Bots with Hostages
 

Hi, I don´t know all bots and it´s amazing to read the latest changelogs (Realbot for example), all the improvements the authors add to their bots. Is there any bot out there that can find the right way back with hostages (I mean without crouching or swimming)? I am not sure if Podbot was able to do so, it´s funny sometimes how the bots loose their hostages on their way back to the hostage-rescue-zone. :)

Re: Bots with Hostages
 

Hi there, CoCoNUT, seems to be a long time since you last tried PODBot, eh? ;) me and my LAN mates have been using that bot for more than a year now, and I can assure you that in general PODBots CAN lead hostages to the Rescue Zone.
However, there are some points to be considered:
1) sometimes it depends on the map. In some maps there are invisible obstacles for the hostages, such as staircases that don't work properly. Then you can see hostages desperately trying to climb that 20 cm stair...
2) the waypoints must be good!! IN PODBot 2.5 there was a flag called "FL_NOHOSTAGE" that could be added to any waypoint. It prevented bots from using that waypoint when leading hostages. But if the WP designer did sloppy work and forgot some of those flags... bad luck.
Oh, and another point: Some waypointers place the rescue zone waypoints badly. If this is the case, bots will lead the hostages to a point where they think the rescue zone is... and the hostages keep standing 5 cm away from the rescue zone until the game ends...
3) In bots based on the PB 2.6 source code (POXBot, [e]PODBot and PMB's PODBot plugin for MetaMod, among others), this flag is no longer present and it depends on pure chance if the hostages are rescued or not.
Fortunately, PM has recently updated his plugin and "re-introduced" a mechanism to keep bots with hostages from navigating through certain waypoints, and it works quite well!
If you browse the thread I opened in the MetaMod plugin forum, you'll see it, and there may be some interesting stuff for you to read as well...

Re: Bots with Hostages
 

hmm...very interesting. I created waypoints over last few weeks. Now I tried these "blockwithhostage"- waypoints and they work pretty fine. I updated all my cs-waypoints 8) .

Re: Bots with Hostages
 

Ahh, like bots taking the hostages down into the sewer on CS_Militia... LOL, we had lots of fun there, not to mention, they often mow down the hostages when an enemy appears... That is comic to watch, but I have seen bots survive due that AWP shot hit a hostage instead of the bot itself.

Guess some waypoints haven't been fixed, I am using the latest version of podbot I think, 2.6 or was it 2.5? Not sure, anyways, I'll probably have my own soon I hope...
We'll see, suffice to say, Pierre keeps my motivation up.