Kind of a random question, but I noticed that the AI sometimes abandon vehicles without any apparent reason, sometimes even full HP ones. I see this happen a lot when playing on Rhen Var (CW) and on Endor (GCW). Maybe it's just ignorance of my part but I never understood why the AI does this sometimes and I thought that, if this could be manipulated, this could become a legit strat in some complicated maps. Does anyone know what triggers this behavior?
Yes. At 25 reinforcements the AI will hop out of all mounts. Sometime they switch to a nearby vehicle before then. A Video might be helpful here.
I guess I could've been more specific: I've seen them drop out of vehicles even when the "defeat is eminent" alert hasn't been reached. This happens, for instance, in the harbour entrance of Rhen Var, where droids can for some reason leave AAT's in good conditions in the middle of the map. If I manage to capture that on video or something similar I'll definitely post it here, thx for reminding me.
Not sure what triggers, but if you're referring to the droids on Kashyyyk Docks, yeah. I've also noticed this on Rhen Var Harbor, I'd guess there's probably a timer of sorts that tells the AI to get out of a vehicle if they're "driving" but the vehicle isn't moving, i.e. they're stuck in some funky geometry or wedged into a corner by another vehicle.
Say on Rhen Var, AAT #1 wedges AAT #2 into a corner for some amount of time (5 seconds, maybe 20 seconds, not sure but you could test if you wanted.) The driver of AAT #2 might exit the vehicle, seeing as they're trying to drive but not moving. Then AAT #1 moves and you have an empty vehicle seemingly just sitting there. Interesting that sometimes different AI will get back into the vehicle later on in the match, but sometimes "dirtied" vehicles remain empty the whole match (like the AATs on Docks).
There also might be 'dead spots' in certain maps, such that AI are reluctant to enter a vehicle due to it being equidistant from another one of their objectives, say a particular route or CP.
idk this game is random
The AI jumping out has to do with their pathing and what goal they are trying to reach. If they get close enough to a CP, they may decide to change goals (instead of following the current path, heading for CP, or switching to the next path which may not be a vehicle path). There's really no way to predict this, however, it is pretty consistent on some planets. Also, I think if the vehicle is stuck, they will try to change objectives, but I'm not sure about this.
The "jump out at 25 reinforcements" is confirmed a feature, not a bug. I have been able to disable the code on PC in the exe during testing.
I am interested what else you can tinker with that exe testing of yours :p
There's plenty of stuff I have documented but it's been a while since I've dug into it. I've broken the 5 person spawn limit mostly, gotten to be an invincible jedi hero on an unmodded map, expanded mine limits, spawned as a third team (still pretty broken), and some other fun stuff. I'm not that great at it but I've dumped some time in it
Well, just as an update: I discovered on Endor: Bunker that, if you take a speeder bike and stop right in front of an enemy AT-ST, he'll stay put and won't do anything. You need to stay on top of the bike, if you dismount he'll start acting again. I believe the AI thinks it's stuck and simply stays there, immovable. Ofc that this doesn't have much of use atm, since either your allies will blow the AT-ST to pieces or another one will appear and one shot you, but maybe if you make him stay put long enough, the AI will abandon it. I'll do more testing when I get a chance. Still, it can be useful to neutralize a rogue AT-ST on the map...
Interesting that a speeder bike stops at AT-ST, I've often wondered how exactly vehicle physics interact in this game. I know that if two medium tanks collide head on, they sort of "wrestle", but then you've found that nudging a speeder bike against an AT-ST stops it in its tracks. I wonder if the difference is whether the AT-ST is considered to be moving when you collide with it, since I know on that map they stop and look around to shoot a lot. Might be useful to know if one can stop an AT-TE with a spider droid or something like that
