Unshackling AI at low difficulties

[FMod]

Toying around with various difficulties settings and running into lots of frustration on Xenonauts forums about how XCOM EU was about mopping down mobs of weakling aliens, I had this thought -

- Can the AI at Easy be unshackled, so that, with its small number of enemies seriously beefed up, it changes the balance into fighting small groups of superior opponents?

 

I know what can be done via XGTacticalGameCore and Modpatcher, but it seems like there is more to it that can be edited there. Anything in UPK that could be responsible for less aggressive AI behavior at low difficulties, or is it hardcoded?

 

Alternately, any known way to drop the number of enemy spawns on high difficulties?

[Kaerar]

Yeah that's pretty easy. I've unshackled all of them, though the more advanced patrols are only present from Classic and above.

 

Would point out how, but my modpatcher is only partially working atm...

Edited November 3, 2012 by Kaerar

[FMod]

I have modpatcher and know p.much everything that can be done with it. It's the stuff that can't that worries me.

 

Do the aliens behave like on Classic/Impossible? I.e. are they still aggressive, still throw grenades, etc?

[Daemonjax]

I noticed that when I removed the +10 aim bonus from Classic/Impossible, the AI was just as easily exploitable by overwatching as on normal.

[BlackAlpha]

I noticed that when I removed the +10 aim bonus from Classic/Impossible, the AI was just as easily exploitable by overwatching as on normal.

 

I noticed in the code that there are checks for the AI where they do or do not do certain things when there are player controlled units on overwatch. I guess it comes down to editing those lines if you want to fix this "bug". But I didn't see a way to do so with mere HEX editing.

 

I forgot in what files it was. It's in XComGame.upk, in one of the files that has "AI" in its name.

Edited November 3, 2012 by BlackAlpha

[Daemonjax]

Thanks for the info. :D

 

I'll look into it when I have more time.

 

It makes Normal difficulty unplayable for me.

[fys]

I’d like to learn more about the differences between difficulty levels too. Is there really a difference in number of enemies?

Not sure if XComGame.upk\XGDeployAI is only responsible for unit spawning. There are no difficulty checks mentioned.

 

Besides the better known and easily accessible settings in DefaultGameCore, there are more difficulty checks hidden in XComGame.upk, for example in XGAIBehavior. There is GetMinHitChance (Diff 3 = Impossible?), GetMaxDangerLevelForMovement (Diff 0 = Easy?), and IgnoresActiveList (Diff -1??).

 

XGAIPlayer has also a few functions. This contains not only player functions but also aliens:

- InitMindMerge (Sectoids) which mentions difficulty 3 (Impossible?) making 50% of nSectoids merging per turn. Else, only 20%.

- CanOneShot and CanCrit mention Difficulty 1 and 0. Look like safety checks to prevent killing favorable soldiers maybe.

- GetMaxEngagedAI: this should be handled by a setting in DefaultGameCore.

- GetAcceptableOverwatchMovementSightRadiusPercent: looks like another safety check for difficult level 0 and 1 there.

- AvoidVIP: GetDifficulty() <= 1, another safety check to prevent killing the escorts as it seems.

 

I didn’t want to list all functions in detail now. Check with UE Explorer if you like to know more.

I don’t get really smart of this all yet, but if difficulty 3 is Impossible then there is a good chance there are differences to Classic. I still haven’t found anything else yet in particular about spawn numbers for each difficulty level.