Does the AI loot vehicles, town buildings, and bodies?

[ravran]

It would seem it doesn't. If so, are there plans to implement this? Thanks.

[hushpeople]

Yes it does. I just watched with the fog of war off for this behavior and an enemy of mine that has been scattered went to an abandoned vending machine for food and a diner for a drink.

[Sunday Driver]

In winter if you've not cleaned out the town buildings you'll see a trail of them in and out like ants to those places looking for cheesy poofs. They only loot just what they need though.

[Red riding hood the third]

I observed the AI picking up the guns of their fallen comrades and surprise blasting me during a raid so yes they can loot bodies.

[hushpeople]

I have even seen NPC's take stuff out of graves if they need it.

[Sunday Driver]

Originally posted by hushpeople:

I have even seen NPC's take stuff out of graves if they need it.

Wow. A rare sight! Not seen that yet, although it probably was happening and I wasn't aware of it. I've found graves to the the second best looting spots after town buildings.

[hushpeople]

Originally posted by Hoxilicious:

Originally posted by hushpeople:

I have even seen NPC's take stuff out of graves if they need it.

Wow. A rare sight! Not seen that yet, although it probably was happening and I wasn't aware of it. I've found graves to the the second best looting spots after town buildings.

It's because an NPC will only take what they need for that moment. They sneak in, grab it and sneak out before you see it. Very funny story, I hid a white strain infected pot on a corpse far away away from my camp and my cook got it and made a stew in a catering bucket. I luckily had switched to that character before anyone ate it and saw it but I had to check in the debug menu and make sure she wasn't invisible strain! I sent her to go get held up by a looter camp and gave away that disaster waiting to happen.
I wish there was an on/off option for greedy NPC's that will try to loot the same way you do and stockpile all the stuff. Would love to see NPC's building buildings and trying to expand too. I would settle for NPC's using the 'takeover' option in the towns after resources become scarcer. Walls may be tricky for NPC's to plan out though.

[Sunday Driver]

Expanding NPC towns would be great to see. There could be a toggle for certain communities (both looter and peaceful types) that has that community as "normal" or "expansionistic". Most would just be as they are now and maintain what they have. One or two would have that expansion mindset. That would give a late game threat and interesting map development. You could have a giant bandit base growing if you don't deal with it or simply a strong competitor growing.

[CellNav]

Originally posted by Hoxilicious:

Expanding NPC towns would be great to see.

You gave me an idea for an experiment for expansion, but we have to use the debug menu (F8) for this ... The next time you defeat a community, change the ownership of that base to another community (looter or friendly, your choice) that is still alive on the map. Most of the time we just take it over ourselves or leave it to it's demise.

I think I'm going to run an experiment in my game because there's a very small base near me that can be easily defeated. I'm curious if the population will grow at the expanded base.

[hushpeople]

Originally posted by CellNav:

Originally posted by Hoxilicious:

Expanding NPC towns would be great to see.

You gave me an idea for an experiment for expansion, but we have to use the debug menu (F8) for this ... The next time you defeat a community, change the ownership of that base to another community (looter or friendly, your choice) that is still alive on the map. Most of the time we just take it over ourselves or leave it to it's demise.

I think I'm going to run an experiment in my game because there's a very small base near me that can be easily defeated. I'm curious if the population will grow at the expanded base.

Let us know the results! I have been playing with the mechanics a lot too! I love that Bob added that robust debug menu for us to play with. I can't get spawn points to work for me though unfortunately.

[hushpeople]

Saw the funniest thing last night while playing. A guy was sitting on the ground pouting because of some mass deaths at his camp and another guy walked up and urinated in his face and then sat down next to him. Happened too fast to get a screenshot and I was laughing too hard to boot. I wish there was a yellowish stream animation for that reason right there!

[Fin]

Originally posted by hushpeople:

Originally posted by CellNav:

I think I'm going to run an experiment in my game because there's a very small base near me that can be easily defeated. I'm curious if the population will grow at the expanded base.

Let us know the results!

+1 I'd be very curious what your tests reveal as well.

[CellNav]

Originally posted by Fin:

Originally posted by hushpeople:

Let us know the results!

+1 I'd be very curious what your tests reveal as well.

I apologize to take forever to reply back. My community was recovering from the IS, so I had to clean up the mess, then get spammed by raiders and refugees, not to mention other delays when playing this game ... :P

Anyway ... I defeated the small looter group, then switched everything to another community on the map. I didn't loot any items, there is a little food left and it's been a few days and the season is early winter.

I really don't expect anything to happen. If an npc walks over to that base then it could just be the reason to grab items. Since it's winter then I can expect them to die, so it might take a full winter season before anything happens.

Since the game doesn't have "strategic expansion" logic, I honestly don't expect anything to happen, but curiosity still has me bound to continue the test, I'll just let it sit for now. It's like planting a seed in the ground ... Will it grow? ... LOL

[hushpeople]

Keep us updated! I found a fun trick to take out a settlement of raiders today. Make a box or go to a diner etc by the raider settlement and fill the diner or box full of white strain stew. It took out a whole group of them and I haven't even met them yet. The first time I did it, the entire raider group started fighting each other out of anger or stress so they killed off two of their own over the grave of a white strain stew victim. I LOVE the A.I. in this game and I sincerely hope Bob is able to update it to expand on its own. It's so random!! It would be so fun to stumble into a town that a group of raiders that broke off from a bigger group took over or a group that just expanded to the town because they could. My current map has massive settlements and almost nothing but white strains everywhere. It's the most hardcore one yet.

[Fin]

Originally posted by hushpeople:

Keep us updated! I found a fun trick to take out a settlement of raiders today. Make a box or go to a diner etc by the raider settlement and fill the diner or box full of white strain stew. It took out a whole group of them and I haven't even met them yet. The first time I did it, the entire raider group started fighting each other out of anger or stress so they killed off two of their own over the grave of a white strain stew victim. I LOVE the A.I. in this game and I sincerely hope Bob is able to update it to expand on its own. It's so random!! It would be so fun to stumble into a town that a group of raiders that broke off from a bigger group took over or a group that just expanded to the town because they could. My current map has massive settlements and almost nothing but white strains everywhere. It's the most hardcore one yet.

Can you confirm where you left the infected stew?
I don't doubt that your tactic works with unowned town buildings (ie diner), but I'm skeptical that the AI can loot your wooden box, as we ourselves cannot access other communities buildings until they have been defeated. In my experience, it's safe to drop boxes strategically on the map as emergency weapons/supply caches.

[hushpeople]

Originally posted by Fin:

Originally posted by hushpeople:

Keep us updated! I found a fun trick to take out a settlement of raiders today. Make a box or go to a diner etc by the raider settlement and fill the diner or box full of white strain stew. It took out a whole group of them and I haven't even met them yet. The first time I did it, the entire raider group started fighting each other out of anger or stress so they killed off two of their own over the grave of a white strain stew victim. I LOVE the A.I. in this game and I sincerely hope Bob is able to update it to expand on its own. It's so random!! It would be so fun to stumble into a town that a group of raiders that broke off from a bigger group took over or a group that just expanded to the town because they could. My current map has massive settlements and almost nothing but white strains everywhere. It's the most hardcore one yet.

Can you confirm where you left the infected stew?
I don't doubt that your tactic works with unowned town buildings (ie diner), but I'm skeptical that the AI can loot your wooden box, as we ourselves cannot access other communities buildings until they have been defeated. In my experience, it's safe to drop boxes strategically on the map as emergency weapons/supply caches.

It has to be a spawned neutral one. Should have mentioned that. You can't get close to their base and build one anyways. I'm just messing with the A.I. at the moment. You can leave it in a vending machine or box like that on the map and they (someone) will eventually loot it, probably in winter. If you see any random white strain on the map that says 'stranger' then you know your stew got them most likely. My current map is brutal and no refugees make it long so I have to go fetch them. It's about 90% white strain on every inch of the map. No greens or blues to speak of.