Why bots can't use the Titan Options

[Dnamro]

Since this gets asked all the time, I am going to lay out the main problems with bots using the titan and make this a stiky.

- For bots to run around in the Titan, it would have to be navmeshed. To be able to navmesh it, the Titan can not be moved the entire game.

- Even with a stationary Titan that was navmeshed, because its up in the sky, the Titan navmesh won't be connected to the land navmesh, and bots won't be able to move between the land navmesh and the Titan navmesh (ignoring the fact that the AI does not like navmesh islands).

- Therefore, the titan would have to be grounded with ramps or stairways to get into it, so it could be properly navmeshed with the land navmesh so the bots could get into it. As a grounded titan, the bottom guns would need to be removed.

- Then there is the problem that there is no known method to let the bots know when the shield is down and they can go into the Titan. To get around that problem, the shield would have to be removed and the Titan health increased to make up for the missing shield.

- As far as bots using the drop pods, if the Titans have to be stationary and navmeshes have to be connected by the Titan being grounded or some sort of stairway, the bots will be able to use that to get into the Titan, so the drop pods are not necessary for the bots anyway.

- Even if the Titans are grounded and navmeshed so bot can go in and out, you still have the issue of getting the bots to attack the door shields and the objectives. In BF2 it is possible to get bots to attack destructable objects, but the inner shields and objectives are not seperate destruable objects. The shields and objectives on the titan would have to be removed or recoded as destructable objects.

As you can see, to get around the problems would require changing the Titan so much, that its not Titan Gameplay anymore. It might be fun, but it's a lot different from multiplayer Titan gameplay. Even with the editor, there are still many obstacles to playing in true Titan mode with bots.

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Alternatively, Just having the Titan's turrets autocontrolled would allow the titans to be used to attack and defend in coop, but bots would not be able to go into it. Autocontrolles will not fire until the shields are dropped. The shields can be removed. If the turrets could be made to be autocontrolled, it could make it very challenging trying to board the Titan. Once on board, the player would be have free reign inside the Titan.

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The Titan Lite coop mod will allow you and bots to capture the missle Silos in titan game mode, which will eventually result in the destruction of one of the team's Titans and the end of the game. The bots do not use the Titans in any way.

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Now it is possible to get bots to fly titans and fire the turrets and have a titan vs titan battle. The problem is that it would be best to be a space map, because the bots like to fly too close to the ground and crash very easily. There is no AI setting to tell the bot they are in a vehicle that is very large, so the bots fly them as if they were much smaller.

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What has been tried so far:

One of the regulars here created the AI mesh that would allow bots to run around on a docked titan. The problem is that the titans are vehicles and the bots want to interact with vehicles, and don't want to run around on them, so they are just confused.

Another regular here, tried to create a stationary titan and was able to get the bots to run around on it using the Wake Island map. But, the textures of the titan have a weird glow when it's converted to a stationary object that he could not figure out. He gave up and moved onto other easier projects.

Unfortunately there are just too many other easier AI projects to work on.

[FFOLKES]

No I have not tested with bots. Only verified that the code changes work to remove the shields.

[Dnamro]

Ok, I will do some testing tonight with it.

Tested - and added autocontrollers but they still won't fire.

[allahhooah]

i cant seem to get the editor to create the mesh of the titan

ive tried using titan playtest (as and EU)
ive tried cobbling together the pieces (exterior/corridors ETC.) still no dice
my theory was make an edge border around the heightmap which slopes on one side to the map's playable terrain , and the other half stretches way out to the titan. then gen the mesh with a maxed out combat area, copy the pathfinding to your 2142 folder using a more reasonable combat area.
the "black poly walkway" would eliminate islands and hopefully allow the bots to choose to fly to the titan.
i cant get the dumb titan to navmesh though- i tried a bunch of times here is a screenshot of the "bridge" doing its thing.

anyone else have any luck?

[Dnamro]

I think its going to need a col3 mesh. Maybe we can see if EZ can help out.

[SatNav]

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This post has been edited by SatNav: Apr 1 2009, 02:46 AM

[Dtneter]

about the flying titan i made it so you can fly it although its still a bit buggy it moves forward and acts like a big ship

[Dnamro]

Nice. Titan vs Titan battles might be an interesting way to play with bots. I wonder if it would work to give the Titans some Anti-Titan missles?

[CaptainPepsi]

Watch this video Titan Tank The explosion at the end is sweet

This post has been edited by CaptainPepsi: Oct 18 2007, 05:41 PM

[allahhooah]

EDIT- that video was awesome.
Those are the kind of titans i want in my maps.
how was that done?




This post has been edited by allahhooah: Oct 18 2007, 05:50 PM

[Dnamro]

Now the titans in that video was exactly what I was thinking about! My modding the Titans to give them some better weapons, you can have a great Titan vs Titan battle. Also, by removing the shield, the bots can use the titan weapons.

[red.murder1]

Since The tian isn't moving or flying wouldn't it make more sense to be a building.That'd be really cool! I'd buy 2142 if that comes out

[Dnamro]

Since The tian isn't moving or flying wouldn't it make more sense to be a building.That'd be really cool! I'd buy 2142 if that comes out

There is no reason that the titans can not be grounded. That is basically the way the map would need to be set up to allow bots to be able to fight in the titan.

[Red Devil]

I wonder if Python could be used to link to the coordinates of separate Navmeshes in the Titans?

For instance, when a bot gets to a certain coordinate on the ground Navmesh (A Pod) and he lands on a Titan, then the spot he lands on is 'just' a linked (think pointers) continuation of the ground Navmesh.

[Dnamro]

Satnav mentioned that there is a mod in development with working teleport python code, so that part is possible.

The other issue is that this would not change the requirement that the navmesh has to be one complete mesh, so the titans would have to be linked together by the navmesh. Now, possibly this connecting navmesh could be just hanging in the air between the two titans. Then if the teleports were set at the ends of each titan, the bots would teleport to the other ship instead of actually using the connecting navmesh.

Still, the titans have to be immobile, since navmeshes can not move with a ship. Furthermore, since the titans have to be immobile, it would be easier just to dock them on the ground, especially if you use the docking ports from the NS port bavaria map. All the Northern Strike stuff was added to the main game in a patch, Its free to use in your own map.

[Red Devil]

Teleporting. I'm working on adding a fourth race to that for another game using C++.

I know a manic programmer who absolutely lives for challenges like this, but he's waiting for a replacement PSU. I'll show him the scent when he gets it back.