AI options

[crakerz]

The AI is pretty good, but it needs a few option improvements. Ideally, these options woiuld be global, as well as for squads/groups.

Of course, my suggestion is the ability to turn these features on/off.

1. "Fire at will." Sometimes, this feature sucks. Here you are building up a unit, and every time an enemy walks by, they all have to prove their stuff. I mean, what are towers for? They don't need help, guys! Now, in a patrol situation, this option makes sense.

2. "Fire only when fired upon." This is different from above. If they leave you alone, you leave them alone. Good for survaillence. I've noticed the OMNI AI does this in some sitz. Also, it should overide the mindless obeying of the "go there" command. You know what I mean: You send a squad to point B, and on the way it encounters a troop of rocketeers, who proceed to decimate the squad as it blithely obeys your order. This means you have to micromange your unit movements! That *really* sucks in battle.

3. "Avoid The Enemy." If for nothing else, this would be nice for the mindless miners. The poor, dumb bullpups will mine until they die. If the shortest route to base/mine is through the enemy main gate, then off it goes - to certain death!

4. "Retreat if fired upon." A little different from above. If a unit is attacked, it should withdraw a certain distance without returning fire. This would be useful for sending out probes to determine enemy positions without them becoming suicidal.

5. "Strong Advance." This feature would cause weaker units to stop advancing until stronger units advance to the point.

6. "Protect Me." This would cause a unit to stay in the back of the pack regardless of its strength. Especially used for Cannons.

7. "Cannon Fodder." This would cause a unit to stay in the front of the pack regardless of its strength.

8. "Advance Ranking." This builds on the above three. Ideally, you could set this by number, so that you could control the makeup of an advance. Such as putting Rocket Troops first, then a wave of Liberators, followed by your Hydras, then by your Cannons.

I'm sure there are others out there with even better ideas on AI options. Let's hear 'em!

[DBZ-GOKU-]

Those are ok ideas...what makes them better is that you want them to be an option too. Some ideas, such as the "don't attack unless fired upon" [or ordered too] would be something I would like. Also, some things that have been mentioned before. In the little sub menu that you have while you are plasying the game (with the map and everything), there should be options such as "partrol, guard, attack, 'attention(?)' (make it so that the units don't attack), etc."