NPCs need an upgrade PLS DEVS

[Jack]

good evening lads.
i did put now quite some hours in this game and i love it. probably the best open world survival basebuilding and so on game on the market. very well done BUT... the AI takes away alot of the fun and makes it quite tidous. it can take many hours to finaly find some good NPCs for your tribe especially fighters because of all the negative traits (good solution from you guys btw that they can get removed with level ups) and the skillcaps. i cant even count how often i dismissed now potential good fighters because the skillcap was max 100 but that is just a mini problem in comparison to the intelligence of the npcs.

here some examples of alot of time lost due to the dumb behavior:

i lost my in my eyes very good archer to the frog because he just stood in the poison the frog shoots out of his back.

i lost 3 very good fighters now because they just stand still on traps and die within seconds. i cant even react and try to save them that fast.

i lost 3 fighters to the sabertooth boss because they just refuse to dodge.

if i play for 5h a day 4 of them are searching and leveling tribesman, 20 sec of the 5h is losing them due to the incompetent behavior of them. they really need a buff to recognize danger and behave the right way. maybe bind that to the weapon skill (since level doesnt make much sence. someone that gets lv 50 from melting down ore into ingots still dont know how to fight) make them dumb af with low weapon skill but actually dodge and evade damage at high weapon skill for example. make them dodgeroll of traps once they got hit and maybe ad 2 new traits for traps.

a good one that gives the npc higher chances to see the trap and evade it and a negative one that makes him dont see them and stand longer on them for example but dont just let them stand on them like its the greatest thing to do so they die instantly and with that all the time invested into them. thats just not fun. lets take a look at the sabertooth. he will move around you, dodge your attack and then try to counterattack. thats a behaviour i would like to see on the npcs (slightly changed ofcourse) aswell.

just as 1 example of actually quite well done AI behavior. what also is a problem is that (and i repeat myself here now because i wrote that in a discussion before) they sometimes even in a fight just wander off or need like good 5 sec to finaly join the fight or just refuse to use the weapons and instead use their fists. thats stuff i would love to see changed.

ah btw im not sure if this is a common problem or just one i have but every dual blade fighter with the flurry kill i had often just walks on the spot while using it. its a great meatgrinder move that can kill even bosses quite fast IF it works but sadly it often doesnt. but those are basicly the only problems i have right now as a singleplay enjoyer.

much love from germany, great work and i hope you guys find some time to adress these problems. im sure im not the only one with them

[Aurelia]

First and foremost, I highly recommend learning how to utilize the enter key for paragraphing.. You have a lot of very valueable things to say, and having it all in one block can make it very difficult for people to read and follow (or dissway them from reading it at all). IE, I lost my place multiple times, as the points and ideas you were making were very good ones, and stopping and thinking about them was more of a problem it could be.

That being said, secondly, you probably already know this, but make sure you're backing up your tribesman on the remodel table before taking them out to tackle challenges.

Lastly, as mentioned before, I rather like the ideas you're suggested. The idea of having an AI improve it's fighting capabilities as it's skill improves in particular I feel like would be an interesting touch. More blocking/dodging or increasing the timing of such. Right now it feels like Ai have a sort of internal timer, or "number of incoming attacks" before it triggers a dodge/block, or something. It would be interesting to have that coupled with the skill of the weapon being used instead.

The idea of the traps evasions is another thing, I'd probably tie that to level of the tribesman, since that's got little to do with skill level of a specific weapon. It would make sense that as they increase in worldly experience, they become a bit more wiser and/or reflexive, increasing the response time, or increasing the chance to evade it altogether.

Soulmask has a great thing going for it when it comes to it's settlement system, so I really hope they spend some time really focusing on these components rather than just letting them stagnate with disappointments.

[Jack]

Originally posted by Aurelia:

First and foremost, I highly recommend learning how to utilize the enter key for paragraphing.. You have a lot of very valueable things to say, and having it all in one block can make it very difficult for people to read and follow (or dissway them from reading it at all). IE, I lost my place multiple times, as the points and ideas you were making were very good ones, and stopping and thinking about them was more of a problem it could be.

That being said, secondly, you probably already know this, but make sure you're backing up your tribesman on the remodel table before taking them out to tackle challenges.

Lastly, as mentioned before, I rather like the ideas you're suggested. The idea of having an AI improve it's fighting capabilities as it's skill improves in particular I feel like would be an interesting touch. More blocking/dodging or increasing the timing of such. Right now it feels like Ai have a sort of internal timer, or "number of incoming attacks" before it triggers a dodge/block, or something. It would be interesting to have that coupled with the skill of the weapon being used instead.

The idea of the traps evasions is another thing, I'd probably tie that to level of the tribesman, since that's got little to do with skill level of a specific weapon. It would make sense that as they increase in worldly experience, they become a bit more wiser and/or reflexive, increasing the response time, or increasing the chance to evade it altogether.

Soulmask has a great thing going for it when it comes to it's settlement system, so I really hope they spend some time really focusing on these components rather than just letting them stagnate with disappointments.

ye i agree. i should split up my texts more so is easier to read. i completly forgot that the remodeling table exist ^^' thanks for reminding me. that surely will save me alot of time.

im wondering. do you also have the problem with the flurry skill?

[Aurelia]

Originally posted by Jack:

ye i agree. i should split up my texts more so is easier to read. i completly forgot that the remodeling table exist ^^' thanks for reminding me. that surely will save me alot of time.

im wondering. do you also have the problem with the flurry skill?

In the past, the remodelling table could only hold a maximum of 3 tribesman (plus your own default character, for a total of 4). They increased this to 10 with a recent update, but I havn't played again since just before that update.

One thing to remember with that table is that the data recorded into it is as it was recorded in that moment. It does not update the information automatically, so if your tribesman is recorded at level 24, and you gain 10 levels with it before it dies, when you revive it, it will be level 24 again. So make sure you update it frequently to avoid progress loss of the tribesman.

I am uncertain if i've seen the weird behavior with flurry. I Primarily use bow and spear, while I tend to have tribesman followers who use greatsword.

[~T~D~]

Ya not reading that jesus...

[Raubritter]

Jesus Christ OP, please take a few seconds to make paragraphs, no one is going to read this...

[ᛈᚢᛒᚲᚱᚨᛚᚱ13]

Guys, he already acknowledged it in his very next post.

Also, while I get it, I feel like responding to the idea of having to read a kinda long paragraph in the same way that you'd respond to someone asking you to go mug an old lady is just a TOUCH over the top, no?

[Wanderlust]

People love to jump all over messages that are "too long to read", "shouting in all caps", or "missing all punctuation". It's like a herd mentality that some people jump on as an opportunity to join the chorus, whether it actually bothers them or not. Shrug.

That said, when I see a paragraph like that, I really do skip the whole thing and ignore the content because a) it can be challenging to keep finding your place as you process bits and pieces of the the thoughts; and b) I tend to associate grossly inadequate writing with grossly inadequate thinking, realizing that that's not always the case. But that's the risk you take on when you ignore language norms.

[Jack]

Originally posted by Jack:

good evening lads.
i did put now quite some hours in this game and i love it. probably the best open world survival basebuilding and so on game on the market. very well done BUT... the AI takes away alot of the fun and makes it quite tidous. it can take many hours to finaly find some good NPCs for your tribe especially fighters because of all the negative traits (good solution from you guys btw that they can get removed with level ups) and the skillcaps. i cant even count how often i dismissed now potential good fighters because the skillcap was max 100 but that is just a mini problem in comparison to the intelligence of the npcs.

here some examples of alot of time lost due to the dumb behavior:

i lost my in my eyes very good archer to the frog because he just stood in the poison the frog shoots out of his back.

i lost 3 very good fighters now because they just stand still on traps and die within seconds. i cant even react and try to save them that fast.

i lost 3 fighters to the sabertooth boss because they just refuse to dodge.

if i play for 5h a day 4 of them are searching and leveling tribesman, 20 sec of the 5h is losing them due to the incompetent behavior of them. they really need a buff to recognize danger and behave the right way. maybe bind that to the weapon skill (since level doesnt make much sence. someone that gets lv 50 from melting down ore into ingots still dont know how to fight) make them dumb af with low weapon skill but actually dodge and evade damage at high weapon skill for example. make them dodgeroll of traps once they got hit and maybe ad 2 new traits for traps.

a good one that gives the npc higher chances to see the trap and evade it and a negative one that makes him dont see them and stand longer on them for example but dont just let them stand on them like its the greatest thing to do so they die instantly and with that all the time invested into them. thats just not fun. lets take a look at the sabertooth. he will move around you, dodge your attack and then try to counterattack. thats a behaviour i would like to see on the npcs (slightly changed ofcourse) aswell.

just as 1 example of actually quite well done AI behavior. what also is a problem is that (and i repeat myself here now because i wrote that in a discussion before) they sometimes even in a fight just wander off or need like good 5 sec to finaly join the fight or just refuse to use the weapons and instead use their fists. thats stuff i would love to see changed.

ah btw im not sure if this is a common problem or just one i have but every dual blade fighter with the flurry kill i had often just walks on the spot while using it. its a great meatgrinder move that can kill even bosses quite fast IF it works but sadly it often doesnt. but those are basicly the only problems i have right now as a singleplay enjoyer.

much love from germany, great work and i hope you guys find some time to adress these problems. im sure im not the only one with them

so i changed it now. lord have mercy i hope you lads are more happy with it now.

[Jack]

Originally posted by Aurelia:

Originally posted by Jack:

ye i agree. i should split up my texts more so is easier to read. i completly forgot that the remodeling table exist ^^' thanks for reminding me. that surely will save me alot of time.

im wondering. do you also have the problem with the flurry skill?

In the past, the remodelling table could only hold a maximum of 3 tribesman (plus your own default character, for a total of 4). They increased this to 10 with a recent update, but I havn't played again since just before that update.

One thing to remember with that table is that the data recorded into it is as it was recorded in that moment. It does not update the information automatically, so if your tribesman is recorded at level 24, and you gain 10 levels with it before it dies, when you revive it, it will be level 24 again. So make sure you update it frequently to avoid progress loss of the tribesman.

I am uncertain if i've seen the weird behavior with flurry. I Primarily use bow and spear, while I tend to have tribesman followers who use greatsword.

i switched now over to greatsword aswell and i like it way more then dual blades. what skill do you prefer for greatsword?

i right now use the slide skill but the one with lifesteal also sounds interesting aswell as the lv 120 skill with the powerfull stab but the slide looked like its the most effective especially vs boss creatures because he can deal damage and dodge at the same time