Some thoughts on how to improve raider AI and pathing

[kingtyris]

Piggybacking off of the beauty system, where certain items increase the colonies beauty score withing a given radius, what if we added two new scores - Danger and Resistance?

The idea is that a turret will generate a high Danger score within its firing arc, and this score could be stackable so that multiple turrets create a much higher Danger Zone(Copyright Kenny Loggins 1986). Armed pawns maybe also generate a Danger score appropriate to the weapon they are carrying?

The Resistance score is generated by buildings, walls doors and other unpassable objects. Weaker constructions such as wood doors would produce much less Resistance than 3 tile deep unmined granite.

Tied together, the raiders would choose the path that offered the lowest Resistance offset by Danger; they would rather attack walls than wade through the combined fire of 6 turrets. Raiders already know how to batter down doors, or how to fire a rocket at a colonist, but what about firing a rocket at a stone wall to create a breech?

My other main idea would be to script the raiders to all travel at the speed of the slowest raider in the group; I've defeated raids before simply because the fastest raiders ran up unsupported and got picked off while the slower raiders arrived piecemeal or not at all.

Finally, a suggestion that I have seen multiple times and support whole-heartedly; Give raiders a clear objective! Raids should be flavored by unique objectives. Maybe an alert pops up with a pirate company demanding Maker and Redfields as tributes, and if you refuse you suffer an all out assault. Or tribals demand 2000 nutrition in food in order to stave off an attack. Or maybe an outlander colony simply attacks without warning and makes off with any silver, gold or other valuables they can before retreating.

[lusername]

Raiders already know how to batter down doors, or how to fire a rocket at a colonist, but what about firing a rocket at a stone wall to create a breech?

heh, I know how to counter that one: Build bollards out from the wall that obstruct lines of fire against the wall. If the raider attempts to fire a rocket at the wall, he will strike one of the bollards and fail to breach the wall, and if he gets close enough that he can hit the wall, he will destroy himself with the blast.