As many custom mappers are starting to realise, the foundations of some very new and very amazing AI is definately there.... But it just wasn't fully realised in the game. Striders are by far and away the most glaring example of this. Every time we meet them in the game, they are placed on rails like a train and keep going around in circles until they are 50% damaged, at which point some of them switch tracks onto a looping track.
One mapper in our very own mapping forums has posted about putting striders on his own maps, and has been amazed with the results. By not putting them on rails, and allowing them to properly explore the level on their own, he has found that the striders are actually very very tricky buggers that flank you and hunt you down mercilessly (maybe they were put on tracks simply because they were TOO difficult to beat when put on free roaming).
Same goes for antlions and combine elite soldiers, on a much smaller scale. If you are playing on hard on a custom map with nodes properly set up, you will quickly notice that antlions will take cover from their enemies by jumping up on the roofs of buildings and try things like jumping behind their enemies while other antlions attack head on, meaning you are quickly surrounded and torn apart by the pack (provided they don't all die due to their low health first). Combine Soldiers work amazingly well in squads when on hard mode. The cover each other and move from cover to cover, and are constantly giving each other hand signals and code phrases to let everyone know exactly where you are and how to best take you down. They sometimes send half their force around another way to attack you from behind, and sometimes they'll all wait outside a room while one guy lobs a grenade in, before they all burst in at the same time. If they lose track of you they start splitting up and sweeping the area until they run into you again, and even before they catch sight of you they'll send out a scout to investigate any explosions or gunfire, who'll then call in the rest of the squad if need be.
Fortunately, fast zombies did get they attention they deserved, and Ravenholm perfectly showcased their AI everytime you shut a door on them and found they simply came through a window or a hole in the roof instead.
Granted, HL2 would have been completely impossible to beat even on easy had the Source AI been given the full freedom it thrives on, which really makes you think about marshmallow's point...
One mapper in our very own mapping forums has posted about putting striders on his own maps, and has been amazed with the results. By not putting them on rails, and allowing them to properly explore the level on their own, he has found that the striders are actually very very tricky buggers that flank you and hunt you down mercilessly (maybe they were put on tracks simply because they were TOO difficult to beat when put on free roaming).
Same goes for antlions and combine elite soldiers, on a much smaller scale. If you are playing on hard on a custom map with nodes properly set up, you will quickly notice that antlions will take cover from their enemies by jumping up on the roofs of buildings and try things like jumping behind their enemies while other antlions attack head on, meaning you are quickly surrounded and torn apart by the pack (provided they don't all die due to their low health first). Combine Soldiers work amazingly well in squads when on hard mode. The cover each other and move from cover to cover, and are constantly giving each other hand signals and code phrases to let everyone know exactly where you are and how to best take you down. They sometimes send half their force around another way to attack you from behind, and sometimes they'll all wait outside a room while one guy lobs a grenade in, before they all burst in at the same time. If they lose track of you they start splitting up and sweeping the area until they run into you again, and even before they catch sight of you they'll send out a scout to investigate any explosions or gunfire, who'll then call in the rest of the squad if need be.
Fortunately, fast zombies did get they attention they deserved, and Ravenholm perfectly showcased their AI everytime you shut a door on them and found they simply came through a window or a hole in the roof instead.
Granted, HL2 would have been completely impossible to beat even on easy had the Source AI been given the full freedom it thrives on, which really makes you think about marshmallow's point...
