Declined My Problem with AFK Bots

[AgentApple50]

AFK bots have been roaming around the servers for as long as I can remember. There are issues that I would like to address though, as they can destroy the experience when playing.

1. Damage Resistance: Probably the biggest thing I hate about AFK bots the most is their damage resistance. I am an experienced player, so when I melee a scout twice they should die. Instead, the bots can tank two melee hits with 125 health and survive. This also applies to every other weapon. A soldier should die when shot twice with a pipe, but they survive and end up killing you when you should've killed them in the first place.

2. Class Choices: I play on Hightower and Harvest, so when I see an AFK bot play as Engineer it can get incredibly annoying. Not only do I have to deal with engineers that have a massive damage resistance, but I also gotta deal with sentry guns on maps that are known for not having sentry guns in the first place.

3. AFK Pyro Airblast: Because they are AI, they generally don't make mistakes relating to reaction time or any of that kind of stuff. Because of this, AFK pyros are able to airblast at the perfect time when you are shooting them point-blank as a soldier or demoman. This is especially annoying because you need to use 3-4 rockets/pipes to kill an AFK pyro.

4. Demoman Charge: For some reason, AFK demomen with shields are able to use a shield charge and have a FULL turning ability, regardless of what shield they are using. This should only exist on the Tide Turner, but demomen can do this on the Charge N' Targe and Splendid Screen.

What Do I Propose?: For starters, If you are AFK you should not be able to choose to be an engineer on Hightower or Harvest. Second, remove the damage resistance completely, unnecessary and very unfair. Third, if the server is full, all AFK bots should be kicked so that a legit player can join.

 

[chairius✿]

+1 to the damn damage resist! that shit pisses me off, to make bots harder don't fuck up the way we play, make the AI better.

 

[AgentApple50]

Would love to get some people's opinions on this with detail as to why they are fair or unfair.

 

[haytil]

I don't know anything about damage resistance, but I do know that the afk bot's "spy awareness" and spy-checking is ridiculously and ludicrously over-the-top. An AFK bot is ten times more dangerous to me as a spy than an experienced, sever regular - and that should never be true. The difference between the bots and humans is extremely noticeable.

Bump into one and they nail you down, no matter how crowded or confusing the situation (where a normal person might not be sure of who bumped into them and will spycheck a bit and maybe get you, maybe not). If they get you with ONE of their flamethrower particles, it's game over (whereas I at least have a chance of escaping from a human player if it's a confusing situation with lots of players in the area)

If you're uncloaked and undisguised, they're aware of your presence (and announce it) even when you're not in their line-of-sight, as long as you're within a certain minimal distance. This feels 100% like cheating to me.

It seems to be a recent change, sometime in the last few weeks. I've got a demo showing how ridiculous it is, I'll post it when I have a bit of time.

I'd like to see this dialed back a bit to more realistic, human levels.

 

[Meowcenary]

I do agree about the damage resistance thing

I assume its there to make them less of cannon fodder than your typical bots but in my opinion I'd rather take a canon fodder bot over a bot with damage resistance.

As far as the spy thing goes I'm assuming AI aren't easy to code. Trying to make bots have a 'natural' feeling of spy detection is probably a task that would be a massive pain in the ass to undertake. Not even Valve managed to pull it off with their own bots

Also gotta keep in mind Bottiger is the only person working on the skial bots (I think anyway, someone correct me if I'm wrong) in his free time. He's not Valve where they got a huge development team and a near endless budget to work with

 

[KinCryos]

He's not Valve where they got a huge development team two people and a near endless budget dedicated to DOTA2 and CS:GO to not work with

FIFY

 

[S_O_C_K_S]

I love the bots! I think they are (Tony the Tiger "Grrreat!") No problem with damage resistance....it only makes me better. You just have to approach them differently. If you want the bots to be just like humans then I would agree but that will never happen...not in your lifetime.

+rep for the bots and whoever made them.

 

[AgentApple50]

I love the bots! I think they are (Tony the Tiger "Grrreat!") No problem with damage resistance....it only makes me better. You just have to approach them differently. If you want the bots to be just like humans then I would agree but that will never happen...not in your lifetime.

+rep for the bots and whoever made them.

It’s hard to approach them differently when they use other player’s names and have cosmetics and such. I also don’t understand how you think it’s fair for bots to have such a massive advantage over everyone. I don’t know about you, but dying to a scout who survived two melee hits is not being outplayed or outskilled, but is just bullshit. Also, the damage resistance absolutely cripples projectile-based classes like the demoman. 2 direct hit pills on a soldier only for him to survive and kill you while you are reloading your grenade launcher isn’t exactly an enjoyable experience.

I understand why they act the way they act, since they are AI. But I feel like the damage resistance is way too much, especially when they have great awareness such as making an instant 180 degree turn to an enemy player shooting from behind and locking on to them under half a second.

 

[Bottiger]

The bots are just really bad compared to an average player. We have a rating system where the average player has a rating of 1500 and a bot has a rating of 1000 or lower.

This is just a rough estimate, but this means that a bot has about a 10% chance to win a game vs an average player.

I assume its there to make them less of cannon fodder than your typical bots but in my opinion I'd rather take a canon fodder bot over a bot with damage resistance.

I am sure that people who have an AFK team mate would rather not have them die in 2 seconds.

We don't have the time and resources to make them any smarter. In fact we already made their aiming worse due to complaints like this, and heavy bots already take 20% more damage.