Give us the mob ai we were promised before launch

[DEDjed]

My memory may be a tad fuzzy on this or maybe i just read it wrong but before launch i rememebr expecting the following from mob AI

- mobs would loot you if they killed you, they would take things of interest to them (goblins might take weapons/armour, bears might eat your food) and then they would use them..

This was one of the things that most attracted me to DF ... i wanted to never really know whether that skele i was stalking was gonna pull out a sunbow they got from some muppet who went and died carrying it .. i wanted to hear tales of a dragon in the distant mountains that hadnt been killed in weeks and had, by now, amassed a massive hoarde of loot from all the failed attempts to kill it .. i wanted to get a band of adventurers together to have a go at slaying it and divying up the jackpot

- Small bands of mobs would wander around the world, should those mobs meet they would either fight each other or merge into a larger group. should the group get large enough they might set up a camp and start raiding nearby settlements, if left unchecked this camp would grow (or possibly get a boost from another passing group) ... as it grew the level of mobs spawned wouyld increase with large settlements eventually forming boss mobs. If players killed the mobs at a certain rate the size of the camp would decrease until eventually the mobs would up and leave, moving on to another area (or be eradicated if killed fast enough)

This would make the world far more dynamic and pave the way for migratory systems and mob tracking

[fannkiba]

The ideas are cool, and I really like the mobs looting you idea as that is what they would do in Ultima Online, then you would have to find the one that took your stuff unless someone else got it. And the mobs fighting each other that would be amazing.

Something I would like to add is the ability to just be able to get one mob to come after you instead of a whole group, I think that is what makes fighting mobs the hardest. I can kill Troll Lords solo but I get down to like 50% health just to one, and with two on me everytime I try to fight I practically die each time. It would be nice to be able to pull a mob without pulling the whole group.

But

As much as I would like to see things like this added/changed, I think there are more pressing matters right now, but this should definitely be kept as an idea.

[MikeJT]

In Russia, mob loots you!

Yeah this is an awesome idea.

It would be great to see a goblin fortress somewhere on the map and goblin warships constantly coming from far off lands and dropping off hordes of goblins.

They might not be strong but in large numbers they could be deadly (if the AI didn't suck).

I don't care how good you are 1,000 goblins attacking at once could make mince meat of anyone, even if you do get through 200 before you go down.

[Yakamoz]

As much we whine about mobs' AI I dare to say it is still the best on the MMO market. Lately I was interested in Fallen Earth another indy MMORPG project and I have to say that their AI put me off the game completely.

Check by yourself, they just stand there and wait to be slaughtered:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXDDgqV7Ng4

Mobs in DF at least pretend well that they have own field of view, hear you and dodge attacks. As much I dislike their stupid circle running behaviour...it copies what exactly players did and do in Darkfall.