Im playing a constructor on hardest diff

[Umbra's Noibat]

It went from rekt nation in my favor to just dying over and over and it was just the next area is the spike really that common and large?

[datguy13]

The Gun Platform is leashed to the Constructor. It will attack if he is attacked, or if monsters get in range of the weapons while it is guarding the Constructor. It will not aggressively seek enemies or move ahead of the Constructor except to defend the Constructor when he is actively taking damage.

As for the Ornithopter Patrol, it's easy for them to cause a traffic jam, so usually moving around a bit to a open area will allow them to move ahead and attack if they have been stuck behind the Constructor and are unable to attack.

[Umbra's Noibat]

I just self move the pods by recasting, and the platform is just bad AI

[Ego Mage]

ah well, I was affraid that they might have changed the AI (for the Worse) in VH:FC. thanks for the reply however as it's greatly appriciated and I can stop trying to fix a glitch that's not there.

[Umbra's Noibat]

well i shouldnt say bad its just should move like all the other bots

[Ego Mage]

I agree, it would be nice if the platforms AI was at least on par with the other pets. Even Kats survive mode moves her to attack enemies in a certain range of the player.

and no... the platform does not move to attack even if the player is taking damage. though most enemies ranges are short enough that its machine gun attacks if they get close enough to damage the player.

[datguy13]

Originally posted by Ego Mage:

I agree, it would be nice if the platforms AI was at least on par with the other pets. Even Kats survive mode moves her to attack enemies in a certain range of the player.

and no... the platform does not move to attack even if the player is taking damage. though most enemies ranges are short enough that its machine gun attacks if they get close enough to damage the player.

If the machine gun is attacking, any other weapon system that has been added through upgrading the Gun Platform Upgrade Aura will also attack. It's hard-coded to attack with all weapons which are not on cooldown if a target is acquired. The Gun Platform in Final Cut does not have Missile Launchers or Heat Ray as level-based upgrades, you have to acquire them separately as Masteries to an Aura.

[Ego Mage]

Ah, sorry for any misunderstanding on that. My fault for not thinking it important enough to distinguish. my platform aura is level 10 with both masteries. I didn't included the missle launchers as they are not limited to line of sight, only enemies engaged in combat in their radius of admittedly long range. cannons (added with the aura itself) only fire if the targets are in an rather exact line of sight distance range from the platform. too close or too far and canons and missles stop firing. just the machine gun and heat ray if close enough have no min range to engage. also if they are close enough to engage the heat ray neither my cannons nor missles will fire any longer. i'm assuming the target is too close to activate their script.

my confusion (and reason I thought my game was glitched) was that in final cut the platform doesn't move around a tree or corner blocking it's line of sight for a target 6 ft away in melee range of player. However in VH:3 it DID move to account for a blocked line of sight in the same situation so it could engage target. final cut it just sits there uslessly unless player moves far enough away to pull it's *leash* or it gets *pushed* into range from behind by the player.

Edit: ah sorry if I had repeated myself. I had just intended to clear up my lack of info mistake and it seems I partially repeated my earlier post. also contrary to how it might sound I really DO like the game.

[datguy13]

No worries. I'm just trying to make sure we're on the same page before seeing if there's questions I need to ask to check for a bug. I've been specifically focus-testing Constructors out for NeocoreGames since Final Cut's v0.0.1 Beta build, so if there's an issue, I would feel somewhat responsible for not catching it prior to this.

As it stands, I'm going to take a look. There might be a pathing or AI issue, and if so I'll try to pin it don and report it to the Devs. I don't *think* there's a problem, but it's been a few weeks since I broke out one of my Constructors for extended play, so I'll take a look anyway.

[amon]

@Datguy13 are you betatester!?wow nice info xD

[datguy13]

Okay, so I dragged out two different Constructors and took a look at how the Gun Platform operated. Basically, it looks like they are working as intended on v1.0.8Beta. That is to say that:

- the Heat Ray will attack a target within direct line of sight at 6m or less, and will track that target if it moves away up to 14m.

- the machine Gun will attack any target in direct line of sight within 8m

- the Cannon will fire indirectly at the closest target within 12m (as long as the Constructor, Katarina or a minion can see it)

- the missiles will fire at absolutely anything that is detected within 12m, on a cooldown of 20 seconds. (timed with a stopwatch for accuracy)

and

- the melee combat blades will extend and attack every target that is within 1m of the Gun Platform itself.

Traffic jams can be cleared and the Gun Platform will move to protect the Constructor if the "minimize" button (clicking the Gun Platform's icon on the HUD) is used to shrink the Gun Platform so that it can move between other bots or jammed up enemies, and then expanded to normal size to attack.

Testing data collected on the following (both Constructors with fully upgraded Gun Platform Aura):

lvl 100 Constructor
IO2 Difficulty Mode
"Tank Mode" Katarina set to Defend behavior

Shattered District
Vilewood
Croakwood
Furnace Alley
Darkwood Cemetary

Lvl 78 Constructor
Fearless Difficulty
"DPS Mode" Katarina set to Assist behavior

Adventure Maps tested:
Shattered District
Void Archipelego
Furnace Alley

Story Mode maps tested:
Gallowsbog
Dreadworks
Return to Viaduct Juction
Empyrean Perimeter Tower Defense Map ( I happened to be at that point with the character)


I chose to test on specific maps that could cause a variety of "jam" conditions or line of sight issues, as well as a couple of maps which would provide open areas to observe cooldown behaviors. I hate to say that I can't find anything wrong with how the Gun Platform is operating. Sorry. =/

Originally posted by amon:

@Datguy13 are you betatester!?wow nice info xD

ah-yup. I'm part of the Official Community Tester group and have been volunteer testing the NeocoreGames products since a year or so before Van Helsing 2 was released. I've even got my name in the credits of VH2 and Deathtrap. :)

[Umbra's Noibat]

this is kinda of irrelevant to the game but does anyone have other ARPG they recommend playing for story not really based on like end game content

[Ego Mage]

well, thanks for the effort. I guess I'm just terribly unlucky about line of sight positioning then. though from yer observations it still sounds like I might have a bad file somewhere that my steam verify isn't catching. I'm thinking I might have to delete and reinstall the game fresh.... but that's alot of data to waste for seomething that might not even work :( so i'm finding it hard to pull the trigger on that rather extreme option.

[datguy13]

Judging from the description you gave, it would seem that the platform is just getting stuck on terrain or other minions when it is attempting to engage its melee blades. Unfortunately, this is a pathing issue that can't be helped and affects many different giant-sized models in the game on rare occassions. (It's a great way to keep Minotaurs or Giantesses from rushing into melee with you) You should be able to shrink/expand the Platform using the icon on the HUD, so when the Platform stalls out, try doing that and move around a little bit to see if it moves forward to engage. It won't actually attack while shrunk, but as soon as it exands back to normal size after clicking the icon again, it almost always resumes combat.

Also keep in mind that the Platform is designed to follow the Constructor, so it's uncommon for it to move ahead of him to begin with. Even under optimal conditions like wide open terrain patches, I don't see mine move ahead of the Constructor more than once every few fights unless I buttonhook around behind it and use it as a shield.

You could always post a report to the Mantis Bug Tracker looking for feedback on this issue as well. The programmers and CMs use the Bug Tracker regularly, and might have some insight on this that I don't. You can access the Tracker from In-game using the "Report a Bug" button from the escape Menu. Just describe your concerns carefully and clearly. Call the report "Gun Platform Pathing Issues" or something like that. Make sure you try using the Gun Platform's Shrink/Expand function for a while first before writing up the report though.

[datguy13]

Originally posted by snoeynoey:

this is kinda of irrelevant to the game but does anyone have other ARPG they recommend playing for story not really based on like end game content

I hear Victor Vran has a fun little story(haven't played it much yet...), and although it needs alot of polish, Grim Dawn's story isn't bad either. The presentation isn't as good or clean as Van Helsing, but the actual subject matter is pretty cool. Torchlight 2 is okay, but very formulaic and kind of basic in story-telling, so I don't really recommend it for the story unless the game is on deep discount.

[Umbra's Noibat]

ive actaully already beat torchlight so, i was thinking something like sacred two or even force and diablo