Question about alien behaviour

[Velarune]

I've looked into things about this game over the years it's been out. I've seen things about how the alien AI was designed and stuff. I know that it supposedly learns what the player does and then reacts to that. But I'm wondering how does it learn?

The situation I was in was the medical area where you're getting Dr. Morley's key. The entire time the alien was hanging around, right from when you leave the office after accessing the computer terminal, there wasn't a single instance where it was alerted to my presence. It never chased after me or reacted to anything I may have done. It just continued to stomp around the area and sometimes crawl into the vents.

I'm the kind of gamer that likes to explore everything and see every little corner of a game. So even while the alien was wandering around, I'm still spending my time searching all the rooms and checking everything out. When I got up to the area where it had patient rooms in a ring hallway and you find the actual key on a body, even though I had found the key, I was still searching all the rooms. Some of the rooms had a bed you could hide under but half of them just had a locker to use. So I found myself jumping into a locker basically every time the alien would come close to the room I was in.

Sometimes the alien would walk past the room and continue down the hallway and other times it would enter the room, circle around it and then walk back out. But the final time was different. It was standing outside the door, which I assume it got stuck on the doorway since it seems to have a problem with that. Then it entered the room and immediately walked to the locker and killed me. I'm left wondering why that happened.

I didn't do anything to alert it. It never knew where I was. If this was it's way of learning that I was using the lockers, how did it know that if it didn't ever know I was in there? It did pop up the holding your breath prompt and backing away but it was the first time I had seen it and quickly tried to react, plus it was only on screen for maybe half a second before it ripped the door off. If this is the way it learns, by magically knowing you're doing something even though it doesn't actually know, I have to say that's a pretty cheap way of handling that. At least show some form of reaction to knowing that I'm in a room or something.

[i-Jinx]

The game AI is supposed to work like this: Tell the alien where to look, but not specifically where the player is, keep track of how long the alien spends in close proximity to the player and send it away at random intervals, so the player can actually progress through the level.

It doesn't always work as it should. There seem to be annoying "bottleneck" areas, I think you are in one at the moment. They get easier to deal with later, when you have more gadgets to confuse the alien.

Regarding "learning", the alien uses a big decision tree which tells it how to hunt the player, most of the smartest branches are disabled at the start. Every time you use a specific tactic, you increase the chance that smarter behaviours (like locker sniffing) will be enabled.

[Shakes]

IIRC there was a developer or someone who figured out that their were two main AI branches: an omnipotent AI that knows everything including where Ripley, the Alien, and other enemies are, and what they're doing (including noises being made, etc). This AI or "director" a la Left 4 Dead, feeds the Alien AI with hints based on the difficulty level and proximity to the player, limited by area-specific constraints such as cutscenes and the artificial "leash" that the player has on the Alien. Additionally, every time you die by the Alien, the game records how and where you died. Dying in lockers increases your chance of dying in a locker again, making noises while under desks will increase the odds of the Alien searching under them. There are actually multiple Alien models in a given level, even if none are actively searching. There is one in the very first level that never comes out due to scripting.

However, what I've found is that (at least on hard and nightmare) the Alien will investigate lockers and cabinets even if you've given it no reason to. I'm finding it difficult to rationalize why it's doing that, but my guess is because they're the go-to hiding spots for new players and that the developers did it intentionally. If it's nearby when you hide in one then you're pretty much fucked, but it seems to check them when you use them even if you were way out of auditory range. I do recall having trouble in the medical ring before. I remember that there was a room off to the side with a desk or two that you could hide under.

[Velarune]

So far it's been easy enough to run circles around the alien. I was expecting it to be more difficult but maybe it will get harder later. I was just about to leave that medical area but I wanted to search one more room first. I just found it odd that the alien came into the room and went straight to the locker with no hesitation. I guess it got tired of me playing games with it.

[Shakes]

You never did mention what difficulty level you were playing on. The Alien is much more persistent on higher difficulty levels, as you might expect. On lower difficulties, being caught might feel a bit more random since it's not "learning" quite as fast and has a longer leash from the player. You did say that you hid whenever it was nearby in the outside hallway, so maybe the consistent sound of locker doors tipped it off.

It's usually easy to see when the Alien's behavior changes. For the most part it will stomp back and forth between a couple of points. When the range of those movements becomes tightened or it lingers in a nearby spot for a few more moments, then it's time to either move or die. Hissing also can mean that it's changing its routine (since it's usually when it hears or sees something very suspicious), but that doesn't always mean that it will.

[BROOD-SkorpioN]

Originally posted by Shakes:

IIRC there was a developer or someone who figured out that their were two main AI branches: an omnipotent AI that knows everything including where Ripley, the Alien, and other enemies are, and what they're doing (including noises being made, etc). This AI or "director" a la Left 4 Dead, feeds the Alien AI with hints based on the difficulty level and proximity to the player, limited by area-specific constraints such as cutscenes and the artificial "leash" that the player has on the Alien. Additionally, every time you die by the Alien, the game records how and where you died. Dying in lockers increases your chance of dying in a locker again, making noises while under desks will increase the odds of the Alien searching under them. There are actually multiple Alien models in a given level, even if none are actively searching. There is one in the very first level that never comes out due to scripting.

I believe you're refering to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt1XmiDwxhY

Originally posted by Shakes:

You did say that you hid whenever it was nearby in the outside hallway, so maybe the consistent sound of locker doors tipped it off.

None of the enemies in the game can hear you going in and out of lockers. There was an interview with a developer that confirmed this, but I can't find the link to it right now.

[Velarune]

Originally posted by Shakes:

You did say that you hid whenever it was nearby in the outside hallway, so maybe the consistent sound of locker doors tipped it off.

None of the enemies in the game can hear you going in and out of lockers. There was an interview with a developer that confirmed this, but I can't find the link to it right now. [/quote]
There's this article talking about lockers with the one line saying "But the sound itself isn’t as loud to the alien as it might seem".
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/12/18/alien-isolation-lockers/

Anyway...I'm playing on normal difficulty, if that's what it's called. The one they recommend as the normal way to play. It was hissing and stuff in an earlier section but nothing around the time I was in those rooms. It had wandered off down the hall away from me then suddenly I heard it moving in the vents right next to me outside of the room. It dropped down from the vent and that's when I jumped into the locker. The whole thing seemed weird to me but maybe it just decided to investigate the locker for whatever reason. If I had known about the holding your breath stuff then I probably could have survived but having it quickly flash on the screen just before the door gets ripped off was kinda unfair.

It also seems that the alien teleports. In the section before that, I was watching it on the motion tracker and it would jump from one side to the other. Not sure what was happening with that. But I guess it has a few quirks for gameplay purposes. Makes no sense why it would be stalking you if it technically hasn't seen or heard you. I find that kind of annoying in a way but I suppose we can't apply real world logic to our games hehe

[Bob]

I would say that the game AI definitely knows were you are most of the time , as it constantly hangs around you during the medical centre level , I 'm roughly at the same area as yourself and just discovered there seems to me to be more than one Alien Well at least it seems that way to me, So far quite enjoying the game but it definitely would have been a much better game (for me) if there was a combat system, the lack of it has made the game more or less one dimensional. Survival Horror has never been my favourite genre, having said that it does a good job of making you feel inferior at all times.

I bought this game when it came out with the season pass.. I'm just getting around to playing it now , tried it in VR and it is pretty incredible , way too intense for me at least, playing it on a flat panel at arms length seems safer some how lol , will I complete it ? I dunno , If I had a flame thrower or an assault weapon yes, most definitely.

But yeah it seems it does learn..oh shoot Inteligent AI lol

[BROOD-SkorpioN]

Originally posted by Bob:

So far quite enjoying the game but it definitely would have been a much better game (for me) if there was a combat system, the lack of it has made the game more or less one dimensional.

There is a combat system; It's just not encouraged.

[GRU-Vy]

Yeah medical area was pretty annoying. All the passeges are narror or cluttered with beds ect so navigated is hard when the alien moves quick and if you sprint you pretty much sign your own death sentance. I got stuck in a room with the one entrance/exit, the alien kept pacing up and down the corridoor. Popped a flare and threw it. Worked a treat.

Ive had a good 3 month break and ive gone in saying '♥♥♥♥ this alien bit' walked everywhere with confidence and crouched when needed. Im doing good, only died due to synthetics.

Hiding around for too long isnt good, if you keep moving the alien will use vents more but wont necassarily be near you or exit at a vent near you.

[Fatmagic]

The hardest thing about Chapter 5 is that you do not yet possess the means to defend yourself against the Alien. If it spots you, you're dead. It's that simple. You have nothing to drive it off with.

You CAN do it with a Pipe Bomb, but it's an expensive tactic and likely to hurt you in the process. You get the Molotov blueprint on Chapter 6, and that's just as expensive, if a bit more reliable.

Until you get the Flamethrower, the Alien is a huge problem.

[BROOD-SkorpioN]

Nah, you don't need any means to defend yourself. On any mission, really. The flamethrower is just a crutch. People complain about mission 5 because they do not yet know how to properly handle the alien, and as a result the mission seems like it's so hard. It's actually the easiest alien mission in the game. Shodan v2.0 seems to have the right idea already.

[GRU-Vy]

Im actually on chapter 10. Does the alien become less afraid of the flamethrower if you use it too much? Ive only used it once as it popped out of a vent infront of me, since then i been moving and hiding.

[OppaErich]

Ah, I'm stuck there right now. I made it from the 'PC' with the door code up to the room with the safe point. I left it to the other side, there is another room. I'm hiding there, my pants get smelly. Ally is so fast, it's at the far side and it seems like only 3 steps away. If I only knew where to go...

[The Brown Hornet]

Originally posted by Shodan v2.0:

Im actually on chapter 10. Does the alien become less afraid of the flamethrower if you use it too much? Ive only used it once as it popped out of a vent infront of me, since then i been moving and hiding.

There are times you'll use that flamethrower and the Alien will take a step back, stare right at you, then run through the flame and ♥♥♥♥ you up!

[William Dyer]

Originally posted by Fenixx:

It also seems that the alien teleports. In the section before that, I was watching it on the motion tracker and it would jump from one side to the other. Not sure what was happening with that. But I guess it has a few quirks for gameplay purposes. Makes no sense why it would be stalking you if it technically hasn't seen or heard you. I find that kind of annoying in a way but I suppose we can't apply real world logic to our games hehe

Well I don't know how far you are into the game but there's a perfectly logical reason for why the Alien appears to have the ability to teleport.