Weekly Poll 5/18/20 - AI! Artificial Intuition.

[Sardukhar]

Artificial Intelligenceseses. Or whatever term you prefer for it. That part of the game that makes NPCs seem more like us and less like styrofoam.

It's a big question, so following on from last week, let's look at the Combat aspect first.

I'm sure everyone would like to pick everything, but you can't have everything, so you must choose 3! Or, 4! Sure, 4. What is most important to you for the Combat AI?

More Polls Here! https://forums.cdprojektred.com/index.php?threads/collected-weekly-polls-thread.10984601/

 

[TitansboyTC]

I choose 3,5,7 and 8

 

[Rawls]

1, 3, 4, 7.

 

[TheNeonArcade]

3 & 4

 

[BabalKabak]

I see 3, 5, 7, 9, as priorities but I could pick up a few more.

First of all, retreat if losing the fight would be the most interesting feature to see, if the enemies flee the fight they're losing, just to come back in fight later on better prepared ; or maybe you took them by surprise and they'll go hiding to ambush you back! ... Talking about the surprise effect, it should affect their reaction time or aiming for a few moments.

Combine with a communication system (I mean 'realistic' one, no cheats like omniscient NPCs) and most importantly : having some priorities in their behavior according to their role in the group, that would make combat even more dynamic.

Example : there are 3 dudes forming a group, guarding the front of a building. One dude is the heavy gunned man, the second one is the hacker, and the third one is their lieutenant and the one who communicates with H.Q. ; Depending on which guy you kill OR hack first, the combat will vary in a more natural way, and it would make use of knowing your enemy before shooting blind.

And I think #5 adds the toppings of realism. I imagine this feature being more contextual and dynamic than just stats (or "feels like so" because... it's a videogame ). As real humans can fail too, you could imagine the situations when one of these NPCs could lose focus for two seconds, misfire more than average because you're making him impatient or stressed, or even freak out in front of you because you blew up his comrades with ease, etc. This would add a consequent micro-narration to your adventure.

Those enemies who combine Rambo reflexes with J.C.D "nerves of steel" and T-800 body shape should be the rarest enemies of the game (and the most satisfactory to put down, ofc).

Post automatically merged: May 19, 2020

Artificial Intelligenceseses

I prefer the term "Programmed Behavior"... but then I remember some clever dudes invented the "4-D cinema experience" and everyone seem ok with this, lol.

 

[Iszdope]

3, 5, 9 & 10

 

[Tree_Fox]

Communicate. Doesn’t necessarily change the behavior of the AI, just a nice immersive feature.

Use consumables. Always bothered me why the AI doesn’t use the stuff you can loot from them.

Reinforcements. Would make firefights more interesting. Also might make someone think twice about going in guns blazing.

Flanking. AI should use some semblances of tactics. Although I don’t know if it’d be too hard to program.

 

[Sardukhar]

Communicate. Doesn’t necessarily change the behavior of the AI, just a nice immersive feature.

Use consumables. Always bothered me why the AI doesn’t use the stuff you can loot from them.

Reinforcements. Would make firefights more interesting. Also might make someone think twice about going in guns blazing.

Flanking. AI should use some semblances of tactics. Although I don’t know if it’d be too hard to program.

Ooh. I should clarify! Thanks, Tree.

 

[Ambergeddon]

Honestly I want the see the AI do all of them, they are all awesome options!

 

[Restlessdingo32]

1,3,4 and 6 for an ideal in terms of making the AI appear competent.

Given the competency of AI in most games, or lack thereof, I'll go with 7,8,9 and 10 as the flavor choices. That is, if the AI follows trends (throw bonuses at it instead of making it not stupid) then the choices would be weighted toward those four. At the very least those options would lead to dynamic and/or interesting behaviour.

To simplify that.... 1,3,4 and 6 for smart AI. 7,8,9 and 10 if it ends up being dumb AI. I'll pick the former for the poll. They're all good choices though.

 

[Sild]

1,3,4 and 7.

Almost chose 5 instead because it sounds cool (and human) but I can already hear the complaints about it being "dumb" when it's actually intended.

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

I want to be realistic on the basis of what we've seen and can be done in videogames, so 1, 4, 7, 8.

The most important is 1 though. At least GTA 5 (2013, ps3 and 360) level of tactics. It also had different AI according to the enemy class: gang goons < policemen < swat < army.
The former were just covering and shooting, the latter flanking and doing something more advanced.
Old gen processors, this stuff can be easily achieved now if Devs want to.

TLOU 2 has relationship between enemies, but it's not out yet and it's a small linear game so I wouldn't take it as a reference.

I hope next gen will bring improved AI and physics together with graphics. Devs will have good CPU to work with this time.

 

[Kid_SixXx]

I voted for everything except maybe for 8 and 10.

The nature of world in the pen & paper Cyberpunk game is rather brutal, so I would not expect mercy from the likes of the Maelstrom or Militech corpo goons if I was engaged in combat with them unless the plot merited my capture. If enemies felt outclassed my character and his / her allies, I'd expect them to flee rather than surrender.

I would also expect elite enemies to be more fearful of their masters than me or be very confident in their ability and armament, so I'd expect them to fight until the bitter end.

I think that enemies should fight as intelligently as possible. So many game increase "difficulty" by turning enemies into bullet sponges rather than allowing them to fight smarter or providing them with top tier weaponry. I'd like increased difficulty in 2077 to be reflected in the enemy's ability to make better tactical decisions like when and where to apply suppressive fire or use consumables like grenades to control the field. Defenses that are more difficult to hack would also provide adequate difficulty.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

2, 4, 9, 10. I suppose...

But one thing I genuinely want, that didn't seem to be present in the 2018 demo nor the deep dive, is the sense of selfpreservance instead of the usual batch of "please kill me" NPC's just walking in front of the player to be butchered, or standing their ground in the open.

By the way, option 2 in the poll will become something of a problem because companions can not die.

 

[parasite_avi]

1, 3, 4, 8 - although I'd personally like to choose all but No.2 if I could

I have a very unrealistic expectation of the combat AI in video games. Maneuvering, displaying difference in behavior based on intelligence or even stress/damage, using things they can find or already have on them, being... alive, for crying out loud. That would make a lot of (if not all) combat encounters more intense, interesting and would definitely help the immersion and roleplaying aspect of the game.

Imagine playing pacifist-ish V who is simply trying to get by and score the better life, in their own way, and is actually in favor of sparing as many folks they can on their journey. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, playing an absolute native of the Night City and Cyberpunk as a universe - a merciless lunatic catering only to their own interest and grinning happily in bloodthirst every single time someone tries to surrender and stay alive only to be brutally murdered with extreme prejudice by V. That is going to distinguish Cyberpunk 2077 from any other game I can think of.

Any battle would gain especially lot from that because the play would be forced act either faster or smarter if the enemies could heal or enhance themselves via any kind of means, probably changing the course of the battle. Especially with an ability to call for back-up or change weapons.

Still, if done wrong, that could be a total disasters. Very few things can be more annoying that enemies that can heal or reload or call in reinforcements indefinitely while you, as a player, keep running out of ammo, heals and drugs only to get overwhelmed again.

But hey, one can dream!

 

[shadowczj]

1,2,3 and 8, although other options look good as well.
Additionally, I think NPCs should be angry or panic when seeing their companions down.
They may also play dead when necessary. LOL