The New AI, suggestions

[legit1337]

So as we all know, this latest experimental build introduced a new and aggressive AI.

The problem with this is that many players are reporting that the AI will just swarm the drop site. This overwhelms the player, and leaves the rest of the map pretty much empty, destroying the feeling of tense exploration.

I personally like the new aggressive AI. However I do not think that all of the aliens on the map should be using it. Some aliens should just be wandering around and should only start using that aggressive AI when they see a xenonaut or civilian and are "activated" like in the OG.

IMO something like half should be aggressive at the map start, and the other half should just wander around the map killing anything they come across.

What do you guys think?

[thixotrop]

Completely agree.

(I like the aggressiveness near the drop site. Think the rest of the map is too empty. Some aliens should wander around.)

Plus: Make aliens inside ufo not too passive or group huggle until they see you. This is what I mean by that.

[StellarRat]

There was a lengthy discussion about the AI on the v22 balance thread. Here was my solution:

If everyone really wants this "fixed" my suggestion is to up the alien count by a about 50% and add an AI "mode" called "delaying action" or "skirmisher". Aliens with this mode will take pot shots and retreat back toward the alien ship (or away from the Xenonauts in the case of terror and base missions) whenever they are pressed by the Xenonauts i.e. the range to the Xenonauts becomes less than "long". They will prioritize keeping their distance and cover above everything else. These aliens will "fill" the middle of the map. They can even be placed up front as scouts/skirmishers.

[TacticalDragon]

There was a lengthy discussion about the AI on the v22 balance thread. Here was my solution:

If everyone really wants this "fixed" my suggestion is to up the alien count by a about 50% and add an AI "mode" called "delaying action" or "skirmisher". Aliens with this mode will take pot shots and retreat back toward the alien ship (or away from the Xenonauts in the case of terror and base missions) whenever they are pressed by the Xenonauts i.e. the range to the Xenonauts becomes less than "long". They will prioritize keeping their distance and cover above everything else. These aliens will "fill" the middle of the map. They can even be placed up front as scouts/skirmishers.

I really like this idea, the combat develop in the field and the alien units begin to retreat to defensive position to the alien ship.

[Chris]

In the next build, the Passive aliens are going to be a bit less aggressive. At the moment they behave too much like outright Aggressive aliens, so hopefully this will resolve some of the issues.

[smoitessier]

I like the idea of skirmisher/scouts, and if it's not already in, would love it if alien officers could influence that outcome, and if they were engaged by xenos, or just plain died, then the super aggressiveness could kick in, but not for the entire map, just their sphere of comand.

And I haven't played in a while but it seemed there were too few aliens after Chris's balance patch were it was super dangerous, and has since been scaled back from what I understand, but keeping the same numbers of bad guys.

[antisocialmunky]

I think one of the big problems with both the old and new AIs is variety. The aggressiveness is nice but it gets old after a while. The same thing happened with the overly passive aliens.

Would it be possible to have the AI sometimes start off with a fighting retreat after the initial contact and then flip to attack mode after a few turns? That way the map aliens might actually have a chance because they aren't charging into a blob of guys dismounting from the drop ship.

The progression would be (but not always) the aliens spreading the player's units into the more open parts of the map. The player units get thinned out and separated while the aliens assemble outside of player range from their random starting positions. Then the aliens launch an all out attack like now. Since the player is spread out, you get more variety where part of the player's force may be outnumbered by the sudden rush of aliens.

You also get some interesting pacing with something like this. One of the things I liked about the old AI was the aliens kept pulling back so you never quite knew how many there were and it felt like a chase (increasing action/tension) while now you pretty much know how many aliens there are and when all the aliens outside are dead. The problem is that this increasing action never really had a pay off because the aliens just kept running away being slowly whittled down. If you made them eventually regroup and attack you would have a nice exciting mini-climax before a quick breather to unwind and do the actual climax of opening up the downed UFO.

Imagine this. You have a Wraith/Caesan mission in one of those farm maps. You split up your forces into 2 groups of 6. You advanced through the map for three turns, killing the odd Caesan and occasionally exchanging fire with Caesans or Wraiths that teleport/run away. Then suddenly 3 Wraiths teleport behind one of your squads as Caesans attack from the front to prevent you from easily moving one squad to try and help the other.

Edited April 5, 2014 by antisocialmunky

[TacticalDragon]

I'm working in a new AI setting, you can check our next release soon at

http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/9280-XNATS-Into-Darkness-V1

I hope you test it.