Scripting Issue - Specifically Retreat Command - Page 3

Jazzepi · #21 March 14th, 2008, 08:59 AM

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capnq said:

Quote:

Jazzepi said: I don't see why a commander can't ignore a script that automatically results in their own death.

Because the AI isn't smart enough to recognize the difference between "automatically" dying and "probably" or "possibly" dying.

I'm having trouble imagining using "retreat" in scripted orders often enough for this situation to be a significant problem.

Yes it is. It's very simple. The AI goes "Hey, this is an assassination attempt, ignore all retreat commands." If the battlefield AI can decide not to cast large AoE Spells like army of gold and fog warriors when a group of scouts attacks, then it can surely be programmed to decide not to retreat in a single situation. It's not even like there's a probability that needed to be calculated, it's just a binary decision. Either the commanders is in an assassination attempt, or they're not.

Jazzepi

Wick · #22 March 14th, 2008, 10:08 PM

I think the best simple solution is to allow retreats and simply disable the target's script. The assassin would still catch his victims, they wouldn't do anything spectacularly stupid, and bodyguards wouldn't be a liability.

vfb · #23 March 14th, 2008, 10:27 PM

That's what I was thinking, until thejeff addressed this. You may actually *want* to execute your script, because if you know an assassin is around, you can prepare something appropriate for your mages to cast. It would truly suck if you scripted Returning because a killer l33t assassin was on the loose, or you're under heavy Earth Attack/Disease Demon bombardment outside your capitol, but your mage casts Astral Shield instead.

I think Jazzepi's idea, to just ignore a scripted retreat during assassinations, is the best idea.

hnchrist3 · #24 March 17th, 2008, 11:36 AM

"Retreat" is not the only problem. I've had mages casting useless stuff while being whailed upon by assassins.

The solution is to have a separate script of orders for assassination attempts.

Zeldor · #25 March 17th, 2008, 05:00 PM

Mages can do worse things that casting useless stuff. They can cast harmful stuff. For example mass protection against abysia.

vfb · #26 March 17th, 2008, 06:44 PM

I agree, see my 'Darkness' story at the top of this thread.

But I also agree with Jazzepi that it's a problem now, that it would be nice to have a quick fix for. Disregarding a scripted 'Retreat' command in assassination attempts is a quick fix.

Redesigning the interface, to allow scripting multiple sets of orders for different situations, does not sound like it could be done in a similar timeframe.

OmikronWarrior · #27 March 18th, 2008, 03:06 AM

Just had an experience with this. I sent my pretender out early to do some sight searching. Did not have the proper equipment or research to make her effective yet. So, I decided to script her to retreat just in case a random barbarian or bogus attacked occured. No need to take unnecessary risks, right? Well I just so happened to get the random event where an assassin attacks one of your commanders. D'oh! I'm 99% certain the pretender could have killed the assassin, but got killed instead. Fortunately, this was single player.

Yeah, I'd say its a problem. Just changing the code to ignore retreat scripts during assaissination attempts would probably fix this problem.