Public (OOC) > Setting and Lore Discussion
Mob aggression and targeting
ILLY6666:
For quite some time now, I have been noticing that the script that handles how mobs prioritize targets can become quite faulty. Namely, if a ranged attack towards it is made (and distance doesn't matter) a mob may disengage from several melee characters around it to chase this single target. The mob may even sustain up to 100+ damage and still be locked onto that single ranged character. Only if you manage to body-block the mob, or if the mob has a chance to engage the ranged character properly in melee do they stop. Though the latter doesn't always work.
I have seen this be a common issue for custom script that handle priority of targets and aggression for mobs. Not just on Ravenloft, but pretty much any server that uses them. ANd I have to point out that the way the current one works could stand to be tweaked a little more. Because what happens is someone from the backline will make that ranged attack against mobs and cue Benny Hill music because that mob isn't going to stop running after them and stop or anything until it is made impossible for them to follow.
I feel that this hurts Archers the most, because especially within high-end dungeons if you have a mob disengage to run straight into everybody else or around you are liable to get everyone killed and it's hardly fair nor logical that the mob would be so tenacious in the chase that they ignore even greater threats just to do that.
TL;DR: Mobs are easily drawn to ranged characters and run through anything to attack them. What I'm pointing out the flaw is how Tenacious they are in doing so. That's where I think the system is faulty. Not in that they DO chase, but in that they don't STOP for anything.
Edward:
They attack the archers shooting them because they have lower AC than Melee characters. I don’t know if that’s hard coded or not but I thought it was an all around NWN thing.
BraveSirRobin:
--- Quote from: Edward on January 22, 2019, 04:59:27 AM ---They attack the archers shooting them because they have lower AC than Melee characters. I don’t know if that’s hard coded or not but I thought it was an all around NWN thing.
--- End quote ---
Can confirm, mobs smell the lowest AC in the party when they attack. This has plagued archers in NWN across many, many servers.
ILLY6666:
That's not my point that I am suggesting to be changed however. It's not that mobs change targets, it's how tenaciously they pursue the new one despite greater threats cropping up around it.
Let's give an example:
#1 3 Meleers are attacking 5 trolls.
#2 A ranged character (archer, caster, whatever) shoots one that is past his allies, ergo they are bodyblocking.
#3 Troll runs through the vanguard getting multiple attacks of opportunities for the ranged character.
#4 2 meleers disengage to chase the troll, landing multiple blows and getting more attacks of opportunity.
#5 Troll continues to chase the ranged character that is no longer engaging them at all.
#6 Troll only stops when its pathfinding is made impossible or is knocked down (even then they may get up and continued hasing).
I'm pointing out the flaw in #5 and 6, not #3.
This behavior is consistent and the only other way to stop the mob from chasing is if the ranged character engages the troll in melee, THEN disengages. Which makes me believe it has something to do with how the targeting script works. That it hard-locks onto the target they switched to until the requirement of attacking them is made, or it is made entirely impossible for them to pursue their new target.
Sinful Mystic:
I always loved that an evil villain or great beast would kill farmers first and ignore knights charging them.
Mage killer AI is no fun.
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