Using The AI
By Kronzky
| After all the bad rep AI's been getting, I thought it was about time that someone jumped in to their defense. Even though they do act stupid at times, it is possible, if you are aware of their strengths and weaknesses, to use them quite efficiently, without getting yourself or them killed. |
| AI's Weaknesses
Running into open areas This normally happens for one of two reasons. |
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| One solution to this problem is to not let the
situation come up in the first place. If you know there are open areas
ahead, keep your officers away from them. Let them cover your back while
you clear the critical area. Close any doors they may be passing, or gas
and clear other open areas than are unavoidable. Only then let them pass.
If it does happen that they get involved in a firefight there is not way of getting them to stop moving. You can only hope their aim is good and luck is on their side... In case they are pursuing hostages you will have to issue an immediate 'Fall In' order. Even though they will still keep their eyes on the hostage, they will come back to you and, once the hostage is out of sight, obey your next order. The other situation is normally caused by the Element Leader himself. |
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Here is another example of how ELs
normally get their AI team killed. If you want the AI to cover the main area of the Conference Center, don't point to the far end of it. It will only cause them to walk across it and probably not survive that walk. Have them cover a spot close to the door instead, and they will stay where they are, but still observe the whole open area, including the escalators. |
| Locking onto hostages After suspects or hostages have been ordered to the ground, your AI officers won't take their eyes off them until they have been cuffed. Even though suspects will get back up and arm themselves if you leave them alone in a room, they pose no danger while you are close to them (even with your back turned to them). And, of course, hostages will never pose a danger. Unfortunately, the AI isn't aware of that... On the other hand, while the officers are keeping their eyes trained on those subjects they may not see the real danger approaching from behind. So, it is crucial that, whenever anyone has been ordered to the ground to 'free' your officers from them. If you don't care about your score you can just shoot the terrorists. But if you do care, or if it's hostages, either you or your officers will have to cuff them ASAP. |
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As you can see in this scenario, since the hostage is still uncuffed both officers keep watching her, even though they were ordered to cover the area behind them (from which other suspects are very likely to appear). The quickest solution to a situation like this is to give the cover order and cuff the hostage yourself. As soon as the officers see that the subject is cuffed they will comply with your original order. |
| Bad Aim Don't count on your AI officers to hit the side of a barn when throwing anything. |
| Unless it's a pretty straightforward throw (to 'cover' a potentially dangerous area), you will have to do any crucial shots yourself. Also, when ordering a throw into a doorway the AI might walk into the open area to perform the throw and endanger itself. So, bring lots of gas, as you will have to deploy most of it yourself. |  |
| AI's Strengths Fortunately, there are a lot of things AI is quite good at; and at some things they are even better than most human players. Covering |
| In this case I have AI cover the hallways, while I can clear the upstairs floor, without having to worry about anyone sneaking up on me. |  |
| Long Shots AI's sight is quite impressive. Where humans can barely make out a subject in the distance AI is actually able to distinguish between hostage and suspect, and fire some well-aimed shots if necessary.
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| Mirroring AI is able to give quite specific reports from their mirroring. The kind of details they are able to distinguish (whether hostages, suspects, armed or not), can prove rather helpful at times. Also, AI has the ability to use their wand through swing doors. (Something that I still haven't figured out...) So before rushing through those killer doors, let them have a peek and tell you what's going on. |
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| Darkness Again, their sight beats that of most humans. So if you are coming up to a dark area, leave it to the AI to figure out who's friend and who's foe. |
| Tactics If you keep these characteristics in mind you should be able to finish pretty much any mission without too many fatalities. Just keep their shortcomings in mind and prevent them from becoming a problem. You may occasionally spend quite a bit of time collecting your 'strayed' officers or positioning them just right to do their covering job. But if you use them for tasks they are suited to they can be quite a help in finishing a mission. Here's a quick walkthrough on how I use AI in the 'Home Invasion' mission: I normally only use 2 AIs (one per team), as more tend to push one another out from behind the hedge, and two are really all it takes to get through this one. As soon as the game starts, issue a 'Fall In' order, so that they don't run out into the yard. Use your wand to check the yard, gas and clear if necessary. Have both follow you towards the basement door. Point Red towards the stairs leading to the pool for coverage and have Blue cover the door while you open, gas and clear the entrance area. Lead Blue a bit up the stairs and have him cover the top of the stairs, so you can clear the basement. Leave Blue where he is and walk up to the pool, mirror and open the door, gas and clear, and have Red cover the door to the living room, while you clear the kitchen, etc. Bring Blue into the kitchen and have him cover the living room door, while you open it and mirror the living room. After the living room is cleared, position both AIs so they keep an eye on the windows and front entrance, while you take care of bathroom, office and garage. Unless the tangos haven't come in from the front yard yet, have both AIs cover the front door while you blast it open with C2, making sure that you are not exposed yourself. Gas the front yard generously (AI can do that) and have them clear it. Move upstairs and, while AI covers the hallway, check each of the adjoining rooms. As you can see, the main work is done by the
Element Leader, and most of the time AI is only used for cover. This
gives you the opportunity to fully concentrate on what you're doing
without having to worry about any surprise attacks. Firefight are never
a good idea, and especially not if AI gets involved. Make generous use
of your mirror and gas when checking and clearing rooms and you shouldn't
have anything to worry about... Questions? Comments? Please feel free to email
the author. |
