating particles or certain terrain shapes might get in the way. Any ideas on that?) I am interested in your response.

Hey, look, a month-old topic! I remember this thing!

You do make some good points, though. I'm interested to see Data's response.

*ahem*

I said, I'm interested in seeing D A T A ' S R E S P O N S E!

...

Oh, where'd he go now...

I was originally going to make a new topic, but I figured there is no reason to do that if there already is a good one right here. I've been having fun getting my feet wet with modding, but I can't stand the way the A.I. handles it. Just think of all the things we could do with some better A.I.....