Ok, let's start from an observation:
Dinosaur AI since the launch of the first game hasn't changed much, it's still mediocre. the changes made in the second are, for the moment, almost insignificant, especially concerning hunting.
Hunting is the biggest weak point of dinosaur AI: carnivores win (almost) all the time, some prey cannot run away, and those that can defend themselves have no chance of surviving. always leads to the same end: the carnivores win, and it's BORING!
Seeing a carnivore successfully catch and kill prey every now and then is great! seeing the same carnivore win all the time is boring!
To see a carnivore hunting a sauropod or a triceratops when there are goats or a carcass nearby, or raptors hunting a t-rex when there is also a goat or a feeder near it is what, stupid and totally anti-immersive, it destroys all consistency and immersion!
But i'm not here just to complain needlessly, i have suggestions to improve all this. SIMPLE and EASY suggestions to implement, because I am not inventing anything new. The idea is to use mechanics already existing in the game and to use it with an ON / OFF button principle (Yes / NO) according to the statistics of the dinosaurs: Level of hunger, health, stamina, attack and defense will be taken into account in the decision to attack or not a prey, or to give up or not the hunt.
Summary :
1 - food priorities
2 - decision to attack or not (depending on statistics)
3 - chase
4 - combat (in the card of the hunt) and abandonment of the hunt
5 - combat and abandonment of PACK HUNTING
6 - Starving dinosaurs (special case)
1 - FOOD PRIORITIES
Carnivorous dinosaurs have food preferences, they will primarily attack the EASIER food sources (feeder, goat, corpses), if the primary food sources are not available nearby, then they will move on to higher level food sources , And so on.
Medium and large carnivores:
Goat, feeder and carcasses <small and medium herbivores <sauropods (pack only) <tiny "homalocephalic" herbivores (Starving only) = other carnivores (Starving only)
We start from the principle that large and medium carnivores are able to hunt in packs, and that they only attack sauropods when they are in packs, so Homalocephales are prey too small to represent a real interest in normal time, and other carnivores are not natural prey, but a starving dinosaur (when the hunger level is in the red) will feed by any means possible.
Spinosaurids :
Fish <Goat, feeder and carcasses <small and medium herbivores <sauropods (pack only) <tiny "homalocephale" herbivores (Starving only) = other carnivores (Starving only)
The same but fish are level 1
Small carnivores (non raptors) :
Goat, feeder and carcasses <small herbivores <medium herbivores (only in packs or alone but starving) <herbivores able to fight "ceratopsians, etc" (only in packs or alone but starving) <other small carnivores (only straving)
Raptors (including deinonychus) :
Goat, feeder and carcasses <small herbivores <medium herbivores (only in packs or alone but starving) <herbivores able to fight "ceratopsians, etc" (only in packs or alone but starving) <Sauropods (only starving) <other carnivores, large included (only starving)
2 - DESCISON TO ATTACK OR NOT
The attack decision depends on the comparison between the attack and defense stats of the prey and the predator.
The predator will only attack the prey if its attack level is greater than or equal to the prey's defense level, otherwise it will look for easier prey
Pedators in a pack:
If the predators are in a pack, their level of attack is added and therefore increases all the more as the pack is numerous. Allowing predators to attack larger or more powerful preys.
3 - CHASE
If the attack conditions are positive, the hunt can finally begin.
The hunt is a race between the prey and the predator (s), the result of the hunt is predefined by the level of stamina of each dinosaur at the time the hunt is launched.
it's simple: the first dinosaurs whose level of stamina reaches 0 loses the race ... and the life if it is a herbivore, or a meal if it is a carnivore.
PS:
if the prey loses the race BUT it is able to fight, then it will fight for its life.
This implies that the race takes priority over the fight; herbivores capable of fighting will first try to escape.
this avoids the aberrant situation or a Nasutoceratops just face a Tyrannosaurs or a Corytosaurus remains planted where it is while waiting for raptors to come to attack it.
PPS:
This also involves rebalancing the speeds of the dinosaurs to equalize them so that ONLY the stamina determines the outcome of the race. some carnivores must have their speed nerve and some herbivores on the contrary must have their speed increase.
Of course, you have to do this logically. some dinosaurs are supposed to be slow and have to stay that way, it would be ridiculous to see an Ankylosaurus or a Stegosaurus running beating an Allosaurus or a Velociraptor.
However, slow herbivores should be buffed to compensate for their slowness.
PPPS:
In nature today, the majority of hunting ends in failure. Predators more often than not manage to escape. this could be integrated into the game.
It is enough to slightly reduce the rate of loss of stamina of herbivores (between 5 and 10% maximum) in order to leave a very slight avange to the herbivores for the race. this will not prevent the carnivores from catching it sooner or later, because herbivores lose stamina anyway, and there will come a time when the prey's stamina will be much smaller than that of the predator.
4 - COMBAT AND ABANDONMENT OF HUNTING
When a carnivore begins to fight combative prey, the prey may still win and the predator may be forced to give up.
It depends on the predator's health level. The prey has no choice because it is she who is hunted and she will have to fight to the death.
If during the fight the predator's health drops to 50%, he panics and gives up the fight and will only attack lower level prey, until his health is completely restored.
5 - COMBAT AND ABANDONMENT OF PACK HUNTING
If there is combat and the predators are in a pack, their attack level is collective (the sum of the attack level of each individual).
Individually, the same abandonment rule (4 - combat and abandonment of the hunt) applies.
This means that the group's attack level may decrease as the pack members are forced to give up. If the group's attack level drops below the prey's defense level, the whole pack panics and gives up at the same time.
PS: If only one member of the pack is killed during the fight, all the others panic and give up the fight.
The pack will search for lower level prey until the health of each member is fully restored.
6 - STARVING PREDATORS
If the carnivore is starving (when the level of hunger is in the red) the dinosaurs are considered to be more afraid of starving than of being injured or killed.
In this case, the decision rules of attack, abandonment of the hunt or food priority no longer apply.
in this precise case, the predator will not hesitate to attack a prey much too strong for him even if he is alone and even if his health drops to 50% (whether alone or in a pack).
a hungry predator pack will completely ignore the death of one of their members and will continue to fight until the death of the whole pack if necessary, unless the prey dies first.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
There ! this post was very long and exhausting for me to write. I therefore hope that many will take the trouble to read it and I especially hope that developers will read it. I will be sad to have written all this for nothing.
as you can see, this system is both simple and intuitive, because it does not invent anything new but only uses existing mechanics in the game. it also makes the game more realistic and imersive, while keeping the fun!
Do not hesitate to discuss it and give your opinion
hoping that the devellopeurs or an administrator of the forum read my post.
thank you so much
Dinosaur AI since the launch of the first game hasn't changed much, it's still mediocre. the changes made in the second are, for the moment, almost insignificant, especially concerning hunting.
Hunting is the biggest weak point of dinosaur AI: carnivores win (almost) all the time, some prey cannot run away, and those that can defend themselves have no chance of surviving. always leads to the same end: the carnivores win, and it's BORING!
Seeing a carnivore successfully catch and kill prey every now and then is great! seeing the same carnivore win all the time is boring!
To see a carnivore hunting a sauropod or a triceratops when there are goats or a carcass nearby, or raptors hunting a t-rex when there is also a goat or a feeder near it is what, stupid and totally anti-immersive, it destroys all consistency and immersion!
But i'm not here just to complain needlessly, i have suggestions to improve all this. SIMPLE and EASY suggestions to implement, because I am not inventing anything new. The idea is to use mechanics already existing in the game and to use it with an ON / OFF button principle (Yes / NO) according to the statistics of the dinosaurs: Level of hunger, health, stamina, attack and defense will be taken into account in the decision to attack or not a prey, or to give up or not the hunt.
Summary :
1 - food priorities
2 - decision to attack or not (depending on statistics)
3 - chase
4 - combat (in the card of the hunt) and abandonment of the hunt
5 - combat and abandonment of PACK HUNTING
6 - Starving dinosaurs (special case)
1 - FOOD PRIORITIES
Carnivorous dinosaurs have food preferences, they will primarily attack the EASIER food sources (feeder, goat, corpses), if the primary food sources are not available nearby, then they will move on to higher level food sources , And so on.
Medium and large carnivores:
Goat, feeder and carcasses <small and medium herbivores <sauropods (pack only) <tiny "homalocephalic" herbivores (Starving only) = other carnivores (Starving only)
We start from the principle that large and medium carnivores are able to hunt in packs, and that they only attack sauropods when they are in packs, so Homalocephales are prey too small to represent a real interest in normal time, and other carnivores are not natural prey, but a starving dinosaur (when the hunger level is in the red) will feed by any means possible.
Spinosaurids :
Fish <Goat, feeder and carcasses <small and medium herbivores <sauropods (pack only) <tiny "homalocephale" herbivores (Starving only) = other carnivores (Starving only)
The same but fish are level 1
Small carnivores (non raptors) :
Goat, feeder and carcasses <small herbivores <medium herbivores (only in packs or alone but starving) <herbivores able to fight "ceratopsians, etc" (only in packs or alone but starving) <other small carnivores (only straving)
Raptors (including deinonychus) :
Goat, feeder and carcasses <small herbivores <medium herbivores (only in packs or alone but starving) <herbivores able to fight "ceratopsians, etc" (only in packs or alone but starving) <Sauropods (only starving) <other carnivores, large included (only starving)
2 - DESCISON TO ATTACK OR NOT
The attack decision depends on the comparison between the attack and defense stats of the prey and the predator.
The predator will only attack the prey if its attack level is greater than or equal to the prey's defense level, otherwise it will look for easier prey
Pedators in a pack:
If the predators are in a pack, their level of attack is added and therefore increases all the more as the pack is numerous. Allowing predators to attack larger or more powerful preys.
3 - CHASE
If the attack conditions are positive, the hunt can finally begin.
The hunt is a race between the prey and the predator (s), the result of the hunt is predefined by the level of stamina of each dinosaur at the time the hunt is launched.
it's simple: the first dinosaurs whose level of stamina reaches 0 loses the race ... and the life if it is a herbivore, or a meal if it is a carnivore.
PS:
if the prey loses the race BUT it is able to fight, then it will fight for its life.
This implies that the race takes priority over the fight; herbivores capable of fighting will first try to escape.
this avoids the aberrant situation or a Nasutoceratops just face a Tyrannosaurs or a Corytosaurus remains planted where it is while waiting for raptors to come to attack it.
PPS:
This also involves rebalancing the speeds of the dinosaurs to equalize them so that ONLY the stamina determines the outcome of the race. some carnivores must have their speed nerve and some herbivores on the contrary must have their speed increase.
Of course, you have to do this logically. some dinosaurs are supposed to be slow and have to stay that way, it would be ridiculous to see an Ankylosaurus or a Stegosaurus running beating an Allosaurus or a Velociraptor.
However, slow herbivores should be buffed to compensate for their slowness.
PPPS:
In nature today, the majority of hunting ends in failure. Predators more often than not manage to escape. this could be integrated into the game.
It is enough to slightly reduce the rate of loss of stamina of herbivores (between 5 and 10% maximum) in order to leave a very slight avange to the herbivores for the race. this will not prevent the carnivores from catching it sooner or later, because herbivores lose stamina anyway, and there will come a time when the prey's stamina will be much smaller than that of the predator.
4 - COMBAT AND ABANDONMENT OF HUNTING
When a carnivore begins to fight combative prey, the prey may still win and the predator may be forced to give up.
It depends on the predator's health level. The prey has no choice because it is she who is hunted and she will have to fight to the death.
If during the fight the predator's health drops to 50%, he panics and gives up the fight and will only attack lower level prey, until his health is completely restored.
5 - COMBAT AND ABANDONMENT OF PACK HUNTING
If there is combat and the predators are in a pack, their attack level is collective (the sum of the attack level of each individual).
Individually, the same abandonment rule (4 - combat and abandonment of the hunt) applies.
This means that the group's attack level may decrease as the pack members are forced to give up. If the group's attack level drops below the prey's defense level, the whole pack panics and gives up at the same time.
PS: If only one member of the pack is killed during the fight, all the others panic and give up the fight.
The pack will search for lower level prey until the health of each member is fully restored.
6 - STARVING PREDATORS
If the carnivore is starving (when the level of hunger is in the red) the dinosaurs are considered to be more afraid of starving than of being injured or killed.
In this case, the decision rules of attack, abandonment of the hunt or food priority no longer apply.
in this precise case, the predator will not hesitate to attack a prey much too strong for him even if he is alone and even if his health drops to 50% (whether alone or in a pack).
a hungry predator pack will completely ignore the death of one of their members and will continue to fight until the death of the whole pack if necessary, unless the prey dies first.
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
There ! this post was very long and exhausting for me to write. I therefore hope that many will take the trouble to read it and I especially hope that developers will read it. I will be sad to have written all this for nothing.
as you can see, this system is both simple and intuitive, because it does not invent anything new but only uses existing mechanics in the game. it also makes the game more realistic and imersive, while keeping the fun!
Do not hesitate to discuss it and give your opinion
hoping that the devellopeurs or an administrator of the forum read my post.
thank you so much
Last edited:
