How do bots work?

[czech]

I'm a bit confused when it comes to understanding how bots work in this game..

so bots are only present in the campain? Are they useful and fun to play with? I really like the idea of "commanding" my own teammates.

[Terrortoma]

Q: How do bots work?

A: They don't.

[Bourrinopathe]

^ accurate.

And good thing you like commanding 'cause you gonna command all the time and shoot occasionally ^__^'

But more seriously, the bots AI is not the brightest. They're available for both the campaign and special missions.
For the special missions you'd better get an apothecary and set your two buddies to hammer+shield (they're good at parrying and can smash decently).
They're not great with range weapons, especially with the assault cannon (spin up time).
They also tend to lock the door from the wrong side if you're not careful.

It's manageable but not pleasant.

During the campaign, it's best if you keep an apothecary in the first levels (that guy tends to die quickly and won't heal himself if you don't order it - makes sense, but he will die). I managed to beat the campaign of the original game with the Librarian, and two teammates with hammer and shield, on hard difficulty, using only psygates for healing.

[czech]

Originally posted by Bourrinopathe:

^ accurate.

And good thing you like commanding 'cause you gonna command all the time and shoot occasionally ^__^'

But more seriously, the bots AI is not the brightest. They're available for both the campaign and special missions.
For the special missions you'd better get an apothecary and set your two buddies to hammer+shield (they're good at parrying and can smash decently).
They're not great with range weapons, especially with the assault cannon (spin up time).
They also tend to lock the door from the wrong side if you're not careful.

It's manageable but not pleasant.

During the campaign, it's best if you keep an apothecary in the first levels (that guy tends to die quickly and won't heal himself if you don't order it - makes sense, but he will die). I managed to beat the campaign of the original game with the Librarian, and two teammates with hammer and shield, on hard difficulty, using only psygates for healing.

Wow, theyre that bad? What are special missions?

[Jukelo]

Originally posted by varsityplayer:

Wow, theyre that bad? What are special missions?

The bots aren't bad, they're functional. I don't know what these people are on about. The bots don't need to do anything fancy, just shoot the enemies and obey basic orders like follow me, go there, stay here. And they do just that, which is just what you need. There is no need to constantly micromanage them either since the game is not all that complicated and is for the most part just a question of standing your ground and shooting the nids.

[Kilo]

...they dont

[Angela]

Originally posted by Kunnin Planz:

Q: How do bots work?

A: They don't.

This lol..bots is close to useless..

[czech]

You all are confusing me lol. Some claim the bots are good enough and others are saying they're super dumb.

[Piper]

Bots a clunky, just give them thunder hammers and you're good to go

[Depleted]

The bots are useless lol, they don't shoot anything unless it's already ripped their intestines out and has begun to create fine bloody necklaces out of the their digestive track.

The apothecarie bot is useless and you have to tell him when to do his job, the heavy weapons bot is useless unless you give him a thunder hammer and storm shield and only then will he be somewhat useful, if you give the heavy weapons bot a plasma cannon he will blow himself up and he doesnt engage anything past hugging distance.

No matter what difficulty you play, the friendly ai are absoloutely retarded and they like to trail behind so locking doors becomes a pain, and even getting side by side to engage hostiles is made impossible cus of the derpy ass ai.

Once you get a hellfire pattern bolter you can complete single player on easy/normal so long as apothecarie keeps his nethicarum (sp)

[*budd*]

Seem to work OK fo me, not expecting to much out of them. They shoot and follow well enough, ordering them to close and block doors doesn't work so well. sometimes they don't pick up on enemies that are downrange to well, but i find they work well enough. Only had one time so far where one got stuck on terrain, happened more to me with the old version.

[*budd*]

The above is right though, you pretty much have to tell them when to heal, don't seem to do it on their own but i dont mind that as i like to order the heals. Locking/blocking doors is the biggest hassle, getting them out of the way and on the right side of the door is pain, especially when your in a hurry.

[czech]

Originally posted by *budd*:

The above is right though, you pretty much have to tell them when to heal, don't seem to do it on their own but i dont mind that as i like to order the heals. Locking/blocking doors is the biggest hassle, getting them out of the way and on the right side of the door is pain, especially when your in a hurry.

So my question is, are they still fun to play with? Is the game worth getting for the singleplayer?

[Sweet_face]

This is well explained

Originally posted by Bourrinopathe:

^ accurate.

And good thing you like commanding 'cause you gonna command all the time and shoot occasionally ^__^'

But more seriously, the bots AI is not the brightest. They're available for both the campaign and special missions.
For the special missions you'd better get an apothecary and set your two buddies to hammer+shield (they're good at parrying and can smash decently).
They're not great with range weapons, especially with the assault cannon (spin up time).
They also tend to lock the door from the wrong side if you're not careful.

It's manageable but not pleasant.

During the campaign, it's best if you keep an apothecary in the first levels (that guy tends to die quickly and won't heal himself if you don't order it - makes sense, but he will die). I managed to beat the campaign of the original game with the Librarian, and two teammates with hammer and shield, on hard difficulty, using only psygates for healing.

and he is right

Originally posted by Jukelo:

Originally posted by varsityplayer:

Wow, theyre that bad? What are special missions?

The bots aren't bad, they're functional. I don't know what these people are on about. The bots don't need to do anything fancy, just shoot the enemies and obey basic orders like follow me, go there, stay here. And they do just that, which is just what you need. There is no need to constantly micromanage them either since the game is not all that complicated and is for the most part just a question of standing your ground and shooting the nids.

[Gorwe]

Originally posted by varsityplayer:

I'm a bit confused when it comes to understanding how bots work in this game..

so bots are only present in the campain? Are they useful and fun to play with? I really like the idea of "commanding" my own teammates.

Depends on the definition of "fun". They are effective if you give them two melee weapons like Claws or anything with a Shield. Otherwise they rather suck. Ok, they don't and they probably didn't in original, but in EE there are these purple Stealers that have a nasty tendency to slime up your bots something extreme.

Otherwise, they're just ok below hardest difficulty. Campaign is enjoyable and Special Missions as well. Just remember to give Barachiel some complete melee combo. Nahul as well, but only if you are playing as an Apoth in Specials.

[Bourrinopathe]

What happened to me many times (hard difficulty):

• order to lock a door -> bot progressing to said door, engages stealers on opposite side of the door, locks himself outside -__-'
  
• order to lock door but I didn't drag the bots far enough from the door, close to me: the last guy locks the door from the wrong side -__-'
  
• apothecary dies quickly during intense waves - I have to check his health carefully and get the placement in the corridors carefully to avoid exposing the guys
  
• melee guy stays within a definite range from player -> get shot by range attack, doesn't budge, dies if not ordered to do something specific (go there) - just takes damage, doesn't take cover
  
• aiming to shoot some rocket hybrid or else (using the zoom view/scope): bots get in my line of sight/fire
  
• heavy with assault cannon (gatling-like gun) - by the time the gun spin-up is over and actually shooting things the bot juts lands a few shots
  
• bot hesitates between two close targets or is overwhelmed not doing a thing - gets rekt - not that frequent but happens
  
• while progressing forward, the melee guy closes the march, gets hit many times because the AI is set to keep a minimum distance to the player - so player needs to stop for the melee guy to actually use his hammer/claws

But: as previously said, hammer+shield = kickass combo. Bots are amazeballs at parrying.

None of these "issues" happen in co-op.
Several friends and other players also suffered from that fine AI. ;)