What happened to the fancy AI tricks?

[kenyo]

It's all scripted! If you use the impulse cheat in klieners lab then kill lamar they still start shouting at him and look in directions when he isnt even there

sep for there dialog is scripted!
i mean there COMBAT AI is not scripted that is why they suck!
scripting is easyer and less complex!
AI is why there not as smart as you'd want it is couse there (combat) not script (in combat)

 

[kenyo]

I have yet to see a combine soldier kick a door down or a Strider skewer anybody. They do duck down so they can shoot you properly though. Valve said it was all unscripted at the time (like the ally-ai - not true - you have to give the orders for them to move on their own) but that was before they were even close to finishing the game.

you have yet to see it kick a door becouse the AI deosnt alwese work! like i siad AI is complex! it wont alwese work!

 

[Dsty2001]

Something is wierd

I have heard from one side the AI is ok but not anything we've not seen before. But I have also heard the AI is the best ever seen in a video game. Could the intelligence of the AI have to do with the users system?

 

[kenyo]

Something is wierd

I have heard from one side the AI is ok but not anything we've not seen before. But I have also heard the AI is the best ever seen in a video game. Could the intelligence of the AI have to do with the users system?

mabye on faster systems the ai processes data faster and can think of more things, just guessen tho so if im rong correct me

 

[baron insig]

i got skewered by a strider and i saw combine push boxes out of the way when i was piling them up to slow them down in nova prospekt,

on the stridere part i wasnt expecting it ( in citadel) and it went thru me and i died! yay then i threw a dark energy balll thing at it and it went down in one i was amazed!! was cool

It even ducked when too of the "coffins " where nudged againsy each other and it shot me thru the whole!!

I dont know what your talking about maybe if u havea crap cpu and stuff it strips AI down to conserve cpu time

 

[Revenge]

LOL, AmishSlayer the difference in programming AI for warcraft 3 and halflife 2 is astoundingly different. In warcraft 3, ground units are not able to pass under or over each other, it's not full 3d movement where a unit has to work out how to wind it's way up a steep cliff by a series of jumps.

Programming AI is always difficult, however programming AI to cope with hundreds of units moving about in EXTREMELY simple environments is totally different from programming AI to cope with up to a dozen units in an EXTREMELY complex environment. They both need to be effecient, but each individual would need far better pathing AI in HL2 than in warcraft 3. If you really want to compare HL2's AI to another game, then just make sure it's a game that faces similar challenges to the AI, such as Doom 3 or any other FPS.

As for my personal opinion on the AI, I find the combine AI appears to be pretty average when compared to the AI of the fast zombies or antlions at first, but then again you have to consider that both of these creatures move extremely fast, jump huge distances and can one way or another climb up cliffs or buildings with ease. These creatures don't take cover from grenades, and while the antlions do strafe when fired at, they still tend not to use cover much at all. We generally don't have a lot of time to observe their AI at a distance because they can close the gap nearly instantly, and once they do you get busy trying to stay alive rather than obverse that they are just running straight at you trying to hit you with their melee attack.

As for humans taking cover, if you leave some alive long enough you'll see that they are pretty good at FINDING cover, but just crap at staying in it. I think this might have something to do with the complaints Farcry received over it's AI that just camped under cover until you came along and dug em out...

Oh and Rog, there's a reason why you didn't have a weapon at that stage of the game.... What did you expect the game to do when you did something that was physically impossible without cheats? Fade to black and give you an assigment: terminated message? Spawn a new Lemar? Why would valve be wasting precious CPU cycles on checking to see that everyone is still alive if nobody was able to die in that scene anyway? Why would they pay voice actors top dollar to add in some dialogue "just incase somebody tried to break the script by using cheats"... Please...

 

[Acert93]

it would have been cool if the ai could flee, for example if im standing and mowing down all these combines, they just stand still shooting back... it would be more interesting if the ran for cover etc. hopefully "you could mod it in"

I have seen them flee when hurt, I have also seen them take cover when reloading only for a fellow combine to pop out and keep firing at me.

I have seen them flank, charge, restreat, flush me out with grenades, etc... I do not think the AI is bad at all.

I think the AI is forgiving.
I think the AI has poor aim.
I think the AI's guns are ineffective.

Not only have I played, but I watched my brother (4+ hours, normal) and cousin (8+ hours, easy) play, and they both struggle against the AI.

Just remember, the game is developed for the masses--not the uber elite. I am on normal and find it easy, but not because they are dumb, but because they cannot hit anything!

But, the option is: One or two combine at a time with good aim/fire power OR lots of them to mow down. 99% of gamers want to mow down combine!

Btw, the fast Zombies and the Ant Lions also have excellent AI. Seeing the Ant Lions fight, and how well that turned out, to me, settled the issue about HL2 AI--it is great imo. Not perfect, but the best I have seen in a FPS. I really have not seen the AI do anything dumb yet and it really does the job well. AI will never be perfect in our lifetime for games simulating complex worlds, but each inch forward is an achievement. Considering the depth of the HL2 world with physics and various materials I would say I am happy with the AI.

 

[Gordons_nan]

The AI is scary in this game!

I was trying to escape to the roof of the building with the soldiers coming after me...I got into the attic and thought I'd be clever by picking up a couple of heavy wooden crates and blocking the hole in the floor so the soldiers wouldn't be able to get through.... Thinking I was safe, I start figuring out how to get onto the roof when I heard a huge 'craaash!', turned round and the combine had smashed through my goddamn blockade in a shower of wood and dust!!! I sh1t my pants!!!

/edit

btw I'm playing the game on hard so I don't know if that makes any difference (I doubt it).

 

[AmishSlayer]

LOL, AmishSlayer the difference in programming AI for warcraft 3 and halflife 2 is astoundingly different. In warcraft 3, ground units are not able to pass under or over each other, it's not full 3d movement where a unit has to work out how to wind it's way up a steep cliff by a series of jumps.

Programming AI is always difficult, however programming AI to cope with hundreds of units moving about in EXTREMELY simple environments is totally different from programming AI to cope with up to a dozen units in an EXTREMELY complex environment. They both need to be effecient, but each individual would need far better pathing AI in HL2 than in warcraft 3. If you really want to compare HL2's AI to another game, then just make sure it's a game that faces similar challenges to the AI, such as Doom 3 or any other FPS.

I wasn't comparing the complexities of the pathing in HL2 and WC3...it was just merely a concept comparison.

 

[thatdudekevin]

I heard if you dont lose the ball w/ dog it follows you and attacks stuff-says my friend. Also i noticed in the bink video he shot out a window and threw bugbait and a antlion flew in from the window..well in game the window had bars over it

 

[Shadow-warrior]

Did everyone get the part where Dog jumps on the Combine tank/vehicle, makes it crash then does a fancy backflip, and using his feet, throws the vehicle at a group of combine?

 

[Wesisapie]

i didnt see the AI do one clever thing the whole time i played. in fact, during nova prospekt when you had to set up the turrets while alyx was doing whatever the hell she was doing, i just got shot up from all angles because there were too many the first time, so the second time i just put the turrets in a little room in the side and camped behind them.

guess how many grenades the combine threw into that room.

zero.

they just tried to shoot the turrets but got killed quickly. in the end there was a pile of dead bodies outside the room, 20 or more. it would have taken 2 grenades in there to ruin me but i guess that was beyond the AI's reasoning.

the rest of the time they were sub-HL1. they didnt even run away from grenades.

 

[we11er]

I've just done that bit at nova prospekt too. Easy stuff, I'm on normal but I swear it's still running on easy

I have to admit I haven't seen anything that impressive so far either.

Only thing that I thought was good was a combine side strafing left and right as I shot my pistol at him at the very beginning. And that's not exactly amazing.

 

[ne0_shiny]

i threw dogs ball on top of those really high ledges
he didnt seem to want it anymore....

 

[t0adman]

The instances where I was inside a building with choppers outside, they shot at me thorugh the window!

Yeah, I played that part too. I meant in the promo movie when they were hanging out in the lab the enemy (manhacks I think) started busting into the place.

 

[Acert93]

i didnt see the AI do one clever thing the whole time i played. in fact, during nova prospekt when you had to set up the turrets while alyx was doing whatever the hell she was doing, i just got shot up from all angles because there were too many the first time, so the second time i just put the turrets in a little room in the side and camped behind them.

guess how many grenades the combine threw into that room.

zero.

they just tried to shoot the turrets but got killed quickly. in the end there was a pile of dead bodies outside the room, 20 or more. it would have taken 2 grenades in there to ruin me but i guess that was beyond the AI's reasoning.

the rest of the time they were sub-HL1. they didnt even run away from grenades.

I JUST got done playing that section and the knocked my turrets over a LOT of times with grenades--odd. That was the hardest part of the game for me so far... I had not setup the turrets well (I was "rushing" thinking I did not have much time)...

It took a few tries before I got them placed where they had some side cover by the walls.

I am on Normal and they did throw quite a few grenandes. What they did depended a lot on my placement. This is why I have watched OTHERS play before I made comments about the AI. It can be VERY subjective looking at your lone experience--everyone is different. The key is to see how it reacts overall to many people. Since I am watching my brother and cousin play, I can say the AI is not too shabby.

 

[TyrantII]

I'm also starting to think AI might be effected by your processor speed.

i think the AI is better then any game i've played, but i've yet to see much of the stuff that they were suppose to do.

on highway13 i hid in a house and blocked the front door. a soldier tried the door and couldn't get it, and i hear him move toward the back door, so i quickly went to that door and blocked it also.

The guy then just went back and forth to the two doors untill i went outside to kill him. No nades thru the window, or busting in. I was happy with the AI untill that happened.

and also as said i noticed they rarely take cover from grenades, whiich is annoying, and more often then naught just like to move around and fire.


it seems they know to fire thru windows to get you, but can't throw nades thru them, which is poor. I was at that same part (1st turrets), and the guys would sometimes circle to the broken windows to take pop shots at me, but would never nade me.

also the second turret spot showed of both good and bad AI. I found if you put the turrets a certaint way they can fire at an angle thru the shields to the staircases. This lets them attack the combine better, and they won't throw nades bacause they don't have time to. They do use cover thou when this happens for a while behind the metal/glass part of the doorway waiting for the fire to stop, but then they run out to try to rush it and get killed because they were already low from the first time.


I dunno, haven't tried it on hard yet, and im running on a 700mhz pc, so maybe that has somethings to do with some of the buggered AI parts.