Good things about new AI

BelgarathMTH

Hi, I've noticed some interesting changes in enemy behavior that I like.

-Enemies no longer lock forever onto the first target they attack. They will switch targets to whoever is closest or whoever is attacking them. This makes the standard "scatter party and attack from range" tactic more challenging to execute.

-Enemies no longer stand completely still during combat. They gradually circle around their target, and may break off and change their target if they get close enough to, say, your spellcaster standing back there trying to cast a spell. This forces the player to be more tactically aware of position of spellcasters.

Anybody else noticing any AI improvements?

misiekbe

First one proves to be really difficult one for my mage on low level, with 4 HP I'm a one shot so with this new AI it is tougher but really fun to play.

Excalibur_2102

So they have changed the AI? I thought they were leaving it largely untouched

Aristillius

Yeah I noticed this too. Had to Starcraft-micro a few times, a lot of fun

EnialusMeliamne

It also seems that the pathfinding AI has been dramatically improved, or at least it seems that way. My party rarely (once that I've noticed) has had an NPC scatter and circle around to attack from an otherwise uncleared area (which can of course draw more to you than you can deal with). If that is indeed a modification they did to the AI, that's one I'm digging a great deal!

Freche

I don't see any changes in the AI tbh. I have kited ogres, cave bears etc while my other party members kill them both in from range and in melee.

BelgarathMTH

@Freche, it doesn't mean you can't kite. They just are a bit more likely to behave intelligently and stop chasing a running decoy.

Mera

Did not really notice any difference tbh. They really changed something?
On the other hand, I'm used to playing with SCS, that could be why.

BelgarathMTH

@Mera, good catch - yes, the new behaviors mimic the enemy behaviors on some of the basic, lower, settings of SCS. I think it was the one that said "enemies behave more intelligently".

Mera

That's not what I meant actually From what I remember, BG with no SCS was easy and could be abused (at least when you've finished the game about 15 times).
Had to change the difficulty to x2 damages waiting for SCS with BGEE because the fights were too easy.

Seems to me that, on the contrary, they haven't changed anything AI wise. Slightly improved pathfinding is probably all there is to it. Scripts maybe?

BelgarathMTH

@Mera, well, the fights are still very easy for any experienced player. I just wanted to give compliments to the devs for what changes they did make, since "improved AI" was one of the original marketed selling points, and I was curious who else was noticing the changes.

I've never been an SCS user, so the changes are probably much easier to notice for non-SCS users.

DavidW

At least in the original areas, the scripting is basically unchanged. But changes to the engine might make the same script execute more intelligently.

Mechalibur

Characters with the Standard Attack script actually seem to target the enemy I tell them to. In BG2, they would completely disregard my directive and switch their targets in a rather nonsensical manner, forcing me to put the AI off.