Game mode: Private Server; Dedicated Server Tool Type of issue: Bug Server type:PvE
I was giving some loot to my thrall to carry on our way back from farming. Gave them a steel cleaver to carry. In the next fight I see my thrall running up and trying to cleaver the enemy instead of using their nice shiny two-handed great sword.
Edit for Additional Info: Thrall was Dalinsia Snowhunter, her normal weapon is Flawless Two Handed Star Metal Great Sword. The particular cleaver was a drop from Asagard of a Steel Metal Cleaver. She was carrying her primary weapon, two cleavers, steel, and the rest was armor pieces from the NPCs. She’s wearing the basic Cimmerian Steel Armor (not exceptional or flawless; just the base epic).
Please provide a step-by-step process of how the bug can be reproduced. The more details you provide us with the easier it will be for us to find and fix the bug:
Give a thrall a primary weapon and a cleaver in their inventory.
Get involved in a fight.
Thrall may randomly switch to the cleaver when attacking.
Occurrence seems random, it took awhile to reproduce.
I feel your pain. I was farming the black blood tools and had the fourth one and stored all in my thrall with his weap in hand.
My torch went out, night came and I could see for the next spawn the thrall pulled out a pick. Lotsa good that was going to do. I died, did not have a spare set to get back to my gear in the cold, so logged off in disgust.
The thrall warped home with all four tools.
If you look at the description of a tool, it has a damage number. Tools are classified as weapons in the game and the thrall cannot tell the difference. In fact, I never put more than one weap/tool in a thrall, unless it is an archer.
I had a bearer thrall use a skinning knife and leather bindings as weapons rather than the actual weapon he’s supposed to use. I realized I couldn’t store anything weapon-like in him.
Completely understandable within the mechanics of the game.
It just feels like the AI should have an exclusion for harvesting implements. I would think there would be a basic decision for thralls to use the max damage weapon within it’s own inventory if they can’t exclude items based on their type since they’re all technically weapons in the game code.
Of course, if you had 40 players with 40 thralls waging a small skirmish and each one of them were running this decision every time they go to attack – I can’t imagine that’d do anything to improve performance.
Yep. If the thrall is given a choice in the matter, they will inevitably default to the least useful option in any given situation. I don’t usually give my archers melee weapons either; they don’t get confused often, but when they do, and stand in their turrets waving their swords at the enemy below, it’s really quite useless.
Recruiting people by whacking them repeatedly on the head with a heavy steel club isn’t likely to improve their cognitive capabilities, though, so it’s understandable if they don’t always make optimal tactical decisions.
I just carry any looted tools and weapons myself, and let the helper carry other heavy things.
From the patch notes, it’s supposed to work if you use the radial menu to tell them to prioritize ranged. They should default to using the bow first and only switch if they get engaged in melee. I’ve used this on my bearer and it works so long as he can back off.
That being said, I don’t know if I’ve just been lucky and he’s been waiting for me to make this post so he can now proceed to mess up. Probably payback for bonking him on the head and lashing him to the wheel.
My favorite so far has been bees. If you let them hold the bees the thrall eats one bee when you put the stack on there because it’s considered a food item.
I used to do that too, but since the AI patch, my thralls keep jumping from their posts when I’m not around. Now they will be killed on the ground if I don’t give them a proper melee weapon to defend themselves with.
I haven’t noticed this happening on our server. Ours are standing on three foundation tall pillars; no fences or crenelations. It’s just four walls and a ceiling tile.