Enemy behavour observations and spawning

[Valen Logan]

I have been testing enemy spawning and behavour and have come to some conclusions that might be enlightning for some of you.

First thing first, the spawning. Everyone has complained about the enemies disappearing after they kill so many of them and I think I have come to an answer. There seems to be a fixed number of enemies that spawn on the map and it seems to cap off somewhere between 14-20. I tested this by going around with the glitched flare gun and counting how many savages I kill before they stop appearing. Its the same amount for day time and night time. It just seems like there are more of them at night because they tend to locate and cluster around the player. As they move in and out of the darkness it gives the impression there is more of them out there but you are really just seeing the same 10 or 12 moving around. After you kill about 13 of them the survivors will flee from the player and seemingly never come back to your base effectively turning the game into creative mode.

Onto enemy behavour, in particular the totem things they leave around your base after a night of harassing the player. The totems are not special but did anyone else notice that they leave other stuff laying on the ground around the totems? I found coins and flares on the ground within close proximity to the totems and I know that stuff was not there before.

Day time patrol behavour: each patrol is different but they all seem to have a fixed amount of "intimidation" they can absorbe from the player before running away. Doing things like killing a patrol member, blocking an attack, disrupting an attack, not running from a false charge and burning effigies add to this "intimidation count". However, running from them, entering their "personal space", successfully stun locking a patrol member or allowing them to encircle you seems to increase their aggression.

Night time patrols: Night patrols do not seem to flee from intimidation tactics with the exception of the effigies which seem to work at a reduced rate but will still not make them flee. Night patrols are much more aggressive and tend to be able to detect the player more easily than day patrols. In my testing night patrols will not leave the player alone unless they receive catastrophic losses, the player escapes or morning arrives. Night patrols also seem to be the only ones who leave the totems.

That's it for now, hope this helps.

[SisyphusUnending]

Very useful info. You should add it to the wiki page

[GE0]

There also seems to be a system in place for the amount of time that passes. I've noticed the number of patrols (usually 4 - 6 seems to be the max, which ties in with your theory) usually spawn further away from the player towards the beginning of the game. As time progreses, they move closer and, in my experience, become more hostile. This kind of makes sense to me as they are most likely checking to see just how serious of a threat the player is and as you build your base they would become curious. The only thing bothering me now really is how patrols spawn in randomly when you aren't looking (i.e. look behind myself, no one there, get resources in just 20 seconds and turn around, 2 patrols).

[Duff]

I notices this about the effigies they put around your base:

Sometimes they will be placed in groups of 3 and are usually 3 completely different effigies.

On occasions a pack will walk up to my house (as long as I'm inside) and only one will walk up very close, place a totem and kneel and "pray". The others in the pack will stand around and watch. I didn't attack and they all left after a decent amount of time.

I notice that if you kill some cannibals the remaining ones will bluff charge you without actually attacking. Not sure if this is a bug or intended.

I am really liking this AI so far and am really curious as to where they take it going forward.

[Valen Logan]

I have noticed the bluff charging, I think it is intentional because if you run from them they will chase and attack you so the bluff charging must be an intentional tactic.

[SisyphusUnending]

Originally posted by Nad Darvis:

I have noticed the bluff charging, I think it is intentional because if you run from them they will chase and attack you so the bluff charging must be an intentional tactic.

It is, if you don't back down it adds to the "intimidation" meter, basically their morale till they flee