Spiral Knights - Chance of Alternate AI on Elite Mode

Chance of Alternate AI on Elite Mode

12 replies [Last post]

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 15:50

Fehzor

Concept

Currently, elite mode, normal mode and advanced mode all feel about the same to me with the one condition that enemies on elite mode have more health.

Enemies would have a chance of spawning with different AI. Some waves may or may not force the different AI/normal AI-- this would further add flavor. This chance could vary depending on specific factors, be set in stone, etc.

One of the main benefits to this suggestion is that ideas like these are or should be relatively easy to code as they make use of the existing AI and variables set in place-- making for an exciting update with a relatively small amount of programming work required. Another would be that not every enemy requires alternate AI at once, and AI could be updated on whim.

Examples and Ideas

Gun puppies: Shoot at an angle of toward the knight + a random offset between -30 and 30.

Polyps: Prioritize the furthest knight in range whenever attacking.

Howlitzer: Aim for a different knight every shot if possible

Gremlin Mender: Run up to mobs before healing them if possible, if a knight approaches cast the healing bubble immediately rather than at low health.

Silkwing: Switch the AI of the healed mob. This includes healing from mist circle spawned on death if possible.

Gremlin Thwacker: Attempt to walk up to the knight constantly and spin. Don't jump backwards to dodge.

Devilite: If there exists a pit boss, do nothing but dodge and walk towards the pit boss whenever possible. If there is not a pit boss, don't dodge ever- throw furniture constantly.

Overtimer: Circle strafe around until the knight is in range, melee only.

Wolver: Teleport when knights swing their sword rather than fire their gun.

Alpha wolver: Aim left or right of the knight, just as the gun puppy does.

Gel Drops: Move away from the closest gel drop instead of towards the knight, until a certain distance is reached, then resume normal behaviour.

Lumber: If made to turn more than 120 degrees-- that is, the knight that it is aggroing it requires a 120 degree turn, turn the other way 45 degrees and then smash.

Trojan: Prioritize players that are moving over players that are standing still.

Jelly minis: Attack whenever the knight is moving towards the minis, over writing the approaching behaviour.

Jelly Cubes: Run away from the knight and spam the ranged ground spine attack.

Giant Lichen Colony: Dash away from knights rather than towards them. Prioritize the random spike flinging.

Pit Boss: All promotions = alternate AI

Griever: If staggered, change target as soon as possible.

And Maybe Some Bosses Too

Roarmulus: 50% chance of not moving to a new position. Much higher chance of shooting the lasers in final phase.

Snarbolax: Only attempt to bite the knights. Does nothing else.

Jelly King: Spin in a straight line for half the time during phase 3. During phase 2, move towards the nearest polyp instead of the knights when at less than half health.

Vanaduke: If the knight with aggro requires more than a 90 degree turn to get to, smash the ground and aggro a new player. Prioritize aggroing the knight that has done the LEAST damage.

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 15:57

Sonosuke

We, as the player, need a challenge when playing. Otherwise it feels like we're just beating rocks with a pipe.

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 17:27

Skepticraven

@Fehzor

Gun pups already do that in T1. T1 howlitzers too.

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 17:47

Midnight-Dj

So the jellies are the new devilites now? And the devilites are the new jellies? LOL +1

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 19:08

Trats-Romra

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 19:09

Fehzor

@SkepticRaven

True. This is more aimed at T2/3 players, and the turrets there don't aim like so, to my knowledge. If it is the case though, that turrets already do this, then there are many other ways of making it work. These are just some examples of things I think would be cool to see in the AI anyway.

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 20:17

Trats-Romra

@Fehzor

I would like to suggest some things:
-When Vanaduke do the double flamethrow, like two gun puppies, he creates a small area on the middle. 35% chance of he hit on the middle of area.
-When occurs the animation of things falling from the sky, 35% chance of them dropping on the room. But destructible.
-35% chance of dodging or dashing on the knight.

Because of this:
Zeddy just ran on circles and put shard bombs around the room.
There's no challenge on it. No difficulty.
Vanaduke should be the hardest boss. But he isn't.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but I do not want Vanaduke be stupid enough to not realize that he is falling into a trap.

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 21:42

Fehzor

Regarding Vanaduke:

Most parties I come across include the following setup:
1 Shivermist Buster spamming knight
3 DPS magicians via blitz needle

And use the following tactic: Freeze Vanaduke and murder him with blitz needle. Water the mask and blitz that too. Then blitz freeze blitz freeze tokens!

My alternate AI is designed to make Vanaduke intelligently destroy the entire party when they try this in the simplest way possible. Here is how it works:

Vanaduke targets the person with shiver first. Failing to turn, Vanaduke smashes. This endangers the shiver user. Then vanaduke focuses on a random blitz user, who is probably behind him, causing him to smash repeatedly. This tactic will flood the room with falling debris, and put an end to the shiver shenanigans, though the shiver user *could* stand appropriately to where vanaduke cannot quite smash her. One fix would be a timer that makes vanaduke smash if not allowed to turn.

However, this AI wouldn't work nearly as well if Zeddy came along with his shard bombs. That was kind of the idea, because its a lot harder to do what Zeddy did than it is to shiverblitz vanaduke in a matter of seconds... the idea behind all of this isn't to make the game unplayably hard, but to make it interesting and force the player to think up new tactics.

Thu, 03/20/2014 - 09:43

Usevnsevnsixfivfor

-Chromas run away from the knight while invisible

-Lichens never merge and try to surround the knight

-Rocket puppies could aggro other monsters to attack the knights

-Scorchers aim at Oilers

-Gorgos should be able to belly flop in a solo party

-Zombies lunge away from mist bombs at last second

Thu, 03/20/2014 - 14:57

Fehzor

Oh man, rocket puppies could do a LOT of interesting things, given that their projectiles home.
-Shoot at monsters like you said, and rely on the homing rocket to correct it into the knight.
-Shoot at the knight, and then shoot in the same position a second time without turning
-Shoot away from the knight
-Shoot in a pre-set pattern, like left up right down left...
-Only shoot when the knight walks away or towards the turret, or when shot at

Thu, 03/20/2014 - 17:49

#10

Trats-Romra

@Fehzor

Hehe. I overreact.
I already did FSC one time on Arcade and saw that the battle becomes a lot easier with a Shivermist.
Maybe, because of this, I want that the Vanaduke become harder. But I'm not used to do FSC, so I don't know too much about it.

I admit that Zeddy make a lot of dodge, mainly on the mask phase. But what irritated me more that Vanaduke can be dodged like players dodge Trojans and Lumbers. I think the King of the ashes can't be so easy to defeat.

Anyway, I also don't want the game becomes unplayably hard. So, +1 again.

P.S: Zeddy make a great job with shards. I would like to be able to do the same on the future.

Sat, 04/05/2014 - 14:07

#11

Trats-Romra

Bump with two suggestion to the suggestion

Retrode:
-20% of spawning in a special form: simply a retrode with a brandish attached to it back.(just tier 2 and 3)
In this form, the retrode unleashes brandishes charge attacks instead of using beam attack. Instead of a slash, it hit with the brandish.
The brandish appareance and charge attack is related to stratum.
The brandishes used by them are equally strong to the ones used by Knights.
-50% of spinning instead of slash attack.

Sat, 04/05/2014 - 14:21

#12

Pipipipipi

Behold, the evil squares shall take over the world!

Wolver: Chance of homing into a knight on attack, same with Alpha Wolvers

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Chance of Alternate AI on Elite Mode