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AI Aggressiveness/Changes


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I haven't seen a lot of discussion about the recent AI changes, although they seem pretty pronounced to me. The alien "zerg rushes" at the beginning of missions appear to have been scaled back significantly. I'm also seeing ETs pop out of their vessels suddenly, and reposition according to conditions inside the ship much more frequently (they're not just "turtling" anymore). I also seem to be encountering them in unexpected places more often (almost as if different spawn points were added?) and in general behaving more intelligently (retreating when outgunned, throwing grenades when appropriate, etc.).

All in all it the AI is operating quite differently than it was a build or two ago, and I personally think a really good balance has been struck (although I do kinda miss a zerg rush every now and then). What do you guys think? Happy with the changes that have been made?

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I've not really played a proper game for a while, but the testing I've been doing for various things has implied precisely what you've written above. Overall, I think the AI is in a really good place and there's only really three things that I'd like to see developed further:

- Aliens locking up. I'm still fairly frequently encountering instances where aliens seem to lock up and no do anything on their turns, even in instances were there's really obvious moves they could make (like shooting a soldier right next to them!). I assume this is a bug, more than anything, though. (For what it's worth, I've seen aliens come out of this 'lock' after a few turns, so it seems to be situational in some manner).

- Shoot locking/not using cover. When the AI starts actually fighting, it has a tendency to stand there and shoot, regardless of whether it is in cover. Indeed, the only time I really see the AI move when they've starting fighting is either to re-position for a shot, or just a little shuffle (1-2 tiles) after they've taken all their shots for the turn. For some aliens, this type of behaviour is actually fine (e.g. Sebs and Androns), but for other aliens like Caesans it seems odd and doesn't really suit their stats since they don't have the hitpoints/armour to take fire.

- Shot choice. Aliens only use snap/burst fire, when mathematically these are the poorest choice in terms of scoring hits compared with higher aim shots (this isn't always true, as it depends on alien accuracy and cover penalties, but most of the time its true). This isn't a major issue, really, and actually more bullets looks cooler than fewer in my opinion. But it might be nice if the AI mixed it up a bit, even if this was simply an RNG roll to determine what kind of shot it will take given the TUs it has to fire.

I think only the first issue is especially important. The other two, while they would be nice to have fixed, are only minor in comparison. But, as I said above, overall I think the AI is really good now, and there's just a few kinks that need ironing out.

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It's certainly far better than Shadowrun Returns... been playing that a bit recently due to a steam sale and the AI is pretty random.

I was considering grabbing Shadowrun too when it was on sale, but watching Lets Play videos convinced me otherwise

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The graphics are gorgeous, and I like the music and most of the writing... some of the puzzles / options based on character building aren't quite as interesting as I'd like, but aside from the crap AI it's not a bad game. The Berlin campaign has some nice NPCs.

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I would highly recommend Shadowrun Return only for the Dragonfall DLC. The main game was only mediocre while the DLC is for me one of the most enjoable RPGs we had in at least a decade :)

Back on topic, I would agree with what kabil said.

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