AI combat improvements

[Freddy_Krueger]

I've been playing this game for around 4,700 hours now so manual blocking is not a challenge at all anymore. This makes the singleplayer combat a lot less interesting. I was wondering if there are any mods out there that will make the AI block pretty much all of your attacks? I remember playing on a Duel server in Native called "Robos Dueling Hut", and there was a bot that could block all of your attacks. Is there a way to introduce that ability onto all bots in the singleplayer game? I would appreciate it very much if someone could help me do that. Thanks.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

There was a guy who planned to add better blocking to bot ai. [Link] He disappeared without releasing the code, but even if it was available there'd be three huge problems:

1. Lag. Ai behaviour is hardcoded so to make any bot react differently, you have to basically rewrite the ai from scratch and force the bots to use it. That's a lot of triggers and stuff that would get incredibly complex if dealing with a large number of bots.

2. Boring. The ai has instant reaction time so you'd be in an infinite duel with the last bot on the map if nobody can assist either side. Melee between bots would also take forever.

3. Hard to code. Since the ai has to be written from scratch, how does it deal with cavalry? Or archers? What about spearmen or guys with really thick shields? The current ai takes some of this into account but modders don't have access to it. So It would take a long while to make melee effective, only to make fights considerably longer and potentially more tedious.

 

[Jesus YOUR LORD]

It's a long sought after dream to have better AI in warband. Improved bot skill (potentially tiered so that lords can block everything but peasants are the same old crap fighters they are currently.  Also the enemy pattern of running straight for you as a blob of people all swinging through one another is the other Changd that i feel is needed.  But over 4 years post release I wouldn't hope for someone to mod that now.

If you want combat challenge move to multiplayer, the skills are extremely homed for many long time players.

 

[Freddy_Krueger]

There was a guy who planned to add better blocking to bot ai. [Link] He disappeared without releasing the code, but even if it was available there'd be three huge problems:

1. Lag. Ai behaviour is hardcoded so to make any bot react differently, you have to basically rewrite the ai from scratch and force the bots to use it. That's a lot of triggers and stuff that would get incredibly complex if dealing with a large number of bots.

2. Boring. The ai has instant reaction time so you'd be in an infinite duel with the last bot on the map if nobody can assist either side. Melee between bots would also take forever.

3. Hard to code. Since the ai has to be written from scratch, how does it deal with cavalry? Or archers? What about spearmen or guys with really thick shields? The current ai takes some of this into account but modders don't have access to it. So It would take a long while to make melee effective, only to make fights considerably longer and potentially more tedious.

Well, that's disappointing. Hopefully Taleworlds will work on the AI for Bannerlord. Thanks for replying.

 

[Freddy_Krueger]

It's a long sought after dream to have better AI in warband. Improved bot skill (potentially tiered so that lords can block everything but peasants are the same old crap fighters they are currently.  Also the enemy pattern of running straight for you as a blob of people all swinging through one another is the other Changd that i feel is needed.  But over 4 years post release I wouldn't hope for someone to mod that now.

If you want combat challenge move to multiplayer, the skills are extremely homed for many long time players.

Yeah, I just had my hopes up from the bot on the duel server. I've played tons of MP but I've gotten tired of it, and was hoping that there was a way to make the AI as fun to fight as another person.

 

[Lily-Livered River Pirate]

Grav Skrift(?), an Australian player made such a script that works in single player - with no noticeable lag with a couple hundred bots fighting at once. Its drawbacks are that they do block every attack but from what I understand it would be possible to tie the block chance to weapon proficiency, level or whatever else. They're not unbeatable - there's three ways one can beat them: kick, outrange and outswing - either baiting them into releasing their swing too early or successfully double swinging them.

It works pretty well, and I've had a fun single player campaign using it - another glaring issue however is one of awareness - it seems that bots only ever reassess the next target or threat every ten seconds or so, meaning it's still incredibly easy to backstab a whole bunch of them at once. Oh, being mobbed by them is actually MORE interesting with this script because they'll be blocking a lot more rather than stabbing and swinging their way through one another's corpses.

If anyone would pick up where this guy left off I would GLADLY trade 300 man battles for smaller ones, if it meant that each bot were both capable and interesting to fight.

 

[Freddy_Krueger]

Grav Skrift(?), an Australian player made such a script that works in single player - with no noticeable lag with a couple hundred bots fighting at once. Its drawbacks are that they do block every attack but from what I understand it would be possible to tie the block chance to weapon proficiency, level or whatever else. They're not unbeatable - there's three ways one can beat them: kick, outrange and outswing - either baiting them into releasing their swing too early or successfully double swinging them.

It works pretty well, and I've had a fun single player campaign using it - another glaring issue however is one of awareness - it seems that bots only ever reassess the next target or threat every ten seconds or so, meaning it's still incredibly easy to backstab a whole bunch of them at once. Oh, being mobbed by them is actually MORE interesting with this script because they'll be blocking a lot more rather than stabbing and swinging their way through one another's corpses.

If anyone would pick up where this guy left off I would GLADLY trade 300 man battles for smaller ones, if it meant that each bot were both capable and interesting to fight.

This sounds really fun, is the script available for download anywhere? I would gladly sacrifice bot awareness for the ability to have longer duels with them and not feel like a god at level 1.

 

[Lily-Livered River Pirate]

Hey buddy, he just released it! It's come a long way since I first tried it out a year or so ago, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Doghotel's Brainy Bots

http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,322504.0.html