SureAI

I have such a hard criticizing a free game that is so well don e in so many ways...however the new AI needs a toggle off switch, 'cause its just killing the game. I played Enderal when it came out the first time and had a blast. This new AI destroys the combat and immersion.

It was first noticeable with the wolves, and now bone rippers. I play stealthy archer style, and now am trying the phasmalist / Trickster combo. So a pack of wolves will rip me apart like in real life, so I need to use my human brain and get up to a vantage point and pick them off. As soon (mili-second soon) as I step up om the rock they all run and hide, as soon as I get down they swarm for the kill. I am no longer fighting wolves but a math co-processor and it feels it. My own summons are stupid as hell, so forget them for now. I am at level 6 on the island with the rippers. Now don't tell me to come back because it makes no difference, when you have three Fast as lightning Rippers using (I would say pack tactics) but again I am fighting some millenial ai coder who is trying to kill me yelling haha. I am winning, but is it fun?...NO!, its complete cheese wars. I am being chessed so I have to out cheese the young cheese coder on the team. They can't follow me into the water, so I am finding a place to hang them up, and just ...(loss for words how not fun this is). The Ai is not smart it is definitely smart-assed. Please make it optional, or maybe re-post the original Enderal, because I enjoyed that a lot.

Cheese number 2...stealth is being bypassed somehow. Now that I have thinned the heard, I can take them out one on one, but stealth shots are impossible. Why? because the AI uses some sort of proximity system that ignores stealth. Fortunately there is a bug that gives me a heads up that one of them "knows" I am their because the music begins to play. My stealth line is flat and says no detection, so I back away, and sure enough the music stops.

One on on kills are possible, but its a slug out, then sleep it off in a bed. Perhaps its only the wolves and Rippers with broken AI...npc wild mages have been pretty good actually, I like that they coordinate and try to corner me. Maybe they are less annoying because they are not 5x faster than me and can shred me with numbers.

I love the the story line in this game. So much attention to detail.

Final verdict ... I love the brotherhood of Kor story. Putting my finger on what kills immersion with certain AI is that it doesn't feel at all natural, insteadt very artificial. Animals that react when they have a path to me and run away from me when they don't flat out negates an archer play style. I feel like Burt Gummer from tremors when as soon as I touch ground, all wolves or Rippers run from cover. They never expose themselves when a line of code tells them I have a shot (unnatural to the point of obvious). A sword and board style would have no problem, because the want to get up close. Real animals might circle or show caution, but would be ignorant to the fact I had target lock.

The actual AI, to my knowledge, is still the same as in Skyrim or the old Enderal without Forgotten Stories (SkyrimEngine),
it's only used in another way.
What has been changed is that just at the beginning the wolves have been weakened a bit.
What level of difficulty do you play? You can change them at any time.
Each player has his own sense of how to survive best and Enderal is more than just blunt beating, like in Skyrim.

Wolves are pack animals (usually 2-4), so a pure sneak style is a bit more difficult at the beginning.
Just as with the magician, whose magic is not always enough for several opponents, it makes sense to combine different tactics.
(e.g. summoned helpers or melee as alternative fighting style)
I hope these tips will help you.

PS: did the phasmalist-stone work for you now?

Nysno - are you using the Campfire mod by the way?

If you are, one side effect of it (and the Campfire Enderal Patch) is that small birds such as the Oystercatchers, Pigeons and so on see right through stealth and can affect your gameplay as a result.

No campfire...it seems to have been just the bone rippers who trigger off proximity (one on Beach). He would go all nuts looking for me, and I was stealthed up on walkway (Kor).

Update: "GET A HORSE!"

I am sticking with this character but have taken to horse archery. Makes fights with bow at least fun. Kite enemies into each other, pick a side when they engage each other. Run away then charge into them (easier to line up a shot). Thin out groups then dismount and sword and board it. Halting archery at 50 to get 1 hand up to same, then block.

The Ash (Fogville) do the same thing others do: If I get a shot lined up where they can't reach me they "RUN AWAY!" out of range. At least on HB I can deal with this, though foot archery is really not viable....maybe combined with magic to fear enemies or something, but hey, live and learn.