Better AI that isn't cheating?

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

I really hope the new halo has better AI. There have been so many cheating AIs, I want the AIs to be more believable, less, that shouldn’t have happened! Thing like approaching an AI that didn’t notice you and is firing his weapon and just turns around, that’s not fun. Having the enemies constantly spam at you without reloading, (covies more specifically and humans), that’s not fun. Having enemies melee faster than you and have this huge arc, not fun.

Make it so if you make the right move you can dodge well, lets say you crouch and he hits the air above you. Lets say you move to the side when he kicks and he kicks the air instead of it just splashing on you. Make it so weapons like the needler make it harder to hit you when you’re assassinating an enemy. Don’t make enemies bullet sponges, make them more vicious with difficult. Improve their combat behavior without making it seem cheating like. Add more animations and wounds. Lets say, you shoot an elite in the leg, have him limp. If you shoot his weapon, have it taken off. Add melee animations for jackals and grunts. Have them jump on you.

Differentiate between PVP and PVE. Have PVE stuff seem more real. It doesn’t have to be entirely identical for balance of PVP. PVE can be this really immersive experience. If I shoot a grunt with a forerunner weapon, make it feel like its a powerful gun.

Have enemies that are being assassinated be meat shields. Add stealth elements. Have a rich and powerful AI, good feeling weapons and make us feel like we are Spartans.VMake this next gen combat.

2

I’d be all for limb-damage in the next series of Halo games. We have a better system, so things that weren’t possible before like this should be implemented. I mean, if I put a few DMR rounds in a Grunt’s back, you’d think he wouldn’t just shake it off. I gets even more ridiculous when an enemy dies by you shooting him enough times in the foot.

So: localized damage, and excessive damage should compromise enemy movements, abilities.

While we’re at it, can we have grenades that do damage like actual grenades. Seriously; you mean to tell me that in order to survive a blast from a fragmentation/plasma explosion all the Covenant have to do is leap 5 feet away from it? Wow…

3

I don’t think the AI’s cheat, they’re just generic in Halo 4.

They were supposed to learn and adapt, but the Prometheans did the same stuff all the time.

We need ememies that aren’t in the same place every time you play the game, we need better variation of the enemies and less focus on Promethean robots. They are boring to look at, I’ve seen enough grey from Halo reach to last me this franchise.

More importantly, we need enemies that will pick up different weapons and can change tactics based on the situation, say for example you have a zelot elite getting surrounded by 4 players in coop, all he has is a sword and there is a fuel rod on the ground near him, instead of dropping the sword, make him duel wield the fuel rod and sword.

That would make it feel more alive, showing desperation and conviction to kill until killed, and throw a new dynamic into battling AI’a.

Heck you could even have grunts occasionally surrendering or something.

What I’m saying is make the enemies act more real by showing they can make decisions, and most importantly, make AI’s that work properly, think and learn and are actually a challenge instead of making them incredibly durable with a cheapass teleport attack/escape.

4

A bunch of more ideas.

Enemies always seek for cover. It should make them harder to kill and you need to use the environment for your own favor. For example:

-You are in a flat ground, there is an Elite with a sword 50 away from you.
-You see him, he see you.
-You pull the trigger, your weapon (now use the BR) shots 3 rounds.
-He seen the muzzle flash and hears it’s sound, he ducks away (Halo Combat Evolved style, because it’s one of the best evade ever in Halo). Your weapon isn’t hit-scan.
-There is a cover at his right, 15 meters away.
-He starts running for it.
-You shot 2 more bursts, 4 shot hit form 6, thanks to his evades.
-He is made it to the cover.
-You throw a grenade.
-He can’t see what you doing, since there his vision is blocked.
-He recognize the grenade, he can’t duck away but can go to the edge of the cover.
-Grenade blown, his shields are of, he is at the peak of his cover.
-You can see him, aim at his head.
-He knows, a headshot be fatal, so he uses his hands to cover his head.
-You fire with your weapon.
-1 bullet missed the target (evade mechanism), 2 bullet landed. One on his left arm, one on his right.
-His Sword turns off, since the bullet damaged his hand but he made it to the cover.
-He then throw a plasma nade, in an arch near you, you need to duck away.
-There is another cover, 20 meters away from him, he tries to run for it.
-His shields are now full, he knows where to throw a grenade to suppress you, he do an another thrown.
-As the grenade landed, he starts to run.
-You fire again, 3 bursts (7 hit from 9 projectile).
-He now use a Halo: Reach style evade to made it to the cover.
-Now, only 15 meters between you and him.
-He now throws a grenade again, you need to get out of it’s blast radius.
-He now put everything into one card, now he charging at you.
-You see him coming, you start to fire with your BR, 4 bursts (all landed, he dose not dodge because every seconds count).
-Your magazine is now empty, he is no shield.
-You need to pull of your magnum.
-Your bullet hits his head, he dies.
-There are only 3 meters between you and your enemy.

It’s sounds silly right now, but the basic of this is the mechanism is when the AI is seeks for cover, and dose not make idiotic steps, like charging at you from miles away.

The second is when they are making a trap for you.
For example:

-You are in a hill, there are Forerunner ruins on the lower ground, approximately 70 meters away.
-You see a pack of grunts, 6 of them, one in a plasma turret, one with a Fuel Rod, and 4 more with Plasma Pistols and Needlers.
-Seems to be and easy target but you’re not fool enough to charge at them, you starts to scout the area for more enemies.
-You now see an Elite, Major class with a Storm Rifle. It’s believable, 6 grunts for 1 Elite. You believe they don’t seen you since they are not attacking you.
-You scope in and pick the Fuel Rod guy first, then aim at the turret guy.
-Your shields are suddenly gone, you got a hit from your right, 2 more grunts with Plasma Pistols.
-“How the hell did these guys came up there?” you asks yourself, and find yourself confused.
-You picked up the two grunts quickly, but the other 4 guys at the ruins are gone.
-Then you got hit again from the ruins.
-There is a marksman jackal there, you can’t see him before, because he noticed you while you’re scouting the area and hide at one of the blocks.
-You need to get to cover, you’re too vulnerable now.
-The pack of the grunts are now starts storms you, they are coming up the hill.
-The Elite also shows up, he us suppressing you with the plasma turret.
-Your shields are up, you get up from the cover and kill the 4 grunts.
-The elite leaves the cannon, while the jackal shotting you to keep covering fire for the Elite.
-The Elite runs away, you can’t really see him because of the jackal.
-The jackal then empties his Carbine’s magazine, he ducks for cover.
-Your ammo count is low, you pick up one of the Plasma Pistols for backup.
-You now start to get revenge and go down the hill at the same way where the two grunts came up.
-You meet the Elite there.
-He is really angry, he tries to beat you up, 5 meters between you and him.
-You can kill him thanks to the plasma pistol, you then pick up his storm rifle.
-The jackal seeks the higher ground for you, he can’t see where you went, he is panicking because he can’t see his leader.
-You got a good angle at the jackal, you starts to suppress him.
-He ducks for cover again, you storms him.
-Your rifle overheats, the jackal is on the ground.
-You beat him up.
-Finally, you killed 8 grunts, 1 Elite and a jackal but you lost most of your ammo and nearly died 2 times. Are you really ready for a second encounter?

or a shorter version:
-You can see a ranger elite at the end of a tunnel.
-The tunnel is dark and has a lot of cover.
-You are in an advantage, he can’t see you.
-You pull of your plasma pistol, noob combo him.
-You now starts to walk at the tunnel, you’re a good boy.
-You pass his dead corpse, then something catches your eyes at your radar.
-Three blue dots, approximately 5 meters from you, one at your left, one at your right and one at a random cover.
-Three zealots with swords and active camo.
-Now you can start to pray for your life.

Third, join forces.
Same example again, but the Elite runs away, he didn’t attacks you. He knows he at a disadvantage since his units are killed by you. The jackal still tries to slow you down, to cover the elite’s escape. Then the Elite could came back with backup, or he joins to the others, and waiting for you at the next encounter. Your ammo count is low again, you need to scavenge while they are form up and waiting for your approach.

5

Good points everyone.

I definitely want to see more interactive AI. Smart but not so that they can predict your moves.

6

I am hoping that the X1 will allow for the use of more enemies to reduce the cheapness of the individual ones… On Legendary.

Now I, like many in Halo, understand that Legendary is suppose to punish you in ways that feel cheap, but it’s been a pretty mindless cheap shot by Halo’s Legendary AI since H2.

CE’s AI, though the most limited, to this day is still one of the most fun of all Halo’s to play against. CEA was reminder of this.

I think it’s because ironically though the AI was made more intelligent at avoiding and dealing death, it was this intelligence that reduced the AI’s effectiveness of feeling like a relentless killing machine H2 and on.

I don’t particularly like Legendary’s greatly increased damage modifiers with greatly increased projectile speed, precision and tracking either.
The greatly increased precision isn’t a problem itself. The greatly increased RoF of the AI also isn’t a problem with the increased precision… But to have those, not have overheat or reloading and allow magnetism to bend Needlers at 90’ corners or Banshee bombs to go from a 45’ angle on ground to traveling near parallel to the ground WITH increased damage, well it’s more monotonous than engaging.

For me I’d like damage modified to about 125% on Legendary but with increased numbers and rank of enemies to compliment. Of course all AI’s have to reload/cool (even if they have dexterity on on Legendary). And somehow more baiting tactics need to make it.
Grunts and shield Jackals being distractions for enemies shooting from completely different vectors on the player type stuff.

What I want is to have the difficulty levels actually dictate how setpieces unfold. Both in insertion of enemies and by increasing the number and/or changing the unit types to much more powerful versions/weapon-types.
These tougher AI can afford to care less about their lives and attack more forcefully when in larger numbers while forcing a cat and ROUS (Rodent of Unusual Size) game more so than a cat and mouse game when there are but a few enemies left to kill (and find).

The Promethean attack and hide when damaged tactic has to go. Instead of retreating they should teleport more sporadically while pop-shotting. Even teleport mid-air or even directly above the player. The quick teleport, not the Treky-type one.

Flood mixed between CE and H3. I’d like pods to reanimate Flood but not be the weakness that makes them so damn easy to kill. The CE Flood “flooding” also needs to make a return. As well the loosing of appendages. Perhaps they can regrow via a pod helping out? The CE squishiness against even the SRS99 with removable limbs was a great feature to the enemy, bringing in a bit of H3’s regenerative features via pod might be what the Flood need.

And Sentinels… Mo’ and varied… A Death Star-like attack when there are many. Ya know, concentrate a few shots into one big shot that can obliterate heavy targets very, very instantaneously. Attacking from more varied vectors when brought down to a few. Don’t let them be so easy to take down because they group in front of a reticle.
(I must say, I did love the Sentinel Enforcers in H2.)

7

My wish list for AI behavior

Please don’t make prometheons bullet sponges. They are the biggest pain in the -Yoink- on legendary. Also I should be able to inflict damage to them when they’re in the middle of teleporting

Please make watchers feel more disposable. They’re cowards. Instead of running away when you shoot them they should suicide bomb you.

Crawlers are fine.

Grunts with fuel rods should run out of ammo. Please. Maybe when they run out of ammo they suicide bomb you.

Jackal snipers are fine. Please keep them this way. I feel like crying just remembering those levels in halo 2

Jackal infantry should form shield walls. This way elites and grunts can take cover behind them. When you throw a grenade near them they should turn their shield to the direction if the grenade so they will actually survive.

I don’t like the suggestions of the elites retreating when their shields are down. That would be dishonorable for elites. Once their blood is spilled they need to go berserk. Maybe running at you WHILE shooting. Also behaviors need to be different for each rank of elite. The minors should be upfront with plasma rifles while the ultras/generals should be in the back giving orders while shooting a fuel rod cannon in your direction. Zealots need to be absolutely crazy since they’re religious fanatics. Maybe sprinting at you while shooting a plasma rifle and holdin an energy sword once their invisibility cover is blown.

More jump scares with invisible elites.

8

Smarter AI would be nice, the AI in Halo 4 is pretty predictable, even though at times they can be cheap (Fuel Rod Elites, specifically).

9

The main thing want to see is smarter AI (fire and maneuver, using cover and concealment properly, combined arms tactics, etc) and reducing or eliminating bullet sponges.

10

I want enemy AI that acts realistically when you roll up in a tank. I.E. run like hell to the nearest cover. They’ve always just sat their/strolled up spamming Plasma Pistol and let you blow them away.

11

Alongside the previous ideas stated above me I would like to see friendly AI that can:

-Put objective first but engage anything that prohibits them from completing objective.

-Take roles so a marine or Spartan with sniper rifle will get to a vantage point/skip ahead or scout the area ahead.

-Concentrate fire on one target that is damaged or in critical condition.

12

Awesome ideas in this thread! I would like to give orders to the friendlies. I bit of strategy on the field would make me worship the game if it is well implemented.

13

All i want is to have a Squad of marines that don’t get mowed down by a single grunt

honestly, if you’ve heard of modern-day marine troops, they’re something to hear about.
so why shouldn’t the UNSC troops be worth something?

i understand that the Covenant have far more powerful weaponry that the UNSC, but does it make ANY sense that a FULL SQUAD of 5-6 well-trained marines can’t take down an Elite Minor?

to add to this, we currently have ACHIEVEMENTS that require us to keep them alive. They should stay alive by themselves, we shouldn’t have to babysit them.
if the guys are taking damage, they should retreat, not stand still.

14

> I mean, if I put a few DMR rounds in a Grunt’s back, you’d think he wouldn’t just shake it off.

My only problem with this, is that the Grunt’s “back” isn’t really his back; it’s his methane tank. Which is an easy solve, if you put let’s say five rounds into a Grunt’s back, the tank should rupture and start leaking methane. Have the methane be present even, so that an explosive element (grenade, say,) will make for an exponentially larger explosion. If not, give the Grunt about two to three minutes before he suffocates.

> While we’re at it, can we have grenades that do damage like actual grenades. Seriously; you mean to tell me that in order to survive a blast from a fragmentation/plasma explosion all the Covenant have to do is leap 5 feet away from it? Wow…

One of my biggest complaints ever. Whenever people would whine about grenades being too powerful, I would try to remind that they are grenades, not firecrackers. I fully agree there.

Another thing that I’ve been spreading around is AI reacting to your physical reactions, using the Kinect 2’s body heat/heart rate detection. Have enemies (or even allies) that react if you’re frustrated or calm.

15

Oh man it’s been so long since this has been brought up.

I’m gonna sit this one out for now but I would absolutely love to see improved, non-cheap AI.

16

I’d love this. There’s far better ways to make Legendary challenging than slapping down a bunch of ridiculously high shielded Elites with Fuel Rods or the Prometheans with their frustrating tricks…

17

-Yoink- I remember Reach’s elite AI (in legendary). They had impenetrable shields that exclusively required a pure noob combo tactic, had mad strafing skills that allowed them to dodge melee attacks and avoid your sniper crosshair, and dead-on accuracy. While they were definitely imposing and extremely effective, they just felt robotic in the end. This was very much carried over to halo 4. Something that was apparently a staple of halo gameplay, and was widely vouched for by bungie, was the dynamic nature of the AI and encounters. If the enemies you design are completely perfect all the time (despite being on legendary), things just start to get less interesting, as your choice of playstyle gets funnelled down to one or two options.

18

> Yoink! I remember Reach’s elite AI (in legendary). They had impenetrable shields that exclusively required a pure noob combo tactic, had mad strafing skills that allowed them to dodge melee attacks and avoid your sniper crosshair, and dead-on accuracy. While they were definitely imposing and extremely effective, they just felt robotic in the end. This was very much carried over to halo 4. Something that was apparently a staple of halo gameplay, and was widely vouched for by bungie, was the dynamic nature of the AI and encounters. If the enemies you design are completely perfect all the time (despite being on legendary), things just start to get less interesting, as your choice of playstyle gets funnelled down to one or two options.

This!!!

Personally, I’d love to see a hybridization between CE and H2 AI. They’ve given me the most challenge. Reach and H4 AI are way too easily exploited and H3 AI are crap.

19

No Prometheans teleporting right behind you with a Scattershot please.

Oh yeah, and Marines that don’t die in 5 seconds, that would be useful aswell.

20

I think the idea of Forza drivertar thing is pretty cool if they could do that with the AI for elites etc that would be kinda cool i think maybe have the option to turn it on or off?? But this way you could have the enemies play how real people would.

Imagine coming across an Elite commander who plays in the style of Bravo would be epic haha :slight_smile: