A-Life Overhaul Part One: Mutants image - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Wormwood mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
Return to the Zone in S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Wormwood, a high-difficulty survival-oriented realism modification for GSC Game World’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat. Wormwood builds upon the core Stalker experience, enriching the latest in the cult game series with brand new survival mechanics, intense and realistic gunplay, new missions, levels, fleshed-out building interiors and much, much more.
One of the main things we're doing in Wormwood is overhauling the game's A-Life.
Part one of this endeavour is reworking the behaviour of mutants in the Zone, as well as altering the game's scripting and smart-terrains to allow for this.
Here you can see a rare insight into the Wormwood Trello board, where we organise our activities - in this case, my plans for the behaviour of mutants in the mod.
My overall aim for mutant behaviour is for a basis in realism, and improved interaction with Stalkers (and the player).
Mutants should alternate between searching for food/territory in the day, and hiding/resting in their lairs at night (reversed for certain mutants, as in the image). In vanilla, there was no real distinction in these behaviours for some reason.
What I've done is separate smart terrains into mutant territories, and mutant lairs.
Territories are usually outside, and often places that Stalkers will camp during the day, or search for artifacts.
Lairs are almost always inside buildings, sheds, or underground - Stalkers can sometimes camp at these locations overnight if they are too far from a proper 'base', but more information about Stalker behaviours in Part Two!
Overall, these changes should make for more realistic mutant behaviour with certain mutants hiding indoors in the day and coming out at night to hunt, with others doing the reverse.
Watch out when you venture down into that basement in the middle of the day, there may well be a bloodsucker waiting for night-time down there!
Chimera's and other night mutants should be in lairs (dark interiors of extended by mod buildings). Imagine new quest: track mutant and find his lair and hunt for him at night. Cool thing was random AI events in the world, just like in Sigerous Mod.
Exactly :)
This will be very interesting!!! good!
Really nice, but I would like to say the following:
Every STALKER mod yet claims it changed the AI of NPCs, so they are smarter and better in combat, but when you actually play the mod the AI is still dumb as hell.
But I have trust in you :) This project seems to be so well organized.
Thanks :)
Bear in mind, this isn't an alteration of the mutant AI - purely their behaviour.
Yeah, yeah I understand, but this came immediately to my mind when reading "AI" and "behaviour" etc.
I know exactly what you're talking about. MISERY said quite a bit about their A.I Improvements, but they still have their derpy STALKER charm.
Bandits still sometimes loot their buddy who just got shot in front of them, AI will make conga lines through doorways for you to shoot at one by one, they have trouble with doors at yanov.
One time, I watched a couple STALKERS barrel out of Skadovsk like it was full of bloodsuckers right in the middle of an Emission.
There wasn't anything left.
MISERY AI was missunderstanding. Extremely hard, or realistic.
I know what you're talking about. Especially stalkers' AI. It remain almost untouched and all they got is free wallhack and autoaim.
I still keep thumbs, I simply trust that they learn on the others mods mistakes and improve.
Any chance of having new mutants types ?
The cats that have been used other mods are very good, they would be a nice addition to Wormwood.
How exactly will the lairs look like ?
Is it just a location like the Gas Station and the Controller Cave or one of the newly added locations ?
They can be almost any indoor location, including new ones, but we're trying to make certain places feel like proper mutant dens with appropriate props.
What about new mutants? :c
I miss the "danger" mutant feel of Metro 2033 in STALKER. In Metro you listen the "houls" and sounds and really gets hard the mutant encounters, but balanced!
Thats an interesting idea, but boars are definetly not vegeterians I seen one of them eating someone in clear sky.
Indeed they're not, but in the game files they're classified as such that's all :)
Ohh I see. I hope with these improvements observing the mutants
"in their natural habitat" will be easier. Its so rare to see them living their daily lives; sleeping, eating people, etcetera. So keep up the good work. ;)
I love the idea of mutants have their own territories now, that means "mutant hunting" is actually a thing to do now. I have a question to ask though: Do mutants have body parts like humans in the game? One thing I hated in the original COP is that mutants can take many shots in the head and be still running. My idea is that they should bleed, get wounded, run away, and killed by one single headshot. I know you are going to change mutants' health so they are no longer bullet sponge, but is it possible to get headshot with mutants? Cos if it is possible, shotgun would finally be useful against mutants as intended by COP. Love your good work, played a tons of Redux, and hope to see Wormwood come out soon.
Yes, mutant hunting is designed to be a thing. We're also creating specialised hunter NPC squads that go out at night to hunt larger mutants. Mutants have area-specific damage, yes. Thanks for the kind words!
As Beacon said, mutants have specific area-damage, but I think that giving proper damage multiplier based on the mutant's description is better. For example: the Pseudogiant, with it described as having a thick 10cm skull, shooting in the head will be less effective than shooting it in the fleshy area. But that is just my 2 cents.
Trello! Good place to keep notes that.
A guns that behaviors like a guns, and bullets likes bullets what didn't like a plastic one. That is the real realistic, not liking those ******** in Misery.All except that ,those ******** settings even thought that radiation could be cured by using cigarettes or tons of vodka?What the hell is that with so called "realism"?
Crazy all these mod with their mutant eating settings, I think ! It just a game, but being forced with some anti-science conception. Don't you think it would be a fantastic way to memorize that miserable disaster ?