Forums » Bugs
Missing/lost bots in 14....?
I was just thinking how more dangerous 14 used to be due to the bots.... and then I realized I never ran into as many bots as I used to. So I investigated around... and I could only find 4 bots in the sector after an hour of searching. Maybe the remaining 6 bots are way out in the middle of nowhere...? Maybe the devs took them out? But if they were taken out, then why do they still show up on the sector player list?
No, Its a bug in the bot code..
take a bus, run around, shoot each bot one time and then boost out into nowhere.
Make sure you dont stray further than some 8-900 meters away from the bots though, and then you have simply hearded them off and out of the sector.
Its quite doable in other places as well, and the bots will stay a far out if you just /explode out there.
the same thing could be done in 3.1 days, I spent some hours hearding all bots in red n00b-sector (5? was that it?) and hearded them out into nowhere.. then the trouble was to make them not shoot at eachother (if they did you had to hit both bots, fast, or they'd kill eachother and make trouble)
but yes. this is probably a bug in the AI code
take a bus, run around, shoot each bot one time and then boost out into nowhere.
Make sure you dont stray further than some 8-900 meters away from the bots though, and then you have simply hearded them off and out of the sector.
Its quite doable in other places as well, and the bots will stay a far out if you just /explode out there.
the same thing could be done in 3.1 days, I spent some hours hearding all bots in red n00b-sector (5? was that it?) and hearded them out into nowhere.. then the trouble was to make them not shoot at eachother (if they did you had to hit both bots, fast, or they'd kill eachother and make trouble)
but yes. this is probably a bug in the AI code
Hmmmm, only two bots left in 14 last night....>:(
Flew around for ages trying to find the others but with no luck, someones definately spaced them.
Aikon! Can their behaviour be changed so that they return (or reset) to their spawn positions if they have no targets after say 2000 seconds (half an hour)?
Spider! You don't need to shoot them and you can collect the whole lot in a sector very easily without coming within shooting range and within a minute. Studyng bot behaviour can be very profitable :D
Flew around for ages trying to find the others but with no luck, someones definately spaced them.
Aikon! Can their behaviour be changed so that they return (or reset) to their spawn positions if they have no targets after say 2000 seconds (half an hour)?
Spider! You don't need to shoot them and you can collect the whole lot in a sector very easily without coming within shooting range and within a minute. Studyng bot behaviour can be very profitable :D
with current bots , yes, but its most often nicer to hit them :)
besides, the difficult thing is to ignore them for long enough to guide them out and not just fight them... hard to fight that instinct.
besides, the difficult thing is to ignore them for long enough to guide them out and not just fight them... hard to fight that instinct.
The bot AI code in 14 definitely need to be changed. Right now they can easily be herded together and nuked from a distance, since they have a tendency to clump together when you've exceeded their fighting distance. I got more than 100k worth of score by doing this. Others have gotten A LOT more as well. All within a matter of minutes.
In 14:
As far as I can tell, if you fly within the detection range of a bot (400m), and as long as it isn't chasing someone else within 1000m, it will start to chase you. Any bots within a 1000m of this bot will then converge on it and so start chasing you as well.
After this, even if someone else flies very close to a chasing bot it won't be distracted from chasing you unless it's fired upon (a useful bug).
Solution:
The detection range of a bot be increased to a 1000m and they be made more independant to avoid natural grouping at wormholes, etc.
A nearer target than the one they're chasing distracts them (even if not fired upon). Other players could then steal bots from someones herd, so spoiling the "mass the bots and nukem" tactic.
Spawn positions be made further apart from eachother so avoiding natural grouping and making herding a lot harder. This would also make sectors more interesting as you could/would encounter individual bots anywhere along your whole flightpath and keep you on your toes when making long transits (15 to 7, etc.)
As far as I can tell, if you fly within the detection range of a bot (400m), and as long as it isn't chasing someone else within 1000m, it will start to chase you. Any bots within a 1000m of this bot will then converge on it and so start chasing you as well.
After this, even if someone else flies very close to a chasing bot it won't be distracted from chasing you unless it's fired upon (a useful bug).
Solution:
The detection range of a bot be increased to a 1000m and they be made more independant to avoid natural grouping at wormholes, etc.
A nearer target than the one they're chasing distracts them (even if not fired upon). Other players could then steal bots from someones herd, so spoiling the "mass the bots and nukem" tactic.
Spawn positions be made further apart from eachother so avoiding natural grouping and making herding a lot harder. This would also make sectors more interesting as you could/would encounter individual bots anywhere along your whole flightpath and keep you on your toes when making long transits (15 to 7, etc.)
The detection range is 1000m. That's why other bots within 1000m would come after you. The fact that the robots are independent is why they tend to cluster around things -- they don't have an agreement on who should cover what, so they all just do the same thing. The bots in 4, 6, 12 (and others) do have such an agreement.
For 3.2.3, I modified their behavior a bit so that instead of sitting around when they have nothing else to do, they patrol around their spawn point. Their detection radius has also been lowered to 700. But the "grouping problem" will still remain.
In 14, these problems are highly exacerbated by the dumb pathfinding algorithm the bots employ (which is less of a pathfinding algorithm and more of a collision avoidance scheme). They don't see an accurate picture of their world, and they tend to get stuck thinking they can't pass through certain places when in reality they can. When you back them into an ice crystal, they tend to be extremely confused.
For 3.2.3, I modified their behavior a bit so that instead of sitting around when they have nothing else to do, they patrol around their spawn point. Their detection radius has also been lowered to 700. But the "grouping problem" will still remain.
In 14, these problems are highly exacerbated by the dumb pathfinding algorithm the bots employ (which is less of a pathfinding algorithm and more of a collision avoidance scheme). They don't see an accurate picture of their world, and they tend to get stuck thinking they can't pass through certain places when in reality they can. When you back them into an ice crystal, they tend to be extremely confused.
Hrmm, thanks for the tip!
Computer, activate the ramming ship!
Computer, activate the ramming ship!