Orvin: Perhaps, some groups of monsters should approach the player in organized formations (e.g., a line, a block, an arc), and not break formation unless at least a certain percentage of them have been killed. This might be interesting for players, as different tactics (in the general sense of the word) might be appropriate for dealing with different formations.

Zonk: This is a fairly good idea - it also be interesting if (smart)monsters always tried to surround you and block hallways to avoid you fleeing there and killing them all one-by-one. It also wouldn't be bad to have something like 'monster morale', but I guess that would be too much for some, as It would turn the game from roguelike to strategic...

LordEstraven: I love this idea... And monsters should definitely have morale. If BoE can do it, we can do it better.

The below block was sorted improperly, and is pretty close to discussing Monster Formations - ShrikeDeCil

AI Changes

Shouldn't there be (if it isn't planned already) a way to program different monsters to act differently? I don't mean the factions system (good attacks evil, and so on), but differing behavior that's seperate from all that. A few ideas...
"Agressive" behavior--monsters that act essentially like they do in ToME 2.3x; in other words, they chase you on sight and attack until they get too badly damaged. Stuff like insects, orcs, other soldier-type humanoids, undead, and anything else that would only focus on killing you.
"Defensive" behavior--monsters will be cautious of you if you approach, and if you get too close they'll attack, but won't chase too far unless you get them cornered. Animals (except some large predators, maybe), non-friendly townsfolk, and pretty much anything that's not actively trying to kill you would be like this.
"Revenge" behavior--monsters will wait or just wander until you do something that pisses them off. Attacking them, killing another monster nearby, taking an item nearby, and so on. Dragons would get mad if you steal their stuff, townsfolk would rally after you if you kill one of them, and so on. And maybe even the immobile and aquatic monsters could work as part of this, too.

If something like this is already planned, just ignore this, heh. --some anonymous person

ShrikeDeCil If anyone does work on this, there's a couple more that are interesting as _group_ AIs. Ants and a lot of hive insects doing 'swarming' - they should 'know' to go around intervening barriers. Wolves et al. doing 'pack' behaviors - staying out of range (or sight even) until the full pack is ready and has you surrounded. Then there's the million variants of actual organized groups. Instead of the Shaman being in the back by the fiat of the RNG/placement, it would make sense for the grunts to protect the spellcasters on their own. (While spreading out a little, if we aren't talking about, say, Snaga.)

ReenenLaurie: One *obvious* approach that I cannot remember if it's implemented, but I don't think so, is long-range. They always attack you with long range attacks until they've run out of mana/bullets, or when you are too close (2 or 3 squares) when they start to run away, or phase door.

Things such as dragons or similar should have less of an obvious choice for long range, as a bite or a claw is pretty dangerous too. Mages/Archers etc. should very much prefer this AI.

A pack of dark elven warlocks in Angband, leveled with this AI would be extremely deadly, as there'll be 95% that they'll use their ranged attacks on you.

Smarter monsters should realise if they are slower than the player, and then engage melee, otherwise they'll run and shoot.

IdeaArchive/Monsters/Monster formations (last edited 2006-04-25 19:12:43 by NeilStevens)