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I've been playing with this idea for a while: Giving the units in a RTS game the AI of a FPS, thus if you tell a unit to destroy something, it won't just go for it, but rather for example if it's a sniper, take position on higher ground, etc.

What would you think of that?

That would be awesome.

But sometimes FPS AI is sometimes really stupid, even worse than RTS AI, at least RTS AI get the job done

I used to get very irritated with units not doing what I told them. I know where I want my units to go, not some AI that is far less intelligent than I am. When the AI can really take advantage of cover then I'll pay attention to this sort of idea.

Well, that's what they'd be supposed to do. Of course, there would be a sort of "switch", to make them do what you tell them, or take it on by themselves.

For a "normal" RTS it wouldn't work, but something tactical, like WiC or Ground Control, there it would prolly work.

The main reason it's not done that way, besides the points already mentioned, is simply processing time. Game programming is all about making a compromise between quality and speed. In this case you need to sacrifice quality in the form of AI intelligence so that you can keep the game running smoothly. The AI for a good FPS-style opponent is far more complex, and it would take far too much work to simulate that for EVERY unit on the battlefield, which may number over 100. Remember how Generals can already easily slow down a low-end computer... imagine that except even worse. That's why.

nice idea but the sheer frustration of a unit not doing exactly what people tell them to do will put them off

I already hate it when some units like JK move around to "have a clear line of sight" when it's not needed, so I don't want to imagine how irrirtating will it be to have the units doing that all the time...

Sgt. Rho, on 11 Jun 2009, 2:28, said:

Company of Heroes and it's expansion packs already did it. Infact, Company Of Heroes also have a FPS graphics quality for a RTS game.
Edited by Kris, 11 June 2009 - 05:21.

i just dont trust my AI enough to do this, if it can be perfected tho its a sweet idea

I mean, units would have a sort of switch to tell them either to plan the attack or to just got for it. For example of you tell a few soldier dudes to kill a vehicle, but you only have 1 or 2 bazookas with them, they'll ambush the vehicle, but if you don't have them plan the attack. they'll just go head on, talking cover of course, to attack it.

so U choose if they plan it or not?

Yes, a bit like the co-commander controls in RA3.

I would certainly like to see an RTS where such kind of AI is obligatory - i.e. both you and your enemy are "hindered" by it, having to factor in not only how your enemy behaves but also your own army - can you send in your cannonfodder or will they flee when it's obvious that you don't care for keeping them alive? Are your snipers able to communicate with your scouts so that they know where best to operate from? And so on... it'd certainly help shifting the RTS focus from tactics to strategy.

i still dont completley understand, is this like a 2nd person shooter?

No, not really, the units just have an AI similar to that of a shooter, and would work together.

Graphics technology developers are working to use the enormous computing power of their GPU into AI for computer games. RTS AI would be perfectly suitable for this, as it requires a lot of different parallel calculations for every unit for example, which can be done by a GPU effectively with it's many shaders.

In raw computing power current GPUs are so much more powerful than CPUs, they just can only perform limited tasks. Utilizing the full potential of all this power could really give AI development an edge.

So we won't be shooting at mindless puppets anymore in what we call modern games. Modern AI is currently defined as ''not standing still and shooting at you''. That can be done beter.