Francesco Roccucci · AI Director

Exactly. So this is an example, right? If, for example, you tell the AI to go inside an environment that is dangerous, they can still go. You can see it here: he's still entering the environment because that's his goal, but he will try to avoid it as long as he can, and then he goes in. Basically, what we want to add here in the next sprint is the same kind of tag cost modifiers that we use for navigation links. So we can tag them with the intention you are describing, but also say that it's not just the cost that gets influenced: some costs are so high that they basically cause a blockage. Because the problem with making the cost too high is that we eventually saturate the cost, right? So then it has less impact. So in some situations it's like, I really don't want to go through at all. I'm a civilian, I don't have anything that can protect me, I should never go inside the fire. And then we can make that happen, right? So the pathfinding understands that that is really a no-go and it needs to find another path if it can. Or it completely fails, and then the behavior can handle it.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community

Because it's dynamic, if the player sets fires, it creates new areas that cost more, which the AI will avoid. And if the player extinguishes the fire, puts the fire out, the cost of the area goes back down.

Francesco Roccucci · AI Director

For example, imagine a mission where you need to save somebody from a building on fire. You have the guy that tries to pass through, but the pathfinder says that he can't. So he will always know that he's trying to escape or follow you, right? But he can't. And then we can react, saying, 'Hey, you need to save me. You need to put out the fire before I can come with you.' And then you can put it out, and he will dynamically find the path and follow you, basically. This is all stuff that we will be able to do with this tech.