Where's the good AI? Am I really alone here?

[farren]

First off this is under hard difficulty, patched up.

 

All these reviews I read talk about the wonderful AI and I'm just not seeing it. This game honestly has the worst AI I've seen in a TBS that I can remember from the last 10 years. I've played 4 axis missions and 2 random encounters, so 6 battles total. Every battle I've had enemies just line up to be shot. It's like I've already stuck everyone in a concentration camp and they have no will to live. They won't even move.

 

On the first British axis mission 2 of my guys were in the house, 2 in the front yard. I had one guy inside go up to the second story where a guy in the hall way shot me with a burst. I ran back downstairs. He stood there turn after turn not moving... He was standing by the window overlooking the yard where he could have shot either of my other 2 men but didn't.

 

The 'group' AI is more like sheep flocking together while the high officer dog keeps them in check. If an officer isn't looking you in the eye, he won't turn to meet the bullets pelting him turn after turn. I've run into instances of this every battle. The only way I can get hurt is when I'm really close to an enemy or I take a turn down a hallway and get shot in the face by an interruption. If I run after that they won't follow suit and finish me off with one shot of their pistol.

 

I want to love this game so bad as TBS is my favorite genre. The AI just ruins the game. The physics engine could use a lot of work, too, with curveball bullets and whatnot but that's another thread.

 

I would like to thank this game for encouraging me to install X-COM.

[Fantus]

It could be wrong but I find that the first missions are somewhat easy to get things started. When you are further in the game the difficulty increases quite a bit. Not only do the amount of enemies increase but also the level of the enemies goes up.... I found the game a tad to easy on Hard myself after my Sniper got the "Ranged critical" skill. Now I am replaying with a Scout who only kills with melee weapons and I find it very challenging and the AI responds correctly. Maybe it is just the way you play. May I also remind you that the AI on the X-COM is not that hot shit either... lots of flaws there too!!

[dmw_spyder]

I have played a total of 4 games, 2 axis and 2 allies campaigns. All on Impossible mode and I tell you the AI is one of the best I have seen so far.

 

Every moment you will be afraid to be seen, coz when you are seen, you are dead meat. Accurate burst of fire, silent flanking, smart out-manouver, and most of all deadly grenades!!

 

One random encounter is enough to let me load for more than 10 times, coz whole team wiped out.

But of course sneaking, silenced guns and katana can increase chance of survival...

 

It is still challenging even when you get your PK, those madmen will actually burst your PK to death (the pilot I mean).

 

If you still find it too easy, maybe you can try Impossbile mode with Die Hard Mod. Good luck though.... hehehe... :twisted:

[The Silent Master]

Listening to you guys, I'll probably go with the level set to hard, I'll have to try the diehard mod later...

[kermix]

The only problems I've run into are actually with friendly AI, but they can be very very frustrating if you let them. I've had to trick AI into moving a few times, especially when the game determined that there was an alternate path (an unsafe one that I wouldn't want to take for any reason) and an Allied Officer spent almost an entire mission crouched in a doorway, cutting my squadmates off from each other. I would rather try to protect them than the other way around, if you know what I mean.

 

The funniest (and least annoying) thing I saw along these lines was after a mission was clear of resistance, and the game switched to realtime. I was sending most of my squad around cleaning up and looting, and when I went to check on my medic, she was surrounded by about ten allied soldiers milling about for no obvious reason. Guess they hadn't seen a chick in a while or something...

[Whisper]

I didn't find the game's AI terribly bright either - playing on Hard (Impossible), once you get a sniper to the point he has extra vision range, the game becomes far too easy. Alternatively, a scout with very high Hide gets you to the same place. Basically the enemies have no reaction to people shooting at them when they're outside a certain radius of them.

 

Frequently I'll drop a guy that's about 10 squares away from another enemy, and the nearby survivor will not react.

 

Recently in my Axis campaign, a scout with a high Hide and a silenced SMG stood about 2 squares away from a panzerklein in Berger's Factory (very close to the end game) and emptied about 100 rounds into it without the panzerklein ever moving at all, much less firing back. In the same mission, there is a long hallway in the underground part, at the end of which are two gatling PKs - I lined up my entire squad and plinked them with sniper fire, and they never moved. Enemies do not seem to react to gunfire noise at all, only footstep noise. You would think that if you got shot in the head for 60 points of damage your first instinct would be to take cover!

 

Enemies are fairly smart about short-range combat though, in which they will step out of cover, fire a burst or two, and step back. It seems really rare that enemies will toss a grenade at my squad, but it's always memorable. It's also nifty to see a guy ditch his SMG and pick up a sniper rifle or heavy MG and start using it, or when a guy with a sniper rifle takes a turn to aim at you.

 

Long-range combat on the other hand is severely broken. If I play the game through again I'll most likely skip taking any snipers and do something silly like use only throwing weapons or melee, with a solo character

[Paingod]

My Sniper is the only character I have who can exploit the enemy AI, he's got enhanced range... But even that doesn't save him if he turns a corner and doesn't see the foe hiding there.

 

My first fight with a Panzerklien (Tonight, in fact) I spotted it from waaayyy off and lined up an excellent shot. I figured my sniper, with the best rifle I had at the time would be able to do *something* to it safely from range... Denied.

 

I hit it three times in the head easily in one round, all for zero damage, and it just started lumbering down towards me. As it approached, I was forced to flee, and in retreating, had to run my entire team up a cliff to get away from this madman. He wouldn't relent in his persuit of my Sniper until my entire team was safely out of his range (20 saves later). I dunno why... Not like I hurt him.

 

Other times, I've been very annoyed by the AI. Sneaking up on my flanks with grenades or just plain hiding in the bushes near me and using the sidestep techniques to slide out, shoot at me, and slide back into cover. It worked well enough early on for them, but now I've gotten much better at interrupting, and let them slide out to meet their deaths.

[kermix]

My Sniper is the only character I have who can exploit the enemy AI, he's got enhanced range... But even that doesn't save him if he turns a corner and doesn't see the foe hiding there.

 

What is your sniper doing hanging out near blind corners anyway?

 

I prefer Spot/Hide to Spot/Interrupt when it comes down to things like that, but yeah, blind corners are always dangerous in just about any TBS game with reaction or interrupt.