Soldiers AI using aimbots? Or in any case, being way too difficult.

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#201

Well, if you’re coming at it from an immersion/story point of view, the HEV suit is riddled with tracking bugs, so they would know exactly where you are at all times. But that is beside the point. There’s quite a few opportunities to sneak up on and surprise the HECU as it is. It’s only once they’ve already seen you that they start “aimbotting,” and that’s usually because they’re around that corner, or on that platform pointing their weapons directly at the spot you last poked your head up from - exactly as they would in real life. It just so happens that most of the rooms that contain HECU have them with eyes on the point you enter from - in the ones that don’t you can easily get the drop on them.

I’ve never felt “cheated” by the AI detection or accuracy in any way.

Also, I’m pretty much in agreement with the “MP5 HECU sniping from 400 yards” point. It would be nice if they didn’t do that in the larger open areas that allow them to, but if that was the case then they would need to be taking cover intelligently and not just running toward you to get in shooting range as that’d make them ridiculous easy to sit back and snipe. In fact, it’d be nice if they shot a few bursts of covering fire from range and then charged in to take cover.

#202

Well, not unless all of them are carrying around some sort of monitoring device.

One example is the part where the osprey drops down grunts. I walked up the ramp from the garage (for the first time), and as soon as an inch of my head stuck out, they’d all start shooting me. They’d even come running at me into the garage when I stayed all the way at the back. So they definitely knew where I was before even seeing me.

#203

I agree that the AI might be a little too sensitive for some spots. It doesn’t make the game harder, but it does erode the immersion a bit, and it takes away some options from the player in terms of gameplay. I noticed this also in the dam/reservoir sequence involving the helicopter. The AI’s sensitivity to the player’s position, even under water, funnels the player to one solution, as if it’s a puzzle solution. In the combat sequences, the player doesn’t have much strategic choice. You can’t get the drop on the grunts, evade them strategically,hide from them or move to new cover without them knowing your movement.

I remember Raminator answering a question a long time ago about the ability to sneak around the grunts. His reply was something about how it would be difficult for Freeman to do that while wearing this brightly colored armored suit that made loud metallic footsteps. I think though, that the AI is even more sensitive than that.

#204

“Crouching will automatically shift your suit into stealth mode, minimizing movement noise.”
The bright orange point is still valid though.

#205

That doesn’t seem to effect the grunts knowledge of your position, which is what I think is the issue recently ITT.

#206

Why would they need personal monitoring devices? They’re in communication with each other via radio and they have soldiers/commanders watching you via the monitors, relaying this information to the grunts. That’s how they’re able to constantly remain one step ahead and set up traps ahead of you. They’re essentially waiting for you the entire time. As soon as they themselves see you, why would they then suddenly drop their guard? Of course they’re going to pursue you.

#207

There’s a difference between being aware of your presence and pursuing you, and being aware of your exact location.

#208

Like I said earlier, they once they see you, they can see you through everything and will make a bee line to you every time. This doesn’t just effect the HECU AI but all enemy npc AI. In forget about Freeman, next time you open a snark pod with a satchel charge. put yourself someplace where you can see them coming for you, but they can’t reach you. like back inside the security office where you can turn on the turrets. I can garuntee you they will come for you with out even seeing you first. they make a bee line for you no matter where the second you aggro them.

#209

Cool, so not just Aimbots but Wallhacks as well :frowning:

#210

So should they stop pursuing you and return to their posts once you’re out of sight MGS style? It’s not as if the HECU charge down your exact location at all times regardless of the situation. They see/hear you, they come after you.

#211

They don’t see or hear anything.

The issue here, I think, isn’t that they charge you down, but that they know your exact location.

#212

Zen’s absolutely right. They’re Omniscient to the point that they know where you are at all times. There are times I’ve had to put doors only I can open with switches between me and them just to get a little breathing room. I can’t hide no matter what I do.

#213

Did I say that? o.O No, I didn’t. I said them being aware of your exact location is something different than them being aware of your presence and pursuing you/looking for you.

To be clear, “there’s a difference between x and y” usually means one of them is good and one of them is bad.

#214

Despite this issue, I really liked the combat a lot. Some people seem unhappy with it because it may have made the combat more frustrating. I view it as part of the game. It’s a bit seamy for a modern game, I guess, and they may tweak it, but I viewed it as part of the parameters of a game that you understand and adjust to.

One of the things about the original HL was that there was a learning curve. That curve was flattened for HL2, which was a really great, really fun game, but the combat was an ego-stroke, designed for a wider audience - the Combine practically shot themselves for you, and they were incredibly bad shots themselves.

Black Mesa may be a Source game, but it’s not HL2 in terms of the feel of the gameplay - it’s definitely more like HL. You’ll die in BM, until you learn how to play through a sequence. That wasn’t the case in HL2, where the combat was an ego stroke. BM is old school in terms of the combat being challenging. unlike some of the contemorary combat-oriented SP FPSs. It definitely felt like Half-Life to me, and that was a lot of fun.

#215

I enjoy the combat, I just want to beable to sneak when I want to sneak, hide when I want to hide and not have the AI know where I am after leaving their sight 10 seconds before and hid in a closet shutting the door, only to have them barge in and blow me away in a single attack. That irks me a bit because they shouldn’t have seen me or known I was there.

They bee line so much that their AI is broken if they try to go through a door but can’t open it. they’ll just sit there trying to get through what should be an open doorway but isn’t. even to the point they’ll ignore grenades and die.

#216

Ahaha, yes. You know that part in Forget About Freeman with the tank and firefight between some grunts and the aliens? Well, I let them duke it out as I played around the radiation puddles. When the fighting stopped, I was crouching along the chicane hallway. I could barely see the turret when they yelled “I see Freeman!” or whatever it was.

In retrospect, I think he was on the other side of the tank. He saw me through it but wasn’t dumb enough to try shooting through an Abrams.

Are you kidding?! That part with the hacked Combine turrets in Nova Prospekt (where you have to defend) still gives me nightmares.

#217

Nooooo - that’s so easy. you don’t even have to do anything. There are two times you do this. Once in the control room, and then again in the cells. Both times the only thing you need to do is shotgun a couple manhacks.

#218

I’ve found that adding this to the skill.cfg really makes the soldiers much more fair:

ai_reaction_delay_alert					"0.3"
ai_reaction_delay_idle					"0.75"
ai_shot_bias						"4"
ai_shot_bias_max					"5"    
ai_shot_bias_min					"3"
ai_LOS_mode						"1"

Reaction_delay_alert and reaction_delay_idle make enemies have more reasonable reaction times than their default values.

The shot_bias values fix the problem of the soldiers being crack shots.

LOS_mode seems to fix the problem of the soldiers being omniscient, at least it did when I was testing it. This might cause other unusual ai behavior though, not sure.

#219

I’ll test it out and get back to you.

#220

Problem solved, apparently.

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