1/28/2011: Version 2 is out! AI should be *significantly* more responsive!

Full Enemy AI Revamp (incl creatures) - more cover, smarter NPC tactics and teamwork, more creature differences; optional and scalable NPC Healing/stimpak tactics

This is the beginning, alpha stage of a long project, and I need a lot of feedback! Here's the rundown so far, from xfo-nv.com:

"AI Revamp"
Well, I redid the combat AIs for almost every type of NPC and creature. It's a LOT of changes to get into, and a lot of tactics/logic. I tried to make changes that make sense to each faction and creature/NPC type - some fairly extreme (like the now-relentless and psycho deathclaws, the zealous raiders, the creepy ghouls, and the overconfident supermutants) - but most, especially NPCs like NCR, will be more cautious, tactical, and work more cohesively as a group. This may be quite difficult with any of the 9d options! If I get forum requests for the "spoilers," I will add the specific changes here, but here are some general examples:

Far more actors will attempt to flee to cover if damaged or a crucial weapon is lost and attempt to either wait out the fight or find the right time to counterattack (previously disabled). Groups will attack in ranged "waves," retreating to heal, strafing, and suppression-firing for others' cover. Typical ranged NPCs will spend more time in cover, firing shorter bursts. Dual enemies are more randomized and will switch tactics more often. Melee enemies will attempt to kite and to flank more often, and will try to keep the pressure on when backed up by ranged allies. Snipers will do their best to stay behind cover, taking distant and cautious shots, but are less likely to flee or move from explosives. Creatures are now quite varied depending on the creature, many of which are smarter or dumber, faster or slower, dodgier or more direct, depending on how I envisioned them. Oh, and some NPCs (including followers?) should now be able to use stealthboys!

I have no idea how well this module is working, as I have very little playtesting time, and relied on numeric logic to determine the new AI stats. Please give feedback on your experiences! (There may be bugs!)


"NPC Healing":

This is my first attempt at what will be a large arry of enemy tactical revamps. I heal a lot; I depend on it. But I've been disappointed at NPC healing. With the AI revamp, NPCs retreat to cover or a nearby cell (eg, indoors) much more often, and love to strafe obnoxiously. I figured they should be a lot more prone to heal, as well. This will allow them to basically spawn stimpaks randomly, under very select and further randomized situations, which they will immediately use (so you won't find them on their corpses, ruining loot rarity). The low version and medium versions should be pretty safe; the high version may be ridiculous. Be prepared to see a lot of people pulling out stimpaks and sticking them into their stomachs! This will also cause NPCs to be much more likely to flee/hide/cover until the stimpak has finished healing them.

I tested a "debug" version of this script, which had them healing like crazy (almost invincible), but I haven't been able to check all of my nested conditions and randomizations: they may heal too often or not often enough. I've forced the stimpak animation, so you'll know when it's my script (by vanilla usage, they won't show the animation while in active combat) -- so this is quite "alpha," and I could again use feedback. If I get this working, I have a lot of other ideas which could be similarly implemented!