Several questions about the AI and difficulty
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 4:09 pm
Just several question about the AI of some units. I'd be super happy if the developers could answer them, as I've been curious about them for a while.
a) What's up with the Drone AI? Fairly often, a drone will move in an illogical fashion - move two tiles, and then move another two tiles, or move away from my troops, and then move back, and so on. Occasionally, it won't do anything. But, then, on other occasions, it will do what you'd expect it to do - move towards my troops and shoot, and attempt flanks.
b) The same happens, though I think less often, with Floaters. And, very occasionally, Sectoids will just do nothing, though I've never seen them move erratically. I don't think I've noticed any other alien doing weird things like that.
c) I was looking through some ini files, and I think I noticed in one of them that on classic and up, the enemies are more likely to use grenades. I'm assuming they're also more likely to use other abilities as well?
d) But, apart from grenades/abilities, are there any other differences between the difficulty levels in terms of what the AI does?
For example (though I could be imagining things), I think I've noticed a difference in what EXALT does between Normal and Classic. Previously, their response to a Com Relay hack was to reload their weapons. Now they will often grenade me, which they'll actually do more often even when not hacked. But, I think I also noticed that they do not rush so blindly towards the encoder or emitter. They actually overwatch camp now, or, when near the emitter, they might nevertheless choose to engage my troops instead of moving towards it.
Also, I seem to be noticing that the aliens will try more often to get a long-range flank on me - i.e. if I drop out of sight, or they do, they often won't run back into my overwatch from the opposite direction of my cover, but will take a long route around to come on my flank. Or just camp and overwatch instead.
It could be that I'm just playing more carefully now, so I'm noticing these things, but is there an actual difference in how the AI behaves, apart from being more likely to use abilities?
Thanks!
a) What's up with the Drone AI? Fairly often, a drone will move in an illogical fashion - move two tiles, and then move another two tiles, or move away from my troops, and then move back, and so on. Occasionally, it won't do anything. But, then, on other occasions, it will do what you'd expect it to do - move towards my troops and shoot, and attempt flanks.
b) The same happens, though I think less often, with Floaters. And, very occasionally, Sectoids will just do nothing, though I've never seen them move erratically. I don't think I've noticed any other alien doing weird things like that.
c) I was looking through some ini files, and I think I noticed in one of them that on classic and up, the enemies are more likely to use grenades. I'm assuming they're also more likely to use other abilities as well?
d) But, apart from grenades/abilities, are there any other differences between the difficulty levels in terms of what the AI does?
For example (though I could be imagining things), I think I've noticed a difference in what EXALT does between Normal and Classic. Previously, their response to a Com Relay hack was to reload their weapons. Now they will often grenade me, which they'll actually do more often even when not hacked. But, I think I also noticed that they do not rush so blindly towards the encoder or emitter. They actually overwatch camp now, or, when near the emitter, they might nevertheless choose to engage my troops instead of moving towards it.
Also, I seem to be noticing that the aliens will try more often to get a long-range flank on me - i.e. if I drop out of sight, or they do, they often won't run back into my overwatch from the opposite direction of my cover, but will take a long route around to come on my flank. Or just camp and overwatch instead.
It could be that I'm just playing more carefully now, so I'm noticing these things, but is there an actual difference in how the AI behaves, apart from being more likely to use abilities?
Thanks!