Is my combat AI broken?

[Warnova]

I've noticed something recently about the combat AI. NPCs will constantly try to attack the player despite oh, say Dogmeat chewing them to pieces. They could be knocked down by DM and get right back up to fire at me. Or chase me down with a sledge, ignoring the angry canine STILL grabbing and/or knocking them down. Shouldn't a person target the immediate threat rather than one several feet away or am I missing something here?

 

[SKKmods]

Once locked on to the first combat target, this AI tends to chase them down until lock is broken despite new closer threats.

 

Why ? As constant threat evaluation costs compute cycles and this was designed to run on 2015 consoles with not a lot of spare compute and an RPG focus (not FPS) its not a priority.

 

If you have spare compute cycles then Pack Attack can help with this.

[LarannKiar]

 

Shouldn't a person target the immediate threat rather than one several feet away or am I missing something here?

 

They would target Dogmeat only if they would consider him to be more dangerous than you.

 

I don't know how the game calculates this as there are a huge number (at least hundreds) of combat related game settings and .ini settings and NPCs usually have different Combat Styles but I think "distance check" and "threat ratio" are among the two most important factors.

 

Combat AI checks the distance of each combat target (I assume with a timer) but it also adds some of the targets to some kind of threat matrix (not all combat targets have "threat ratio", see GetThreatRatio). Since Dogmeat is most likely weaker than you (he surely has lower damage output than you), enemies target you instead.

 

Though I suppose distance check (especially if the target is very close) and incoming melee attacks should overwrite threat ratio.. do you have any combat mods?

Edited October 13, 2022 by LarannKiar

[Warnova]

If you have spare compute cycles then Pack Attack can help with this.

Downloaded Pack Attack. It seems to help with this issue most of the time. I've even seen ferals actually try and run away a few times.

 

 

 

Shouldn't a person target the immediate threat rather than one several feet away or am I missing something here?

 

Since Dogmeat is most likely weaker than you (he surely has lower damage output than you), enemies target you instead.

Makes sense, but still odd looking at it outside the game. No combat mods installed at the time. I'm using Pack Attack now which helps quite a bit.

[HeyYou]

 

If you have spare compute cycles then Pack Attack can help with this.

Downloaded Pack Attack. It seems to help with this issue most of the time. I've even seen ferals actually try and run away a few times.

 

 

 

Shouldn't a person target the immediate threat rather than one several feet away or am I missing something here?

 

Since Dogmeat is most likely weaker than you (he surely has lower damage output than you), enemies target you instead.

Makes sense, but still odd looking at it outside the game. No combat mods installed at the time. I'm using Pack Attack now which helps quite a bit.

 

Don't always believe they are 'running away'..... That one fooled me a couple times. What they were REALLY doing was circling around in a flanking maneuver... Imagine my surprise. :D