Sound glitch?
But hl1’s AI was more fun…
One thing that I’d like to point out: While the grunts always ran away when given the chance and wounded, the combine didn’t.
This isn’t because Valve got lazy; if they wanted to, they could port the code for that.
The way I see it, since the combine soldiers have their memories replaced as part of their surgery, it’s not outside of reason that they’re programmed to not care about themselves personally, and to blindly throw themselves at their objective. And their implants explain why they don’t limp, as well; With metal legs, it’s hard to make them have to.
And the reason the Rebels don’t limp or retreat is because they are full of Adrenaline and blinded by Zealless. 
Forgot about that temporarily.
That would explain why they die less easily than the combine, though- Adrenaline and a purpose. Combine probably don’t have adrenal glands.
they’re supposed to not need them. For bio-mechanically enhanced soldiers they seem awfully inadequate compared to the hooting, bullet-absorbing rebels. :hmph:
I like to think of the Rebels like Russian Conscripts in WW2. Backs to the wall, limited supplies, facing a powerful enemy. The only option you have is to fight, and fight hard.
Did you play HL1 or HL Source? I’m not sure, but I think that HL Source uses the Combine AI for the HECU.
I think a more reasonable explanation is that it would make the game easier if they run away. It is better if the combine fight as a group and no one retreat even if he is wounded. The same goes for the rebels.
It does not, they behave nothing like the Combine in HLS.
Besides, if combine soldiers retreated limping they would seem more human. And they’re supposed to look as if they had lost all humanity in them.
Not only in appearance, but in character – any added humanity to the Combine personality – things like running away or limping – would put doubt in the player as to who the enemy is, or if the Combine are really as bad as they seem. Like the robot-style voiceovers in HL for the hgrunts… simply made to detatch humanity.
Amen.
They have very capable AI programmers to accomplish this too.
I would like to see limping HECU grunts, though. That ain’t gonna stop me from killing em.
^This
You limping away wouldn’t stop them from killing you, amirite? 
Other than headcrabs, and vortigaunts, I think they’ll have all new npc’s
Raminator, you actually missed the point here. Why?
Better AI is not the same as More Complex AI.
‘More Advanced’ means 0. The belief that the more available routines and behaviors that an entity uses, the better the AI must be, is completely false. GOOD AI means that the enemies are challenging and consistently fun to engage.
There are games older than HL1 that have good AI. Why? Because it was done right. Meaning that the enemies presented an engaging challenge, without needing to have 1874 logic states or complex behavioral pattern shifts in order to get it done.
You’ve got to step away from a programming perspective and realize that games are mainly played by gamers, not analysts. Otherwise you sound exactly like the dev houses that say their graphics are ‘better’ because they crammed in more polygons and use ‘this new advanced lighting scheme’ and ‘x custom shaders and caustics and blah’, when in reality there are better looking games with less complex graphical engines. Because they were done right. Good art, good modeling/textures, good design and continuity, smart coding. AI is no different.
Anyway,
I’ve noticed that HGrunts have the ridiculous tendency to blow themselves up with their own grenades. There was one rare occasion when I found that all of the Hgrunts in a certain area actually ended up taking care of themselves.
The main difference between HGrunts and Combine are:
HGrunt Health >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Combine Health
Their tendencies to chuck grenades… HGrunts >>>>>>>>>>>>> Combine
Their tendencies to run away and hide, then annoy you with hit+run… HGrunts >>>>>>>>>>>>> Combine
Also, as Raminator said, behavior complexity… Combine >>>>>>> HGrunts
Also, this thread is over a week old… :meh:
Weren’t the soldiers that would plant grenades at their feet, dance in place and get blown to pieces so much better? :rolleyes:
This is comletely false. Better AI = it works better in actual gameplay. If it takes you 47 decisions to stand out in the open and get shot, then I don’t care if you analyzed the player’s height, race, blood type and rate of breathing to get there. It’s not ‘smart’.
Good AI means that whatever process it takes to get there, what the enemies actually end up doing makes them more engaging to fight against. You don’t play against the process, you play against the results.
If a simpler process generates better results in gameplay… It’s better. The important thing is that the actions the enemy does take are done right and make the game more fun to play.