"Trolling kills" of the enemies bother the hell out of me

Honestly I am terrified of the Temple Bugbears for that reason. They fucking destroy your weak members, then your tanks have no one to back them up. So really, if you REALLY want your guys to survive (this isn't Baldur's Gate, so there's no excuse [at least not from what I've seen]), Give your tanks, or your Fighter-type at least (Especially Ranger or Rogue who prefer melee) Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus, and Weapon Spec. A Rogue's Opportunist and Crippling Strike can make her lethal as the Nine Hells.

Random Note/Recommendation: I don't really know about the modded version, but do NOT prep your Paladin with Weapon Focus, Weapon Spec, and Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword, so that he may wield Scather properly when the time comes. Paladins are LG, of course, so they do NOT get the AoO or the unerring accuracy. GIve it to a Chaotic Good Fighter, Ranger, or Barbarian (if you ARE Good, anyway). Or if you really want to have some fun, give it to a Chaotic Good Bard. From what I hear, the mods will allow you to do that (don't know if they allow that in the vanilla). (Sorry, edit: the swords Fragarach and Scather are both CG; I think NG ad CN wielders get the AoO bonus, but only a CG gets the 'always hit' bonus)

Wish you luck!

 

In real life, there's no possibility of an unconscious opponent standing up again in the middle of melee due to an ally healing them back above 0 hp. In the fights where the AI is set up to heal unconscious allies(e.g.

Spoiler

Lareth and his Lieutenant

), I often spend an attack to finish them off rather than attack another active opponent. Thankfully, the tougher opponents in the Temple are generally too selfish to heal their friends with their superabundance of potions.

 

Lol okay I just thought someone recorded a random person throwing a fit.

"Fuck this, and that, and this. Fuck everything."

 

Um no offense (as this may be how you remember it) but why are real people getting HP? I've actually been curious as to how that would work in real life anyway. LOL

 

Oh, I know the concept... Wow, I totally didn't see that. Yep, now I get it, but enemies die at the end of combat anyway, stabilized or no, unless they're asleep. Unless the modded version deals with a shit-ton of enemy clerics, what's the big deal of making sure the ENEMY is dead?

 

That's pretty much one of the many causes the kind of twitching smile while playing your favorite game, while your mind is doing a rage that would make Sargen proud.

 

Thanks for the save, I've verified that the hag does that consistently.

I was worried that perhaps the latest AI scripting broke something, but no, it's plain old ToEE AI at work. In that particular sense, it's working as intended.

In case you're interested, it's the target threatened command, which does include unconscious targets; it also happens to target the highest initiative character within melee range, so you can game it by switching out the initiative order if it bothers you.

Also, specifically for the Hag and creatures who use the same AI script - it's a Barbarian AI, i.e. it belongs to creatures who fly into Barbarian Rage. It's not unthinkable for them to do such a thing.

Lastly, even Stormtroopers engage in that kind of activity:

 

Omg LOL

 

OK, we'll have no Pokey abuse on these here forums!

Even if the troopers are all cute and little.

You DO NOT want to invoke the wrath of GUMBY!!

 

That's interesting! Thank you.
This hag case was from the milder end of scale. Would you mind if I encounter something more blatant and post the save here? Or are we done? I'm just asking this because maybe the "troopers beating a dead horse" picture was a hint of sorts
I'm definitely going to switch out the initiative order... Yes!

 

If you feel a particular AI needs tweaking, sure, go ahead and make a suggestion.

 

I noticed some not all enemies did this. I have always thought this was purposeful in the scripting of the game. Please don't change this, some enemies (including intelligent ones) should attack downed characters. Yes it's aggravating when a character goes down and gets killed in front of you, but that is part of the game. Sanctuary and O's R Sph. help's if you can get a jump on the baddies. Yes it sucks, but please don't change this.

 

I pretty much agree with this exactly. I don't see the problem with the AI algorithm leading to them targeting prone/unconscious/dying targets even if they did it consistely 50% of the time such targets were available and active targets were also available. Perhaps others see it differently, but Gaear has summed it up. It is a matter of opinion.

One thing to keep in mind, battles are very brief events. What is a round 6 seconds? If we superimpose "real life" into these contexts . . . ~36 second long fights between a group of human an humanoid 'adventurers' and a group of dog-creature things . . . arrows flying, spells hurling, axes cleaving, blood spurting, limbs lopping off, etc. . . . difficult to argue for or against ANY behavior in that context.

In real life, Xenophon (ancient Greek) I believe recounts how grown men would wet themselves and shat themselves at the moment when the metal started clanging. Moreover, the vast majority of all battle casualties in pre-musket era combat were during the 'rout' phase, i.e., enemy army is terrified and instead of functioning as a cohesive unit, individuals start tearing off and running, cascade effect over seconds and minutes and before long you have whole regiments turning tail and fleeing. This was when most casualties would be done and the greatest of military leaders knew this. They orchestrated their battles not so much as a boxing match, but as a psychout match. Scare the bejeebers out of enough of the enemy and a cascade effect kicks in, you break his order and when he starts to run you egg on your boys and slaughter them.

In sum, combat is not a context that is known for a lot of careful, accurate, rational and effective decision making. On the contrary, it is a context in which he who can execute the bigger head F*$# is the one who will still be alive at the end, and he who cannot keep his cool is the one who will be dead.