User Programmable Specter Ai (Not In-Battle Commands)

[jmforeman02]

    Let me just say first that the bulk of this is NOT about what has been brought up many times about being able to give AI specters instructions in-battle (though I do agree with that). This is about being able to pre-program specter sub-types to behave a certain way BEFORE a battle begins in order to carry out a strategy.

 

     So here's the idea: upon construction of a specter regimen, it would be great to be able to program the different types of specters in your army to behave a certain way. This may sound complicated but it wouldn't need to be with the proper UI. For example there could be 4 columns for very basic AI strategies marked Defend, Hold Middle, Push Slowly w/ Group, and Rush. There would also be a list of the specter builds and their amounts. You would simply drag and drop the builds you wanted into the desired columns. Then you could select each build and give it more specific AI guidelines from pre-programmed options in a pulldown menu. For example you could give it instructions such as:  engage enemies at X range (important for different weapon types), use ability A on enemy type A (you would select the ability and then the specific enemy such as specters/grineer/corpus/tenno), never use ability B, use ability C when surrounded, etc. Then you could rank those instructions by priority. 

 

     With a well built UI this would be easy enough for the average player to use, though whether or not the average player can develop a good strategy is debatable. I would love the strategy aspect of this. I think it would add a lot to the game, but perhaps more importantly it would make more frames viable as defense specters. The current AI is just too stupid to make nyx, for example, worthwhile but with this you could program nyx to mind control enemy specters or cast chaos if surrounded making her a great force multiplier. Saryn could be ordered to save up energy and then cast miasma in a crowd. Excalibur could be ordered to slash dash then melee enemy tenno or blind huge crowds. As it stands weaker frames with situational abilities like nyx just aren't viable. She could try to mind control tenno which won't work or cast absorb when no one is around. Or saryn might molt (fooling no one) or cast miasma when only 1 enemy is within range. Trinity would be great if you could command her to keep link up as much as possible, but she's just cannon fodder as a specter with the current AI. Also with this scheme you could tell some specters to charge in with shotguns, while other specters hang back with fully automatics and sniper rifles simply by changing their engagement range or their basic deployment column.

 

     This wouldn't take too long to do since even thought there might be many specters in the regimen there will only be a handful of unique builds. It would also encourage players to take care when building specters as some weapons and frames might be better for the front lines while others would be better for holding back and creating the wrong frame-weapon combination could make them less effective. They would also want some variety of builds to form the best army. This AI altering system would be available in the solar rail room of the dojo after completing construction on a specter regimen. It should only be available to clan members with "Tactician" privileges to keep noobs from messing up the AI and it would only be available when NOT in conflict so that once you start a conflict with a strategy your'e stuck with it for the duration. This should make the programming easier for DE and encourage some forethought by players. Also this doesn't require DE to program a "smarter" AI that uses all the different frames or weapons appropriately in every single situation, instead it depends on THE USERS to tell the AI how the user wants it to behave in pre-programmed situations. This should save DE a lot of work if they wanted to improve the specters AI.

 

    As for in-battle AI instructions, I do think there should be a very few simple in-battle commands on hotkeys such as "Fallback"/"Push"/"As You Were". You could tie them to the F1-F3 keys and use them to override the pre-programmed AI in battle. You could also tie the waypoint system into this.

Edited August 20, 2014 by jmforeman02

[xethier]

sgtm, have a +1

[jmforeman02]

sgtm, have a +1

 

Thank you sir :)

[Lorthos_Mornin]

Very well thought out out and I like the additional strategy it would require from dark sectors.  Additionally, it would make me feel like I spent all those resources actually contributing to the defense of the rail instead of merely providing more difficult to kill cannon fodder.

 

Have a +1

[xethier]

the more i think about this, the more i'm reminded of "secret of mana"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_of_Mana

 

it's been a long time since i played it but it had some very rudimentary AI controls that would allow you to set the non-player characters behavior on a grid from defense / melee to offensive / magic. (a 5x5 grid if i remember correctly)

 

that coupled with the AI mentioned by the OP would be very visible and easily understood.

 

either way, anything that improves the functionality of specters is a GOOD THING

[jmforeman02]

So how about it DE?

[jmforeman02]

the more i think about this, the more i'm reminded of "secret of mana"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_of_Mana

 

it's been a long time since i played it but it had some very rudimentary AI controls that would allow you to set the non-player characters behavior on a grid from defense / melee to offensive / magic. (a 5x5 grid if i remember correctly)

 

that coupled with the AI mentioned by the OP would be very visible and easily understood.

 

either way, anything that improves the functionality of specters is a GOOD THING

 

I haven't played "secret of mana", but I have seen systems like you described before, though where escapes me at the moment. That's how I know that it's possible, and I think it would add so much to this game, namely more strategy and a greater variety of viable specter builds. I really want strategy to play a bigger role in this game and not be confined to theory-crafters, the occasional challenging event, or people on a record-time survival run. 

Edited August 20, 2014 by jmforeman02

[Kashiki]

Personally, I would find being able to program every rudimentary AI behavior both incredibly fun and boring. I say this as a guy who is studying AI Programming - it's not fun until you have it all mapped out.

 

Besides, it's kind of relying on Warframe's lackluster pathing system. The most impressive AI I've seen out of enemies so far are the Hyena models in the Tactical Alets; who tend to dodge quickly and counterattack with room for opening/error.

 

Giving this ability to good tacticians in your clan would work out best.

 

Overall, hell yes, OP.

Edited August 25, 2014 by Kashiki

[jmforeman02]

I know the topic title isn't sexy and that this is the PvP feedback forum, but I really thought this would get more views. It'd be a huge change and add a lot to the dark sector defenses.