Bots in campaign?

(Mustkunstn1k) #1

I was thinking about how the bots in the campaign actually work…

1. Difficulty
I am stilll not convinced that Brink could be a pure SP experience, I can definitely see how it’s more replayable then the newschool 3 hour script-fests, but still. SP games usually could use good characters and a story (a good setting isn’t enough). But I digress, what I was really wondering about is the difficulty curve. Usually games are supposed to get harder, the curve rises. With Brink tho, the levels aren’t created with that in mind. They are balanced, because they also need to work in multiplayer and when you are playing the campaign with the other faction. So what does exactly get harder? Does the enemy AI improve? Do they just start aiming better? What exactly changes? I mean it would be weird if it would all be the same difficulty? Also, what about different difficulty levels?

2. Bots vs bots
What happens if I play the campaign… but just sit in the corner? It would basically be 8:7 and enemy would have the advantage. But people win 8:7 games all the times in multiplayer. What happens with bots? Does the team with more players always win? Or is there a chance that the team with 7 members wins? Is there a possibility that the team (bots) does all the work and the player still wins? Seems likely enough to me, but that depends on the difficulty again.

(Herandar) #2

People win 7:8 games all the time in multiplayer too.

(Mustkunstn1k) #3

Mother of god…
what have we done. :eek:

Just incase, if the order of numbers suggested that the team with more members always win than this is not what I meant. I meant to say people with less players in a 7:8 match can win just as easily… Basically I am just wondering if the same happens with bots. And could this mean that the player could win the level in the campaign by not doing a single thing. Kind of like this.

(ultraddtd) #4

From what we understand so far the bots play the game in almost the same way as the human players in that their actions are dynamic. They change classes, use the objective wheel, etc…

I don’t know this for sure, because I haven’t played it, but I would think that this would make up for the difficulty curve. In most scripted SP experiences, even if the AI is pretty smart and adaptive, they always start off in the same spot and a good player can memorize where to look for the enemy when entering an area. Even in cases where the AI is ramped up, and the the enemies are tougher and better equipped, there’s still that limitation of, “I know I’m going to fight x enemies of type 1 over here,” where in Brink the AI will–supposedly from the info we have and from previews I’ve read–will change based what’s going on in the battle (objectives, and I’m assuming class and loadout as well), thus there’s far less predictability.

Also, I would assume that the bots would match you with level and load outs, more than likely having access to the same abilities and weapons that the person playing in SP (or, in the case of MP, I’d guess that they’d match the average level of the players on their team/in their game?).

And for your second point, given what we know about the bots, I would say, yes, a player could probably lets their bots win the game for them.

(tokamak) #5

Who gives a hoot about the singleplayer experience in the first place? It’s nothing but a selling point, a gateway into multiplayer where it all happens.

The idling during a campaign can simply be solved by giving the opposing bots a relatively higher difficulty setting than your allied bots which means there’s no way they can win it by themselves.

(madoule) #6

[QUOTE=tokamak;283954]Who gives a hoot about the singleplayer experience in the first place? It’s nothing but a selling point, a gateway into multiplayer where it all happens.

The idling during a campaign can simply be solved by giving the opposing bots a relatively higher difficulty setting than your allied bots which means there’s no way they can win it by themselves.[/QUOTE]

second that, tho bots may be an considerably bigger factor in challenge mode, this however will be more scripted i guess… ?

(tokamak) #7

It will just be the A.I against you, so no scripts. It may cost the narrative but in return you get a completely different experience each time you play.

(madoule) #8

i hear you regarding the experience. but just vs AI? i thought it was mentioned somewhere that challenges could be tackled in coop. additionally the getting smart video gave me the impression it was in somewhat altered levels. might be wrong tho…

(Whydmer) #9

[QUOTE=tokamak;283954]Who gives a hoot about the singleplayer experience in the first place? It’s nothing but a selling point, a gateway into multiplayer where it all happens.

The idling during a campaign can simply be solved by giving the opposing bots a relatively higher difficulty setting than your allied bots which means there’s no way they can win it by themselves.[/QUOTE]

The SP experience matters in 2 ways: In the large scale, if done well it will bring new players into the franchise even if they only ever play SP it will increase the sales and the future of the Brink IP. Secondly in a personal sense, for players like me even though MP will be the focus, having the ability to play a good game offline when tired or with just one or two other friends against good bots is an awesome change of pace.

(Realirony) #10

reading all these posts has been enlightening but I come out of it with one question. If a player is found idling in a MP match will the system check his movement or lack thereof and kick the player? How, if any way at all, does the game/system deal with idlers/team-killers/etc, basically, people who aren’t doing anything at all but taking up space.

(madoule) #11

valid question, AFAIK this hasn’t been discussed here yet. why don’t you open a new thread on that? i’d love to here some dev comment on that.

(Whydmer) #12

Maybe it opens up a COD subgame and forces the player into that??? :wink:

(riptide) #13

I would pay $150.00 for that feature alone long as I had their PoV after the fact. Make it happen.