Devs, you can do so that people NPC and some animals NPC can climb over obstacles and climb on buildings and cliffs? think this will good for more hard game. Many npc can be killed with the help of a bug: get up on the hill and beat, npc are just standing and could not do anything. NPC that can not climb (wolves, boars, etc.), retreat and run away.
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First, it’s not a ‘bug’ that NPCs and creatures cannot climb up terrain or structures. It is more of a missing feature. A bug would be that they should be able to climb, but cannot. The distinction is very important.
However, I do agree with your statement, doubly so now that the Purge is going to be implemented with the launch version of the game. Coding and polishing the NPC climbing mechanic, however, may be more work than we can imagine, especially as crunch time approaches. Down the road, I do hope NPC climbing becomes integral into the base game.
And if they cannot climb at present, yes, the AI should be programmed to recognize that they cannot path to the player or destroy the object the player is standing upon (stone nodes, T1 building pieces, etc.), and make a hasty retreat.
Just remember that in a recent developer stream, they did acknowledge this very issue. Perhaps they are simply playing their cards close to heart. Perhaps this is how they want it.
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Along with that, you know whats missing and would be a lot fun (harder) to have ? NPC’s Dodging.
Can you imagine giant spiders climbing up the sides of our bases in a purge? That’d be terrific! I am glad that the dragons will have breath weapons (instead of just sitting their like arrow pin-cushions). Yeah, anything struck by a ranged weapon that can’t immediately reach your position should beat a retreat, seems logical. If a rock-pick can destroy a huge boulder you could stand upon to fire arrows at a rhino - then certainly that rhino should be able to destroy the same boulder in a charge.
I got an issue with exploiting climbing npc’s for example:
Start on a server - run to the biggest/baddest group of npc. Aggro. Pull them to a cliff and climb up first. Push them down as they follow.
With new combat system its hard to stand on a rock and spear down and arrows are supposed to be expensive.
Good point, climbing might not be the solution to the problem. Even if they can climb, you can simply kick them off as soon as they make it to the top.
I think we really need to see more enemies who can both fight at range and at melee. The locusts can do this (the insects with the tongues). Archers are great for this. Hopefully we’ll see plenty of Nordheimers and Cimmerians with javelins and throwing-axes.
Not every enemy needs to be fully robust, and able to fight against any players who might exploit their AI. But the best loot needs to be protected behind the most robust NPCs.
To be a credible threat Purge NPCs need to be able to climb. Simply having them spawn inside your structures is a less than ideal stopgap. On a related note how long until crocodiles can swim?
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