[MUD-Dev] New topic: AI and NPCs

[Jon A. Lambert]

On  2 Sep 97 at 9:11, Nathan Yospe wrote:
> On Fri, 29 Aug 1997, Jon A. Lambert wrote:
> :This is fascinating.  Are you saying that a creature/NPC will lock on 
> :to a currently existing combat in another part of the mud world and 
> :attempt to perform similar actions in it's current combat turn?
> 
> Not only that, but a reciprocation. For example, lets take our old friends,
> Bubba and Boffo. Now, Bubba has just walked into the locality of a Freudian
> BakerSigma beast, and has activated the FBSB's 'AI'... the AI looks for any
> current player with combat attributes (tallied over time, yes, this bears a
> resemblance to NNs) similar to its own, and happens across Boffo, wandering
> innocently in another part of the world. "I say," thinks the AI, "This will
> work just fine." Bubba happens to resemble nothing in particular, so the AI
> generates a Bubbalike (but quite different in appearance) critter from some
> template, and places it in a spot analogous to the FBSB's view of Bubba. It
> then ties the critter to Bubba's control feed, and the FBSB to Boffo's, and
> turns the two loose. Of course, speech is obfuscuted, as Bubba cannot speak
> FBSBese, and Boffo cannot speak critterese, but all subsequent actions are,
> in fact, performed by two PCs in four bodies and two locations.
>
It occurs to me that many creatures or alien life forms would use 
tactics not commmonly available to players or have a very limited 
set of tactical options.  For instance, the FBSB monster you mention 
might have the the unique Psi abilities of ego whip or id 
insinuation. In addition, you may have given it a very powerful 
attack form like a dreaded diagnose skill.  In this case, finding an 
appropriate player to mirror would be difficult.   

The speech obfuscation is interesting in it's own right. Given some 
consistent translation tables, in languages which no player could 
hope to learn, an appearance of intelligent alien banter could be 
generated. 

--
Jon A. Lambert

Nature comprehends the visible and invisible Creatures of the Whole 
universe. What we call Nature especially, is the universal fire or 
Anima Mundi, filling the whole system of the Universe, and therefore
is a Universal Agent, omnipresent, and endowed with an unerring instinct,
and manifests itself in fire and Light. It is the First creature of 
Divine Omnipotence.
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