Surprising: I need AI that are MORE clueless.

[Morglor9]

Well, the title speaks for itself, but i'm not talking about all the AI or all the time. Here's the situation:

I'm making a wee bit of a patrol mission through a town on Winter Everon. You are number 4, out of 4 group members. I have a sniper in a second story window of a two story house. That's fine. The idea is that the sniper kills 1, and then the player has to take out the sniper. My problem is that sometimes 1 realizes that the sniper is there and kills him.

I need 1 to not realize that the sniper exists so that he gets killed, the idea being that the mood makes the player totally unprepared for it. Any idea how to make this work?

[General Barron]

Maybe 'setcaptive' the sniper, until he kills the squad leader? Only, the squad might still react to the sniper as though he were an enemy, just without firing at him (that is, taking cover etc).

Another option might be to lower the skill level of everyone in the squad until the sniper fires, then return the skill levels to normal (skill affects how well the AI sees/hears). The player could still ruin things by revealing the sniper though...

[nominesine]

Correct me brutaly if I'm wrong but...

The squad will not react to the sniper if he is setCaptive. A setCaptive west unit doesn't even trigger a west-present trigger

[macguba]

In these kind of situations its worth considering the setup as a kind of pseudo cutscene.     A cutscene that the player happens to see from the viewpoint of his character unit, rather than a camera.    

In other words set it up so that it is impossible for things to be screwed up.    If the player wanders out of position in the patrol he first a warning then addRating -10000.    1 walks round a corner and is shot by a max skill setCaptive sniper (who gets reveal (and maybe dotarget) commands to help him) before the player comes round the corner, so there is no chance the player can shoot the sniper first.

Distract the player with dialogue.   So perhaps papa bear or 2 is talking just before the shot occurs.  This will also add to his confusion and make the thing more fun.

Remember to make the sniper setunitpos up or he may lie down and shoot through the wall.

Remember also that on a second attempt (or second play) the player will run ahead and try to take out the sniper.   Just giving him a mission failed is no good.   Booby trap the stairs of the building in which the sniper is hiding, and have the sniper lying on the floor on never fire until the conditions for the hit are satisfied.    Make sure there are no LAWs or satchels around so that the player can't just blow up the whole building.

Another possible trick would be to use knowsabout to check if 1 knows about the sniper, and if he does, take away his ammo or something.    You can't fake his death because it wouldn't be fair to the player:  it's a premise of the mission that 1 is actually shot by the sniper.  

[nominesine]

There are two variations on the theme Macguba is suggesting in Blue Skies (download link in my signature). If you unPbo the campaign and look at the missions named heart020 (briefing name = The sniper) and heart050 (briefing name = Sentinel I) you will find them.

If you're intetested in...

1) ... an ingame scene (not a cutscene) where you as the player is hit by a sniper and pass out for a few minutes (followed by a cutscene) or...

2) ... a situation where your leader is shot by a sniper before the player has any chance to interfere with the situations at hand...

...you might find some ideas. The second example is almost exactly what you're asking for. The first one can quite easily be converted. Both scenes was made with very little or no scripting.

Mac's advice about how the player will react at the second attempt is crucial to making the scene work, in my experience (and to be honest IÂ'm not sure I succeded completely myself).

[Cold]

Have you tried the "knowsabout" command?

[penguinman]

well, to awnser only the question you have asked, just set "1" to careless mod as he aproaches the sniper, and any other squad members that may interfere.

it may also be a good idea, to get more control of the effect 1's death will have on the player, to put the snipper on never fire, until 1 reaches a small axis trigger, that you can move arround, to find the best place for a drammatic affect for 1's death.


and to add to macgubas point.
to avoid the player running ahead on the second try and killing the sniper. Delete the sniper(after finding his pos in a variable of course) and then create him in the same spot when 1 hits the trigger I mentioned earlier.

[macguba]

Delete the sniper(after finding his pos in a variable of course) and then create him in the same spot when 1 hits the trigger I mentioned earlier.

Well worth considering.   This may or may not be appropriate depending on the exact circumstances.    

[Triggerhappy]

it can also cause problems with the sniper actually shootin the guy too. ai seem to have trouble finding their bearings...

althought you could easily just give him the fire command, he'll shoot the air, and then camcreate a bullet at 1's head....

[Morglor9]

Well, all the squadies are on "SAFE" mode, being its a patrol and that looks really cool with Sanctuary's Patrol Anim. I had the sniper set to max skill, and now i've set 1 to the lowest skill level, just to try. 1 still notices the sniper, brings up his gun, turns and turns into a bloody mess on the snow. This is working right now,  except for 1's radio message about the sniper at 10 o'clock. thanks for all the suggestions, i'll keep trying them until i get the effect that i want.

for the player to not run ahead on the second try, i'll put a savegame right after 1 goes down. There's no way the player can die before that point anyway.

[Triggerhappy]

as for the radio, why not just enableradio false

[Morglor9]

i guess that could work... but the lack of communication wouldn't be good. i think i'll try to setCaptive the sniper first.

[Morglor9]

A Combination of Low Skill on 1, High Skill and setCaptive on sniper seems to work. thank you all very much.

PS: don't tell me to solve the thread... i will once i'm absolutely sure that the problem is solved.  

[macguba]

You should never solve a thread until you have tested the solution anyway.  (Although you can always unsolve it later if needs be.)    In fact I usually leave my questions unsolved for a day or two in case somebody comes up with something useful - sometimes they do.

[Triggerhappy]

i guess that could work... but the lack of communication wouldn't be good. i think i'll try to setCaptive the sniper first.

what i mean is enableradio false just before he'll see the sniper then enableradio true once he dies.
but if you've already found a working solution then so be it