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Author Topic: NPC preferred attacks  (Read 1318 times)

Bob69Joe

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NPC preferred attacks
« on: September 28, 2018, 06:05:13 pm »

I brought 50 war dogs on an embark so nothing gets near the wagon, but the dogs prefer scratching over biting. Are there weighted params to attack preferences?
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Hugo_The_Dwarf

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Re: NPC preferred attacks
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2018, 11:21:10 pm »

as of vanilla they should actually be biting more often than scratching. Considering bite is MAIN and scratch is SECOND which puts it into the list of "it's possible, but not preferred unless there is an opportunity"

does a normal dog bite normally?
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thefriendlyhacker

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Re: NPC preferred attacks
« Reply #2 on: September 28, 2018, 11:33:56 pm »

I can take an educated guess at what your problem is.

The things coming near your wagon are wildlife, right?  At the moment, fights with wildlife aren't lethal or no quarter fights AFAICT (barring explicit squad orders), so to the best of my knowledge only STANCE_STRIKE and GRASP_STRIKE attacks get used.  Bite is, well, a BITE attack, and as such is not used in fights against wildlife.  You could modify bite to be a STANCE_STRIKE attack or something, but in any case your dogs will not latch on firmly with their bites, so you still won't get great mileage out of them.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell there isn't a way around this.  I don't think wildlife ever actually tries to kill your dwarfs (it just gets pissed and mauls them for a bit before getting bored), so your own units won't reciprocate with lethal force (off duty military won't even pull weapons).  You can work around this with your citizens by issuing squad orders, but for animals you are out of luck.
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Hugo_The_Dwarf

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Re: NPC preferred attacks
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2018, 01:10:45 pm »

SKILL does not determine if an attack can latch or not, that's the [ATTACK_FLAG_CANLATCH] that controls if the attack can latch or not.

also good to know about the combat situation picks what moves to use via SKILL
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thefriendlyhacker

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Re: NPC preferred attacks
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2018, 02:17:04 pm »

SKILL does not determine if an attack can latch or not, that's the [ATTACK_FLAG_CANLATCH] that controls if the attack can latch or not.

also good to know about the combat situation picks what moves to use via SKILL
I meant that they won't latch because their level of conflict doesn't permit them to, even if you trick the combat system into permitting bites by changing it's skill.
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Bob69Joe

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Re: NPC preferred attacks
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2018, 08:55:03 pm »

I can take an educated guess at what your problem is.

The things coming near your wagon are wildlife, right?  At the moment, fights with wildlife aren't lethal or no quarter fights AFAICT (barring explicit squad orders), so to the best of my knowledge only STANCE_STRIKE and GRASP_STRIKE attacks get used.  Bite is, well, a BITE attack, and as such is not used in fights against wildlife.  You could modify bite to be a STANCE_STRIKE attack or something, but in any case your dogs will not latch on firmly with their bites, so you still won't get great mileage out of them.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell there isn't a way around this.  I don't think wildlife ever actually tries to kill your dwarfs (it just gets pissed and mauls them for a bit before getting bored), so your own units won't reciprocate with lethal force (off duty military won't even pull weapons).  You can work around this with your citizens by issuing squad orders, but for animals you are out of luck.

Hey, thanks. Yep, 'twas an oblivious fox that wandered into a pile of fifty dogs. I'll try that bite as stance-strike thing, as I can't imagine a dog ever using its claws to attack and wound. It was reminiscent of kickball, reading the combat reports.

Are wolves and dingoes done differently than dogs for their attack assignments? As, I've known dozens of adventurers bitten by five wolves and ripped to pieces pretty quickly.
« Last Edit: September 29, 2018, 08:57:19 pm by Bob69Joe »
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IndigoFenix

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Re: NPC preferred attacks
« Reply #6 on: October 02, 2018, 10:54:45 am »

Adventure mode LARGE_PREDATOR attacks are No Quarter from the start, so all attacks will be used.  It's only domestic creatures in fort mode that have this issue.

Bob69Joe

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Re: NPC preferred attacks
« Reply #7 on: October 02, 2018, 12:31:31 pm »

Adventure mode LARGE_PREDATOR attacks are No Quarter from the start, so all attacks will be used.  It's only domestic creatures in fort mode that have this issue.

It must explain why kobolds wielding knives won't even come to within thirty tiles of the dog stack. I have a stockpile around the wagon of all the axes and picks I need. The kobold just darts straight for the map edge when it gets sniffed out, though more importantly the knife gets sniffed out so that kobold would be turned into bacon bits.
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Hugo_The_Dwarf

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Re: NPC preferred attacks
« Reply #8 on: October 02, 2018, 02:46:04 pm »

Thieves and snatchers always bolt when found out. And since they are from civs that are not friendly I'd assume actions to them would be no quarter or lethal. However do the dogs give chase or is the pasture keeping them from chasing?
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Bob69Joe

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Re: NPC preferred attacks
« Reply #9 on: October 03, 2018, 05:06:23 pm »

Thieves and snatchers always bolt when found out. And since they are from civs that are not friendly I'd assume actions to them would be no quarter or lethal. However do the dogs give chase or is the pasture keeping them from chasing?

I haven't set a meeting area so the fifty wardogs just pile onto and around the wagon. I brought enough steel to make axes and picks for all seven dwarves and lined the wagon with a stockpile for those. I also have some two hundred stone blocks of bright red cinnabar. The migrants that come, I make them plant gatherers and woodcutters, so they've spotted a few kobolds and can defend themselves while the miners carve out the entire fortress. These migrants are so useless except for this socially witty "great" beekeeper. The dogs don't go anywhere and I think the gatherers found the kobolds first.
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