suggestion of dinosaur AI improvement system for JWE2

Hello, this is a recycling of an old post that I had done for JWE1.
But I am convinced that these ideas are still good and I would like to share them with Frontier for JWE2, if that helps the developers a little bit.

This comes in three points :

  • The hunt
  • Social behavior
  • A bigger variety of animations
  • Herbivores eat trees and lysine solution

The hunt :
In JWE1 the hunting system is simply nonexistent. When a predator decides to eat a herbivor, this deriner remains wisely on the spot while waiting to be killed without even trying to flee. And it's extremely repetitive and boring! On the other hand, the killing animations are really cool and should be kept, but maybe make them more rare. But how to do it ? I have an idea: separate the hunt into 2 different cases: the surprise attack (the current system) and the chase!
In the description of herbivores unable to defend themselves, it is written that these dinosaurs "deploy in herds to better protect themselves from predators". this could be used as a new feature! let me explain :

isolated dinosaurs have more trouble seeing predators coming and be surprised and killed as is currently the case in the game (it's the surprise attack)!
Dinosaurs in a group see the predator arriving, and run away and then begins a chase between the predator and the prey (the chase)

but how could it work?

Surprise attack:
There are 2 types of gregarious dinosaurs: those who live in groups but can endure loneliness for their comfort (example: gallimimus, triceratops, edmontosaurus),
And those who absolutely need more interaction to be comfortable (example: parasaurolophus, corytosaurus, stégosaurus).

1st case: if the dinosaur is completely alone it has a 100% chance of being surprised and will be condemned in case of predator attack.
If the same dinosaur is with at least one other member of its species, it will only have a 50% chance of being surprised. If they are 3, the chances of being surprised drops to a 1 in 3 chance, if they are 4, 1/4 and so on. In short, the larger the group of prey, the less likely the predator is to make a surprise attack.

2nd case: as long as the minimum interaction threshold is not reached, dinosaurs have a 100% chance of being surprised by a carnivore. Once the threshold is reached, the system is the same as for the first case.

The Chase :
If the surprise attack fails, the prey will try to flee and the predator will run after him.
But how did you decide on the winner of this continuing race? With a STAMINA system!
Dinosaurs can not run indefinitely and eventually get tired, the first dinosaur to have its stamina falling to zero will start to run slower and slower and will end up being forced to walk slowly. If the predator gets tired first, the prey flees and the hunt is over.
If the prey runs out first, the predator catches it until the prey is within reach. once worn fangs, the predator bites the prey to sell it damage (the animation already exists in the game, sometimes carnivores smack their teeth. We can use this animation). once the prey's health has dropped to zero, the prey collapses to the ground and dies, or is finish with a killing animation.

Influence of genetics on hunting :
hunting could be influenced by genetic modification! for example, the use of the "intuitive learning" gene could halve (or more) the chances of being surprised by a predator, even when the prey is isolated from its pack. conversely, the same gene used on a carnivore could increase by 2 the chances of hanging prey, even when they are in a group!
Endurance could be influenced by the "heart strength" gene, for example. A Dinosaur which benefits from this gene will have a better stamina and will be able to run longer, and will be able more easily to escape the predator or on the contrary to catch prey.

Stamina and Sleep :

the stamina only decreases when the dinosaurs run or fight. once the dinosaur calms down and resumes "normal" activity, the stamina slowly rises.
the dinosaurs could also rest, to recover the stamina more quickly. a new animation could then be made: the dinosaurs lie on the ground but do not sleep, they keep their heads up, can communicate with their fellows and have consent to what is going on around them.

sleep would be a basic need like food and water. the sleep gauge decreases over time. when the sleep gauge is in red, the stamina no longer regenerates. the dinosaur will then sleep to regenerate its sleep gauge, to be able to regenerate its stamina. the dinosaur does not sleep until the sleep bar is in the red. sleep lasts between 30 seconds and 1 minute.
If, for whatever reason, the tired dinosaur cannot sleep and its stamina drops to zero, the health AND comfort of the dinosaur begins to decline.

This system is interesting because it adds a lot more random and unpredictable side to the hunt. the success or failure of a chase therefore does not only depend on the dinosaur's stamina statistics but also on its tiredness. A dinosaur with an excellent basic stamina statistic can still lose the race if it is tired and vice versa. And in addition this system allows to predict the moment when the dinosaur will go to sleep.

Social Behavior :
Dinosaurs need a greater diversity of behavior such as non-lethal combat, games, or other chause.
when 2 dinosaurs "fight for dominance" the dinosaurs don't just scream at themselves but really fight, but without causing damage to health. instead they could sell damage to the stamina: the first dinosaur whose stamina falls to zero loses the fight.
Dinosaurs could also play with each other. we have an example in the first Jurassic World, when Zack and Gray want to enter the enclosure of the Ankylosaurus when they are in the Gyrosphere, we can see in the background 2 parasaurolophus playing to fight. this animation could be added in the game with the "play" activity.

A bigger Variety of Animations :
The animations of the dinosaurs are very repetitive and they become boring to observe. this has to change and the best ways to get there and increase the number of activities in the daily life of dinosaurs. adding, for example, 2 or 3 can be 4 different activities for the same activity, such as drinking, eating and everything else. The good news is that part of the work is already done: some dinosaurs have totally unique animation (Albertosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus, Nasutoceratops). this unique animation could simply be shared with all the other dinosaurs of the same kind as them and conversely, the basic animations of the other dinosaurs could be shared with the dinos having unique animation. this would double the variety of animations for the same action for each dinosaur! For example the killing animation of the Nasutoceratops could be shared with all the other ceratopcians and conversely the Nasuto could benefit from the standard killing animation.
Or the other large carnivores could benefit from the animation of drinking the Albertosaurus in addition to the standard animation and vice versa. every animation would trigger randomly.

Herbivores eat trees and lysine solution:

Herbivorous dinosaurs should be able to eat trees, bushes and plants on the ground.

This would be more realistic and could represent a little additional challenge for the players, because by eating the vegetation, the herbivores would destroy the bushes and trees and thus modify the amount of vegetation in their enclosures which would therefore become incomforable for them.

Example: a brachiosaurus (who therefore needs a lot of trees in his enclosure to feel good) eats all the trees in his enclosure, the player is therefore obliged to manually put the forest back in the enclosure to prevent the Brachiosaurus try to destroy the fence to get out.

The same system could be applied to small and medium-sized herbivores with bushes and plants on the ground. Ceratopciens, Stegos, hadrosaurs, Ornithomimids and others could eat the plants on the ground and the bushes and need them in their pens to feel good in their pens. and if they eat everything, they will try to go out.
In this case, the "grazing" animation could be used more correctly, precisely when the animals eat the bushes and the plants.
Overall, the herbivores could also eat in the feeders if they are very close at times when they are hungry. but if they are far away and the nearest food source is the trees or the bushes, the herbivores will eat the latter and will not bother to travel to the feeders.

but there would obviously be a solution to this problem, THE LYSINE SOLUTION.
As Ray Arnold explains in the film, a gene is introduced into the genetic code of dinosaurs to prevent them from synthesizing lysine and digesting plants and trees. Because of this gene (unlockable in the research center) , dinosaurs will no longer be able to eat the vegetation in their enclosures and will be forced to eat in the feeders (as currently in the game).

This system is interesting because it makes the gamplay a little more complex and is also accurate to the movies.

PS:
Dissemination of seeds by defecation :
Dinosaurs having eaten plants and trees, poop and spread the seeds of plants and trees they have eaten all over the map, the excrement slowly turns into a tree or a bush.
this system could be interesting because firstly it adds more realism, and secondly it simulates a dynamic ecosystem.

Here is ! it took me a while to write all this down, I sincerely hope that Frontière will read this. especially do not hesitate to give your opinions and added things that I could have forgotten!

Thank you !
 
I like a lot of this. I would also add Group Defense for armoured dinos, Inter species herding, and Pack Hunting for carnivors.

Group Denfense:
Imagine a herd of Trics closing ranks to face down a predator and present the choice of moving on to an easier target or actually attack.

Inter species herding:
From the launch trailer we got a taste of it. JWE had loose species herding. This needs to be tightened up and mixed herbavor species need to move in same general direction. This could give us the great migration herds that we know existed and tied to seasonal changes.

Pack hunting:
A pack consists of 3 or more of same carnivor species. Pack hunters would attack herds to try and seperate an indiviual from the group which would lead to a chase towards an ambush. The pack would encircle thier prey and attack from mutiple angles, mostly from prey's flanks and blind side. They would continue these mob tactices untill prey is weakened enough to trigger a final kill animation and feeding. Prey animals are not totally defenseless. They culd hurt or kill members of a pack, thus increasing thier chance for escape.
 
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