Drowning bots

[the bindlestiff]

Egypt Team Temple contains several deep pools which are connected by rectangular-shaped underwater tunnels. The bots swim and fight well in the pools but have a hard time in the longer tunnels. There are breathing holes provided in the long tunnels and I have no problem myself in swimming through them. Most of the time the bots get stalled while swimming them -- they seem to be swimming in slow-motion and look like they're bucking a strong current. Eventually they drown. They don't appear like they're stuck against the walls (which are smooth and have no protrusions that they could get hung up on). Occasionally, though, one will speed right though.

I've pathed the tunnels with nodes leading up to the breathing holes and have kept the node radii small to keep them from bumping on the tunnel walls.

Is this normal behavior for swimming bots or can I do something with the pathing to fix it?

[Maleficus]

Best suggestion:

Just before the start of the tunnel, have a node very close to the surface that will encourage the bot to come up for air before heading into the tunnel. This way their air supply will be full when they enter the tunnel.

Then, for EVERY air pocket, have a node that leads up to let them breathe.

The problem is, that they are prolly pretty low on air when they actually enter the tunnel (maybe they've been under the water for a few seconds already, fighting or whatever), and they start to run out of air and try to swim up to get some, but get stuck on the walls.

The swimming support is pretty basic, and they sometimes need a little help being shown where the air is.

[the bindlestiff]

Originally Posted by Maleficus

Best suggestion:

Just before the start of the tunnel, have a node very close to the surface that will encourage the bot to come up for air before heading into the tunnel. This way their air supply will be full when they enter the tunnel.

Then, for EVERY air pocket, have a node that leads up to let them breathe.

The problem is, that they are prolly pretty low on air when they actually enter the tunnel (maybe they've been under the water for a few seconds already, fighting or whatever), and they start to run out of air and try to swim up to get some, but get stuck on the walls.

I already have nodes at the air pockets leading them up to breathe, but there may be something I can do on the entry as you suggest. The pools are quite deep -- I have nodes on the surface leading around the pool and to exit points. From the point above a tunnel I have a path leading down from the surface to the tunnel entrance. The problem is that the bots are usually enaged in battle and are often fighting on or near the bottom. So if they decide to enter the tunnel they may be low on air.

Should I have paths around the bottom as well as the surface? I could make a route around the bottom of the pool with a rise to the top to breathe before going down to the tunnel entrances. They don't seem to need a bottm path when fighting 'cause they head right for the enemy regardless of where the path nodes are. When they slow down in the tunnels, I haven't seen them try to rise to the top of the tunnel for air -- their swimming speed just slows to a crawl and remains that way for some time before they expire.

This is map is a real battle with large teams and often there will be many bodies littering the bottom of the pools (and polluting the water!).

[the bindlestiff]

I completely reworked the pool/tunnel pathing. The surface paths have been removed and I put breathing nodes along the paths to the tunnel entrances. It all seems to work better, except the bots are reluctant to take the paths though the tunnels. I have roam actions in the breathing holes along the way to encourage them to use the tunnels but they don't seem to help much. It'd be nice to be able to use the route system for flags. While play-testing tonight with the f0x, I was able to penetrate the opposing team's base and grab their flags by using the water tunnels.

I followed some of the slow-swimming bots through a tunnel and paid attention to their health. It was at 100% for some time as they slowly swam, then dropped as they ran out of air and died. Other bots made it through OK. The slow swimmers did not appear to be stuck or hitting the walls of the tunnel. Tis a puzzlement. But it leaves a good opportunity for the human player to help the game along!