> I think that the jackal idea would be good for a scripted moment. personally I think that scripted moments in halo games such as in Tayari Plaza add to the game. I don’t believe that there should be a lot of scripted moments or even fully scripted moments. The best scripted moments are dynamic at the same time. Some will argue that the halo 3 scarab sections were scripted but they were still unpredictable in some ways and offered many different ways to defeat the scarab. I believe that something such as a jackal formation could be dealt in a similar manner, maybe make the formations actions unscripted.
Agreed.
The Scarabs were unique. You could lead them out of maps and to areas they’re not supposed to be.
The Lich, on the other hand, requires a combination of disruption (the Mammoth’s rockets) and a Ghost, or an extremely heavy object (i.e. Wraith) inside it, to be effectively released from it’s scripting.
What I would love to see is AI behaviour changing depending on the difficulty. enemies on advanced difficulties will set up patrol formations and stronger defensive strategies as well as use cover more effectively… things like that.
As an example, MC could be tasked with ambushing a covenant patrol, on normal this is simple because the group would just be walking almost casually as a group but on legendary the elite leader will have set up jackal scouting packs and lookouts and a group formation that would make it difficult to ambush.
A meta game could also evolve from Sniping elite commanders, as to disorganise a group to make it easier to take out.
It would add replay value for higher difficulties because you would be having a different experience depending on which difficulty you are playing on and I would much prefer changes like this to weapon damage increases and health buffs.
Elites switching between weapons would be awesome as well. It would be funny if you could get noob comboed.
Unfortunately, all this does is disrupt the Lich’s scripting so you can take it high into the air and possibly deload it. You can’t really drive it anywhere because it tries to go back to it’s resting spot.
Let me know if you have any trouble with it.
Btw, there’s a way to get a Wraith inside the Lich, but it hasn’t been documented yet afaik. If you’re interested, I can make a tut for that as well.
> Elites switching between weapons would be awesome as well. It would be funny if you could get noob comboed.
This, I’ve been asking for this ever since Halo 3.
Bungie’s response: “here we’ll give you allied Elites that carry two weapons in Firefight Versus. Just don’t expect them to do anything special, they merely have two weapons so you can have more ammo!”
343i’s response: “we’ve included several unique Elites in Spartan Ops… watch out, some may come with swords! But we didn’t do anything with them, you’ll only see it happen when you strip their shielding, at which point they will probably be dead…”
Seriously, they need to adapt instead of resorting to grenade spam.
> Grunts are supposed to be great climbers so should 343 maybe give them some climbing abilities incase if crawlers dont make a return?
> What I would love to see is AI behaviour changing depending on the difficulty. enemies on advanced difficulties will set up patrol formations and stronger defensive strategies as well as use cover more effectively… things like that.
>
> As an example, MC could be tasked with ambushing a covenant patrol, on normal this is simple because the group would just be walking almost casually as a group but on legendary the elite leader will have set up jackal scouting packs and lookouts and a group formation that would make it difficult to ambush.
>
> A meta game could also evolve from Sniping elite commanders, as to disorganise a group to make it easier to take out.
>
> It would add replay value for higher difficulties because you would be having a different experience depending on which difficulty you are playing on and I would much prefer changes like this to weapon damage increases and health buffs.
>
> Elites switching between weapons would be awesome as well. It would be funny if you could get noob comboed.
Instead of giving the AI different positions and ways of acting with change of difficulty I think that the change of difficulty should just change the frequency of AI behavior or outright not affect behavior at all. your covenant patrol example seems a bit too scripted with placing snipers on specific places depending on difficulty. I believe it should be more random.
i once made a thread about Marine AI
it needs to be improved, Marines are there to help you, not to be cannon Fodder
a shortened version of my thread:
Marines should behave differently when wielding different weapons
-Marines with Automatics will stay mid-range and target hostiles with shields more frequently
-Marines with Precision weapons will stay at longer ranges, and will frequently target weak, un-shielded targets, or will assist other marines.
-Marines will power weapons will announce when they are firing
etc.
i shouldn’t see a Marine trying to snipe with a shotgun, or trying to give hugs with a Sniper rifle.
Marines should also support the player. Instead of following a scripted path, Marines should follow the Player and assist him/her with his/her target, or help to suppress enemies.
Marines should stay in squads of 4 or 5 and target the same hostile from different angles, and should evade VERY frequently to avoid getting hit.
i get that the Covenant is better than the UNSC in terms of Armor and weaponry, but look at modern USMC Marines, are they pushovers?
I want to see Jackals slowly push up on your position while Grunts follow behind and/or to the side providing fire support. I want to see Hunters acting like shock troopers, working in pairs and enraging when one dies. I want to see enemy units use tactics more, aim better, fire faster, when Elites/Knights are around and degrade when they are not. I want to see Crawlers swarming in packs like actual dogs.
I also want this to apply to allied AI.
I also want stealth to be a part of this.
I also want the AI to react appropriately so that stealth aspects can play a bigger role. I want them to investigate last known positions, not to magically know where you are at all times (goddam echolocating Wraiths.) I want them to patrol relaxed when first encountered, to make routine checks so you have a limited amount of time after your first kill before they react. And after you do and disappear, I want them to be on high alert.
Should the UNSC have more types of units instead of just plain soldiers and spartans with different weapons? I think that they could add some sort of special heavy spartans like Jorge or even Soldiers with special traits added to them. ODST’s could be stealthy and hard for the covenant to find. Maybe drones? We briefly saw flying drones in ODST. Maybe there are some land based ones. Even though I am not the most fond of the drone idea I think it is good to think about.
> > > > It most certainly would not. It would simply bounce off their shields.
> > >
> > > Facepalm
> > >
> > > 1. If it lands at their feet it’s explosive radius would cause them to die.
> > >
> > > 2. Even if it did hit the shield, it would bounce off and land right back at their feet.
> >
> > What the hell are you saying?
> >
> > 1. They aren’t going to stand still. If a grenade lands at their feet, they move slightly back, and the explosion splashes on the shield.
> >
> > 2. Does that make sense to you? It bounces off…and lands at their feet. If you threw a grenade at elastic, and it bounced, it would not go down. It would bounce up, or at a strange angle. Not directly to their feet.
>
> 1. Game mechanics don’t work that way (especially considering the Jackal shield does not have the same properties as hardlight shield) and if you haven’t noticed, Jackals are notoriously slower now.
>
> 2. True, but it’d land close enough to affect them.
So…343 change it so they recognize a grenade at their feet(Which they already do) and it still splashes off their shields. What is your point?
Yes. As it should be. We don’t want a super invincible formation that roflstomps your Spartan easily.
> Instead of giving the AI different positions and ways of acting with change of difficulty I think that the change of difficulty should just change the frequency of AI behavior or outright not affect behavior at all. your covenant patrol example seems a bit too scripted with placing snipers on specific places depending on difficulty. I believe it should be more random.
I didn’t mean they should necessarily be scripted events but rather for example sniper Jackals would use high ground ridges and vantage points to there advantage and often do things like jump onto high rocks or climb up to places to scout around. But on normal they would just walk with the pack like every one else and wouldn’t use any of these more advanced tactics. I absolutely agree AI behaviour should be sandbox. But I would like it to change depending on the difficulty.
In the past difficulty modifiers have been very dependant on things like shield strength, weapon damage, rate of fire, number of enemies, heavy armaments, accuracy… But what I would like to see is AI behaviour playing a bigger factor. Ideally you could up against the same number of enemies, with the same weapons and damages but on legendary it would still be harder to take them out simply because they are smarter.
