LE Take the stupid out of the A.I.

[Harkonian]

The A.I is so horribly bad right now, particularly if you are playing stealthily.

 

Most encounters go something like this:

 

*sneak up near NPC*

*thunk!* put an arrow into the back of his head

*hide*

NPC looks around, "Huh? Who's there?"

A few seconds later, NPC says, "Must have been my imagination." and walks away...with an arrow in his head.

rinse and repeat until NPC is dead.

 

So, I'd love to see a mod that does the following:

 

• If an NPC is injured, he will stay on alert for a long time, possibly until he completely heals or 10 minutes IRL time, whichever is longer
  
• If an NPC finds one of his companions dead, he goes on alert for a long time
  
• If an NPC goes on alert, he also alerts all nearby NPCs
  
• Once you are detected, the alert status will last even longer -- 30 minutes IRL.
  
• If there is any evidence of intruders -- even if the NPC was not alerted by a visual or injury -- they go on alert. For example, if you shoot an arrow and miss. If the NPC can see the arrow, they go on alert.
  
• Excessive noise or light will cause NPCs to go on alert
  

 

Other sneak related A.I. stupidity not directly related to fighting, but which also needs to be fixed:

 

• If you are caught inside a room or house you broke into, the NPC should react stronger than saying, "Can't I get some privacy?" You just broke in! At the very least attack, or call some guards or something. Don't just ignore me while I wonder around. If you are playing stealthily and get caught inside a building you broke into, you are doing it wrong and there should be a penalty for that.
  
• Traps should kill you. Period. If you are quick enough to drink a potion or cast a heal spell before you are dead, fine. But otherwise, if you trigger a trap you should die. As it stands now, you can completely ignore traps. I have yet to have any trap bring me down to even 1/2 health, much less kill me.
  

 

I thought the following suggestion/information was also good:

 

Years ago I requested a stealth improvement mod for Oblivion, which was realized beautifully by a modder DuggeDank in Proximity Based Sneak Penalties mod. It was a clever change that imposed sneak penalties to your toon based on the proximity and line of sight information from nearby NPCs. It really improved the stealth gameplay because it was nearly impossible to be invisible directly in front of an NPC. Mod increased the severity of penalties if you were approaching the NPC from the front. Also backstabbing was made more challenging, but it was way more rewarding due to increased sneak multipliers. High risk, high reward.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15025

 

I think it would be useful if NPCs were aware of collisions from any objects originating from your PC (also your touch). That way they could lose disposition towards the player and abusing them would become more difficult.

 

About bow stealth play, there should be bow sway movement to make it more challenging to land hits while stealthed. The mod for this behavior in Oblivion was made by TalkieToaster: Bow Sway mod.

http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=oblivionmods.detail&id=2464

Edited November 26, 2011 by Harkonian

[FoneBone]

Oh, this is a must have! I, for one, supports this deeply!!

[FoneBone]

Sorry, double post.. Edited November 19, 2011 by FoneBone

[doddibot]

I thought they did attack you if you spent too long in their house. Or was that Oblivion...

 

NPCs do tend to go on alert when an arrow goes past their head, but not for very long. And nearby NPCs do tend to be alerted to, I think. But you're very right that the alert decay rate is far too rapid.

[s0u1r3ap0r]

Please for the love of god someone needs to make this a reality... This would make the game SOOO much better!!! :dance:

[DeadSpace]

'it must have been my imagination' when they're standing next to one of their comrades dead with an arrow through him/ her...i realize that mimics rl in how some people refuse to see what's in front of them...but that takes it a little too far.

if it's at all possible, i too would like a smarter AI

[sirspikey]

+1

[Midicow]

Sounds a lot like what a mod did for oblivion. I've completely forgot what it was called but it was definitely an improved sneaking mod that altered ai packages so ai would trigger alert status on that sort of thing, so sneaking would work better in dark places, and so you could actually rehide if you were good enough.

Definitely though, skyrim ai is kinda derpy as is. Needs a revamp bad.

[cppcooper]

The A.I is so horribly bad right now, particularly if you are playing stealthily.

 

Most encounters go something like this:

 

sneak up near NPC

*thunk!* put an arrow into the back of his head

hide

NPC looks around* "Huh? Who's there?"

After a few seconds NPC says, "Must have been my imagination." and walks away...with an arrow in his head.

rinse and repeat until NPC is dead.

 

So, I'd love to see a mod that does the following:

* if an NPC is injured, he will stay on alert for a long time, possibly until he completely heals or 30 minutes IRL time, whichever is longer

* if an NPC finds one of his companions dead, he goes on alert for a long time

* if an NPC goes on alert, he also alerts all nearby NPCs

* if there is any evidence of intruders -- even if the NPC was not alerted by a visual or injury -- they go on alert. For example, if you shoot an arrow and miss. If the NPC can see the arrow, they go on alert.

* if you are caught inside a room or house you broke into, the NPC should react stronger than saying, "Can't I get some privacy?" You just broke in! At the very least attack, or call some guards or something. Don't just ignore me while I wonder around.

 

Lol this is the best first post I have read on any forum..

 

With the above said, I think that my opinion on the matter is clear; however the only addition or change that I would make is that an AI entity can decide whether or not to care about the concerns of the other alerted NPC. Since the entity doesn't ACTUALLY have the ability to make choices, in the way I and everybody perceives such an ability, it should depend on whatever statistics are available via the NPC's properties; presumably the NPCs have some form of statistics measuring their sense of responsibility. It would be good if the mod also included that emulated ability of choice using those variables.

[mlkey]

+1Billion