AGR 0.5.3.0 Npc Behaviour Update

In a nutshell:

The update adds a set of behaviors so npcs act less dumb in combat… “less” being a key word here. So while melee npcs will still charge the enemy, now when they get stabbed in the gut they actually reconsider whether to keep on fighting or run away. On top of that some critters will try to sneak while others will use ranged weapons and spells and run away if somebody gets too close. However they still pull all nighters and wander aimlessly like a bunch of zombies, but I’ll try to fix some of these issues in the further updates.

A Closer look:

I should’ve brought a shield.

These sneaky reptiles aren’t so brave now.

New features:

- Added a set of moddable behaviours
- Npcs and animals can sneak and will restealth out of combat (behaviour based)
- Npcs and animals will run away when wounded (based on specified threshold)
- Npcs now use ranged weapons and try to keep some distance from enemies (based on specified distance)
- When out of ammo ranged npcs will switch to a melee weapon
- Npcs now cast attack spells (behaviour based)
- Npcs and animals now sprint when when close(based on specified distance)
- Player equipment condition is now randomized based on starting profession
- Npc equipment condition is now randomized based on profession

Game balance:

- Lowered combat skills for specialized units (archers got -10 melee, melee units got -10 ranged)
- Added new stealth npcs to bandit faction (Rogue, Stalker, Assassin)
- Added new mage npcs to marauder faction (Neophyte cryomancer, Pyromancer, Electromancer)
- Removed ranged npcs from bandit faction
- Reworked all of the player professions and added a few new ones (Added a little backstory for each one and divided them into Explorer, Fighter, Crafter archetypes)
- Added naked start (You only get the “Normalize” spell, because it’s needed for the tutorial)
- Ranged weapons got nerfed (lowered accuracy, lowered speed)
- When not using a shield ranged defense is now halved (it was ⅓ previously)

Bug hunter log:

- Distance now affects hit chance, previously it only affected projectile stray chance.
- Fixed a potential crash when sneaking near an animal
- Several typos got fixed.

What’s next? 

There are a few things I need to tackle in the next update.
First thing first, add a sleep routine, to make a thief’s life a little easier.
Secondly, getting pummeled by a bunch of arrows looks weird, so I definitely need to make some basic animations for those or at least a hit animation as well as some basic health bar. Also marauders mages could use new textures, since now I’m reusing the trader ones.

That’s all I’ve got for this release, so see you in a month and half :).