Bot suicide
 

My army of bots must be very depressed from the long hours of combat that they must endure, because there seems to be an epidemic of suicide among the lads. What I'm referring to is a sudden leap off impossibly high structures leading to a tomato-like splat on the ground below. I reckon that this behavior may be due to their obstacle-avoidance code, but it would make the game play better if there were a way to control it. What about a node flag that tells the bot in essence "don't even THINK about jumping from here?" With such a tool, the waypointer could protect his bots in critical areas. Does a player down on the ground lose health points if hit by a bot jumping from a 6-story lighthouse? Could happen . . .

Another idea: is there any way to force a bot to stay in a particular location? In "the lighthouse," the defender's game is won or lost by their ability to guard the lighthouse light from being destroyed. What would help them a lot would be for a permanent guard bot to be placed at the dynamite plant location. Then the attackers would at least have to fight for it. A camp action doesn't provide a lasting bot presence for adequate defense. Would it be possible to create yet another flag that would tell the bot to "stay here until killed or relieved?"

Re: Bot suicide
 

Both are good ideas. I'd like to see some tools to manage the jumping a bit. Whether it's a node flag or a "danger" action that was discussed a while ago.

A little more persistance to the camps would be nice as well. A workaround that I have used on some maps is to use class based actions for all defensive actions. Then I pick a particular class that I want defending a specific area. By putting all of that classes actions in a particular place, they have no option but to stay in that area. By spreading out the camps as much as possible within the area, it lessens the predictabilty for human players.

Re: Bot suicide
 

I agree about the danger stuff, i had presented mal with a similar idea awhile back for Barbed Wire like a caution action which covers an area that is a danger to the bots and alerts them not to go into a certain area.

The camp thing you said would be alright but i kind of like the spontaneous movement of the bots. Makes the game more varied and keeps gameplay fresh because if they stayed in one place all the time it would be kind of dry because all they would be doing is camping and not roaming. That's of course if i'm understanding what you're saying correctly.

Re: Bot suicide
 

The time adjustable camp time stuff is in Fritz ET already. I'll see about getting it in Wolf too in time - tho its becoming harder and harder to add new stuff for Wolf without breaking the current maps. :P

I agree with Denny tho that I don't want the bots ALWAYS camping in one area - which is why I made them so random about the times and choosing of it.

The walk flag is one possible choice for dangerous areas: just have them walk in dangerous spots. If not, I can add a "NO JUMP" node flag that will prevent them from jumping, but I don't like doing that too much, simply because it would probably override their awareness code, and if they got stuck: they'd have a harder time dealing with it.

Re: Bot suicide
 

I wouldn't want the bots to always camp in one spot, either. The random arrangement you have now is fine -- you never know whether a bot will be waiting for you or not. But it would be useful in special circumstances to be able to post a guard at a certain spot and have the bot stay there to secure the area. I usually play an engineer and most of the time I can plant my dynamite without any opposition. The bots who should be guarding the fortress gates are out to lunch and the enemy gets in without having to make a fight of it.

I make heavy use of the walk flag in dangerous areas -- it helps a lot. But it doesn't stop them from jumping off high places to their deaths. They need to look before they leap, or the waypointer needs to do it for them. The danger flag would ONLY be used in certain spots where they would be killed if they took a sudden jump in an arbitrary direction.

In zion I've seen half the bots from each team jump into the abyss like lemmings, and in the lighthouse the bots I've sent to the top to guard the place soon are bailing out over the side. It may be faster for them to die and respawn then negotiating the ladders to the bottom, but I really don't think they consider that!