The Ally AI should be Improved for Halo 4

Games Other Halo
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So now that Halo 4 has come out, what do all of you think about Halo 4’s ally AI? Please note this thread is mainly about the NPC allies the player encounters. Posts about the enemy AI, including the Promethians, are welcome, but let’s not let them become the focus of this thread.

As for my thoughts… I couldn’t be happier with what 343 did with the Spartan IVs. They take the place of ODSTs, but while that’s a little disappointing, I’ll deal. It’s a shame we only get them during the tank section on Infinity and during Reclaimer. We also get them in SpOps Ep. 3, Ch. 3, where they kick butt. The Spartans are aggressive, shielding, and just all-out powerful. However, they’re not too powerful. I’d be interested to see if we get Spartan allies during a future SpOps mission fighting the Prometheans. That would be fun.

The marines are a lot more aggressive, which I love. They hold their own if you give them strong weapons. The firefight in the middle of Infinity on Heroic has a lot of potential. I look forward to playing it more.

I haven’t played it a whole lot, so I don’t know if melees do any damage (I think they do), how good their driving is, and other little questions.

In sum, I was very satisfied with how the allies performed, albeit I wish I had them for longer.

ORIGINAL POST

> This thread assumes that we’re going to have allies in Halo 4. We might not, but IN CASE WE DO, here are some things I want for the ally AI.
>
> OK, first off, I love AI allies. I play LNoS Rally Point 3 over and over so I can get a good scenario with allies. I always give my allies the power weapons and watch them lay waste (or try, anyway). If Halo 4 was chock full of allies, I would be ridiculously happy.
>
> Halo 4 is probably not going to be like that. But for the allies we might get, I would like more aggression. Too many times in Reach I’ve seen my marines just crouch there, not shooting, as a grunt peppers them with Plasma Pistol fire until they die. The marines in Halo CE were amazing. They charged when you charged, always fired (unless they were hit), and generally kicked butt. Their only flaw was that you couldn’t give them power weapons (or take their power weapons).
>
> I think a marine with an AR should be the equal of a grunt with a plasma pistol. If you give your marines better weapons, they should be able to handle jackals and elites, etc.
>
> ODSTs should be a little stronger and smarter than marines. Oh, and when a marine melees, it should do some damage. Reach’s marines do absolutely no damage when they melee, which is a recipe for disaster if an enemy gets too close.

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yes

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I definitely agree…I love playing with marines. I always try to see how long I can keep them alive. I get so sad when they all die =(

4

The Friendly A.I should be gangsta. party like A Rockstar. The Warthog should be black and yellow. And we should see Californa Girls everywhere, and master cheif should be big pimpin

5

Smarter more agressive AI’s would be much better. Its anoying when the do jack. Your trained to kill dont make me have to do all the work.

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> This thread assumes that we’re going to have allies in Halo 4. We might not, but IN CASE WE DO, here are some things I want for the ally AI.
>
> OK, first off, I love AI allies. I play LNoS Rally Point 3 over and over so I can get a good scenario with allies. I always give my allies the power weapons and watch them lay waste (or try, anyway). If Halo 4 was chock full of allies, I would be ridiculously happy.
>
> Halo 4 is probably not going to be like that. But for the allies we might get, I would like more aggression. Too many times in Reach I’ve seen my marines just crouch there, not shooting, as a grunt peppers them with Plasma Pistol fire until they die. The marines in Halo CE were amazing. They charged when you charged, always fired (unless they were hit), and generally kicked butt. Their only flaw was that you couldn’t give them power weapons (or take their power weapons).
>
> I think a marine with an AR should be the equal of a grunt with a plasma pistol. If you give your marines better weapons, they should be able to handle jackals and elites, etc.
>
> ODSTs should be a little stronger and smarter than marines. Oh, and when a marine melees, it should do some damage. Reach’s marines do absolutely no damage when they melee, which is a recipe for disaster if an enemy gets too close.

343, this guy knows what he’s talking about.

In H3,

-nearly all friendly AI are bad drivers. That is 100% fact
-marines are automated trackers and most of the time blow themselves up with their grenades or rockets (worsened in Reach)
-marines need to follow Chief, not Death

-ODSTs need better AI. They’re worse than marines

-pelican on Sierra 117 is a kill stealer

-Elites charged at enemies, even when they had long range power weapons
-Elites frequently got in close quarters combat. Come on Elites, can’t you see that bubble shield is a trap?!
-most Elites couldn’t throw grenades and when they did, they ended up sticking allies more than enemies
-Elites with swords are too slow. In Halo 2, they were able to keep up with the player

-Flood assistance is pitiful. Come on Gravemind, aside from the Tank Forms and infection forms, all you can give us is 2 lousy unarmed human combat forms?!

In Reach,

-troopers are slow when turning, getting in vehicles, etc.
-troopers don’t stand idle. In fact, I’d say they don’t even want to fight (that explains their performance. Firing is minimal)
-troopers can’t fire long range with human weapons (i.e. sniper, DMR) unless it’s the rocket launcher yet can fire long range with the plasma rifle, concussion rifle, needle rifle
-trooper piloted Wraiths attempt splatter attempts instead of blowing enemies up
-rocket launcher troopers don’t do anything when an enemy is close

-pelicans are still kill stealers

-Noble Team are cheap
-Noble Team are kill stealers (Arbiter may have been more effective but there’s only 1 of him and he doesn’t steal that much unless he’s properly deployed)
-Carter has bad range despite having a DMR and I don’t think I’ve seen him do anything useful other than going kamikaze with a pelican

AI should revert to H3 but with following improvements:

-better range
-melee capability (half Flood ODSTs can flip Mongooses and move Scorpions a little but allied ODSTs can’t do -Yoink-)
-stop charging
-retreat or suppress when I retreat
-flanking maneuvers
-more aggression
-less tracking, more aiming
-work harder, less loafing around. There’s an enemy shooting nearby. Are you freaking deaf?! Get into your battle stance trooper!
-able to throw grenade from behind cover (this is in Reach but it’s infrequent)
-shoot from behind cover (back against wall, stick gun out, not your face, and use suppressive fire. You might not hit anyone but at least you’ll be supportive)

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'Bout time someone agreed with my long time, previous post. THANK YOU.!!! They (“the AI”) don’t do any damage your completely right…But, you can forget adding them in multiplayer, apparently they think its a -Yoink- idea here, soo…it’s whatever, someone will pick up these posts however and put them where they should be for a game, that will allow it, however this one won’t my friend. The AI allies only go as far as checkpoints or as far you the player goes. This game is strictly campaign. Garbage I say, only thing that kept Reach a’float wasn’t just a good campaign, but a kick -Yoink- multiplayer! We’ll see what happens though. Advancing the role AI is a extremely important subject that needs to be looked at. Lastly, the time and money it would take is also great, just to program AI for specific functions. Only more disc space and a better console would be able to execute the idea. GOOD POST BY THE WAY!

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Well I myself love marines and they should be awesome in combat but they should all look and sound different, for example marines should have different

-accents

-things on there heads e.g. bandanas, boonie hats, sunglasses, and helmets

-moods so that in a group of marines one could be blood thirsty, the other could be silly and never act serious and the other will always remain calm

also marines should talk more and always say different and funny things because with marines I don’t always want to hear things like I’m reloading or Get to cover I wan’t to hear WooHoo or School is over (sprays LAAG every where)

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Who’s gives a crap about any of that, what they do in combat would suffice us rather than that stuff.

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> I definitely agree…I love playing with marines. I always try to see how long I can keep them alive. I get so sad when they all die =(

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[deleted]

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A lot of you don’t understand the fine line that friendly AI must walk. The friendlies can’t all be Galactus, devourer of worlds, or the game plays itself for the player. How ridiculously easy would a lot of Halo missions be if in-game ODST’s matched their book and comic counterparts? You could set the controller down and go eat while they kill everything.

Conversely, you can’t make them paint-chip eaters and window lickers either, or you get things like friendly’s that hit you or themselves with rockets, grenades, and vehicles.

At the end of the day the player has to be the one killing everything, otherwise you may as well watch a movie.

Some of your requests are valid, though. AI, friend and foe, should understand what weapon they have and the optimal range for it. They should also understand some basic driving concepts like keep moving, don’t hit friendlies, and avoid cliffs. And of course nothing is worse than taking a rocket or grenade to the back because Jenkins throws like a girl or Lopez doesn’t look before he fires that rocket.

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What Blood said. Plus, Marines are strong and all, and they should definitely do some melee damage against Jackals and Grunts, but I wouldn’t want to box an Elite or anything as powerful, it’d wipe the floor with me.

Jackals/Grunts: Charge them if the situation favours (i.e. kill most of the infantry, advance in and clear out the last one or two with melee)

Elites/Brutes/Hunters: Stay the hell back.

Mind you, I have no idea who we’ll be fighting in Halo 4, or who our allies will be, so I’m prepared to disregard my post if need be.

14

I don’t like the idea of a Marine being able to take on a Sangheili. It’s said that a single Sangheili can take out an entire squad of Marines.

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IMO they shouldn’t really try to kill enemies, but they should help you to kill enemies. Supress enemies so they stay behind cover or throw a grenade behind the enemie’s cover to make him get out.

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> I don’t like the idea of a Marine being able to take on a Sangheili. It’s said that a single Sangheili can take out an entire squad of Marines.

Exactly. I’m not asking that my allies become one-man killing machines; that’s my job. A Marine should die when confronted with an Elite (if I’m not around to help him), unless said marine has a rocket launcher or something. However, I think an ODST with a shotgun should be able to defeat a Sangheili Minor with a plasma rifle all by himself. It’d be a close thing though. In some playthroughs the elite wins, in others the ODST does.

But single grunts and jackals should not spell doom for my allies. I keep thinking back to Halo CE’s marines, namely at the start of Silent Cartographer and the marines on your tank on AotCR. I only need to kill around 3/4 of the Covy enemies on the opening charge of Silent Cartographer, my marines take care of the rest. Those two elites at the end of the charge don’t have a chance if I’ve done what I should have.

My marines shouldn’t be the ones to kill my enemies. But they should be able to give the Covenant a right to the jaw before croaking. Marines and ODSTs are for support, and that means mopping up the rest of the baddies, being quick and staying alive, sticking with me, and saving my butt if perchance I need it.

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I believe the AI intelligence should also depend on the difficulty level, on Easy they should be dumber, with less fight. However on Legendary, with the enemies having upgrades my AI allies should be smarter, and more willing to fight. Ive played too many levels on legendary, and Im trying not to die, working an Elite over, and I have 3 Marines right there with me, STANDING in the open, doing NOTHING. If I manage to make it out of that Elite fight, I obviously turn and kill the AI. Also how many times do you drop into ONI: Swordbase, and all the AI (minus Kat) gets killed in the first 30 seconds. They don’t even attempt to hide, or help.

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Quite right. I wouldn’t mind seeing marines being toasted on Easy difficulty, but on Heroic, they’d better try to fight, and on Legendary they’re pulling out all the stops.

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I wholeheartedly agree with this. I want allies that can do SOMETHING…I want them to be able to hold their own pretty well against a squad of whatever enemies we will be fighting in Halo 4. Your allies in the game should be smart enough to follow you and to prioritize and shoot down targets.

20

i think that you should be abel to choose what type of AI you want in-game, like skulls and difficulty
the types that I think should be there are:

easy- crappy troopers, can’t do a thing, they shoot like 5 rounds from the AR every time they do, they are good cannon fodder, but not good fighters- they would work VERY well for challengers to add with things like the LASO, or for just pro’s that wanna make an untouched Legendary run

Normal- basicly, H3 style, they can do some good amount of damage, help you wipe grunts off-screen, provide cover fire, things like that, but they still kinda suck

Heroic- What you’d expect Marines to fight like 500 years in the future, they do VERY well at fighting, they know when to shoot, when to cover, and the dodge/evade more often

Legendary- Hell for the enemy, these guys can do the work for you, they are useful for quickly getting past a level, and if pitted against Legendary enemies, it would make some pretty epic moments

None- self explanatory-turns of allied AI, for the pro’s that like CoD, and hate Teamwork