quote:
Discuss

Is that an order? It sounded like one, so I guess I will

First up, the enemy would need to know where the player is, or be able to have a rough guess of where it is, say there was an 80% chance that the player was in room A and a 20% chance the player was in room B you could then decide to either split the focus 80/20 or focus on room A first and then room B.

With the players location known, choke points must be found, possibly by finding paths to edges of a map or to points on a circle with centre at the player and radius which is larger than the room. Once these paths are found, the points which are used more than others are declared choke points.

Each of these choke points is evaluated as being safe or not based on whether they are inside the room or not.

Next, the enemy must formulate a plan, probably just a 3 stage thing.

1) Move to locations (the doors, closets or whatever)
2) Wait for all team members to get into place
3) Move in

The move in step could be expanded on, but the extra information you would get when you actually move in would mean that planning ahead too far would probably be a bad thing.

Trying is the first step towards failure.

How about one or two members of the group acting as scouts and actively searching for the player while the rest of the group provide cover/support.

Are you using communication equipment, hand signals or shouting? Shouting isn''t too realistic, but it gives the player a chance to anticipate your attacks.

I would also love to be able to lead a scout into a trap. Something like disappearing down an alleyway, and then planting a sentry gun. Or tricking the AI into thinking you''re in a room, and rigging all the doors with tripwires
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To collectively swarm a room isn''t too hard (IMHO )

First locate all the entry points -- doors, windows, ceiling vents, etc.

Then have your units position themselves at entry points, so their positioning does not cross one another''s line of firing (it would be stupid if they burst into the room firing and shot each other).

Burst into the room, make a LOS check on the player (this gives a slight chance to react), and fire. As you''ve mentioned before, you could precede the attack with a concussion grenade or similar.

You could also consider having half your units enter from one side of the room, and have the other half waiting in ambush outside the remaining exit(s). I think this would make the player go ''wow'' more than just coordinated storming.

Just noticed your use of a closet. Then try this:

One AI unit fakes being a lone, possibly wounded, unit. The player gives chase into a room, but the unit is no longer there. Suddenly the door bursts in and the rest of the squad start firing from covered positions. The player takes up position behind some furniture, and doesn''t see the first unit sneak out of the closet and shoot him in the back of the head.


"NPCs will be inherited from the basic Entity class. They will be fully independent, and carry out their own lives oblivious to the world around them ... that is, until you set them on fire ..." -- Merrick