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NPC hunters gone wild

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Sami:
I've had amusing and laborous times with testing and tweaking how NPCs now behave in the wild with their newly added wits for example to actively hunt and process the downed animals. New blocks of AI always make things a bit crazy at first as unimaginable and unpredictable conditions harness the power of new algorithms.

I've witnessed NPC hunter running after a squirrel swinging a sword, and exhausting himself by circling around the tree with no better understanding of the target being out of his reach. After awhile my character decided to help the guy out and shot the squirrel down for him, after which he correctly proceeded to butcher and skin the carcass. Without manners of saying a proper thanks, though.

Another NPC came (or was actually forced to by the means of black debug magic) hunting at the site where I had just lost one of my party members. After he had succesfully shot the hare he was after he proceeded to approach the corpse of my passed companion. My character and his dog watched in confusion this guy just stand on the corpse with no intention to move anywhere. Later on I found out that the crazy NPC hunter had an unbearable craving to skin and cut the corpse of my dead companion, but the moral restrictions came in between and he ended up in endless "Should I? No, you must not." limbo.

On a brighter side of incidents I traded a loop snare from a wandering woodsman for a fresh salmon. Soon after, the woodsman decided to light a fire and roast the salmon. A simple little thing but it made a nice difference.

All in all, NPCs in the wild seem a bit more intelligent, but also bit more crazy at the moment. Craziness is surely refreshing, but tweaking and testing still need to be continued.

Privateer:

--- Quote from: Sami on May 22, 2019, 05:11:50 PM ---~snip~
 this guy just stand on the corpse with no intention to move anywhere. Later on I found out that the crazy NPC hunter had an unbearable craving to skin and cut the corpse of my dead companion, but the moral restrictions came in between and he ended up in endless "Should I? No, you must not." limbo.

--- End quote ---

Yeah, we've all been THERE!

Ara D.:
Which brings up the question of stealing prey? How will a non party hunter react to me butchering his prey? Until Sami teaches them manners are they all going to be bird thiefs? On a side note that would be cool if one did steal and I could cast a spell some old man me to make them reveal themselves.

koteko:
Brilliant  ;D

Sami:

--- Quote from: Ara D. on May 22, 2019, 08:15:27 PM ---Which brings up the question of stealing prey? How will a non party hunter react to me butchering his prey? Until Sami teaches them manners are they all going to be bird thiefs? On a side note that would be cool if one did steal and I could cast a spell some old man me to make them reveal themselves.

--- End quote ---

Currently they won't react at all to their preys getting stealed, and yes, they could also start butchering player characters prey.
Additions like this bring in many ifs and wild variables, and that flood of ideas as well.

Historically the downed prey was marked owned by cutting (a certain) piece of its carcass. Whoever did it first, the prey was his, even though he hadn't actually downed it.
This is because sometimes two people might have hunted for example the same elk for a long time, and whose arrow was the fatal in the end, couldn't be easily resolved.
So, whoever was the first to cut the carcass became its rightful owner. So maybe we'll apply this kind hunter ethics as well. If you get to cut NPC downed animal first, they give it to you, if you cut whats theirs they'll probably get angry. And vice versa.

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