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Enemy AI
Rival Travelers with no AI Modifiers will stick to the following AI in battle:
Check for injury. If their Pikamoon’s health is below 20%, they make a series of checks. First of all, do they still have healing items? (Rival Travelers typically have d3-1 healing items, with a minimum of 0). If no, then the Check for injury step concludes. Next, the Rival Traveler calculates to see if they’ll use the healing item on their Pikamoon.
The calculation depends on two factors:
If the player Pikamoon is WEAK to the Rival Traveler’s Pikamoon, or if their Pikamoon is WEAK to the player’s Pikamoon, they will have a 100% chance to use the healing item.
Otherwise, it depends on the number of Pikamoon remaining in the party (100% chance if it's their last Pikamoon, 80% if they have two Pikamoon, 60% if they have three, 40% if they have four, and 20% if they have five).
Check to swap. If the Traveler didn’t use a healing item, then they’ll proceed to calculate their next course of action. First of all, the Traveler checks to see if they should switch out their Pikamoon. If the Traveler is on their last Pikamoon, they skip to Choosing a Move. A Traveler will only switch out their Pikamoon a maximum of TWO (2) times per battle. If they have hit this limit, then they will move on to the next step.
If their active Pikamoon is WEAK to the player’s Pikamoon (either because the player Pikamoon has a SUPER-EFFECTIVE typing, or because the player Pikamoon has previously used a SUPER-EFFECTIVE move), and if they have a NON-WEAK Pikamoon in their party, then they’ll have a 20% chance of switching their Pikamoon out.
If they decide to switch, they will prioritize switching to a Pikamoon that has SUPER-EFFECTIVE moves and is RESISTANT to the player Pikamoon’s type.
- 1.Else, they will switch to a Pikamoon that is RESISTANT to the player Pikamoon’s type.
- 2.Else, they will switch to a Pikamoon that has SUPER-EFFECTIVE moves against the player’s Pikamoon.
- 3.Else, they will switch to a random Pikamoon that isn’t WEAK to the player’s Pikamoon.
If there is a Pikamoon in their party who is SUPER-EFFECTIVE against the player’s Pikamoon, then they’ll have a 10% chance of switching their Pikamoon out.
If they decide to switch, they will prioritize switching to a Pikamoon that has SUPER-EFFECTIVE moves and is RESISTANT to the player Pikamoon’s type.
Else, they will switch to a Pikamoon that has SUPER-EFFECTIVE moves against the player’s Pikamoon.
Choose a move: If the Traveler doesn’t decide to switch Pikamoon, then they’ll choose a move.
If the Traveler sees a killing move (a move that is guaranteed to do enough damage to knock out the player’s Pikamoon), it will ALWAYS use it.
If several moves meet this criterion, the Traveler will randomly select between them.
If the Traveler does not see a killing move but does see a move that is super-effective against the player’s Pikamoon, it will have a 50% chance to use it.
If several moves meet this criterion, then after the initial 50% check, the Traveler will randomly select one of those moves.
If the Traveler does not see a killing move or roll to use a super-effective move, they will randomly choose a non-super-effective move to use.
Counterpick: If the Traveler’s Pikamoon is knocked unconscious, and the Traveler still has Pikamoon remaining, it will send out a new one based on the following criteria:
Firstly, if they only have one remaining Pikamoon, they will send that one out.
If they have more than one Pikamoon, they perform the following checks:
If they have a Pikamoon that is SUPER-EFFECTIVE against the player’s Pikamoon and RESISTANT to the player Pikamoon’s type, they will send that one.
Else, they will switch to ta Pikamoon that is SUPER-EFFECTIVE against the player’s Pikamoon.
Else, they will switch to a Pikamoon that is RESISTANT to the player Pikamoon’s type.
Else, they will switch to a random Pikamoon that has REGULAR-DAMAGING moves against the player’s Pikamoon.
Else, they will switch to a random Pikamoon that isn’t WEAK to the player’s Pikamoon.
Else, they will switch to a random Pikamoon.
Wild Pikamoon battles are different from Traveler battles for a number of reasons:
- Wild Pikamoon CAN’T use items.
- Wild Pikamoon fight alone, so once defeated another Pikamoon won’t take their place.
- Wild Pikamoon battles don’t award money.
- Wild Pikamoon CAN be captured.
- Wild Pikamoon CAN attempt to flee if injured.
Don’t underestimate them, however. Wild Pikamoon are powerful creatures who have survived the harshness of Dreva for many years. They welcome the opportunity to journey with mighty Travelers, but only if you can prove yourself to them.
Wild Pikamoon follow the following AI:
Check if Pikamoon flees: If a successful injury check was made on the previous turn, then the Pikamoon flees at the start of the turn. Battle ends.
Check for injury. If the Wild Pikamoon’s health is below 20%, they make a check to see if they attempt to flee. A d12+x is rolled, where x is equal to the number of times this check has been made (to rephrase, the longer the battle goes on, the higher the chance the Pikamoon will try and flee)
If the result is ≥ 10, the Pikamoon will flee on the next turn. A message is displayed to the player: [SPECIESNAME] is going to run!
If the result is < 9, nothing happens and the Pikamoon will select a move as normal.
Select move. The Wild Pikamoon chooses a move, based on the following criteria.
If the Wild Pikamoon sees a killing move (a move that is guaranteed to do enough damage to knock out the player’s Pikamoon), it will ALWAYS use it.
If several moves meet this criterion, the Wild Pikamoon will select between them.
If the Wild Pikamoon does not see a killing move but does see a move that is super-effective against the player’s Pikamoon, it will have a 50% chance to use it.
If several moves meet this criterion, then after the initial 50% check, the Pikamoon will randomly select one of those moves.
If the Wild Pikamoon does not see a killing move and either fails the 50% check to use a super-effective move or does not have a super-effective move, they will randomly choose a non-super-effective move to use.
While the above AIs are solid enough to provide a decent challenge and offer slight variation from battle to battle, there is the possibility of battles growing stale over the course of the game. To avoid the risk of battles feeling “samey”, both Travelers and Wild Pikamoon have Modifiers that change up their AI in fun and interesting ways.
Typically, Travelers and Wild Pikamoon will only have one (1) AI Modifier at a time, but certain enemies may have several.
- Normal: No changes to the AI.
- Well-stocked: The rival traveler has two additional healing items they can use in battle.
- Uncaring: The rival traveler’s Pikamoon have a higher chance of using Recoil and Exhaustion moves. In addition, they will NEVER switch out a Pikamoon which is weak to the player’s Pikamoon.
- Caring: The rival traveler has an additional healing item. In addition, they will use it when their Pikamoon’s health hits 40% instead of 20%.
- Strategic: The rival traveler can swap out their Pikamoon an additional two times. They also have a 15% increased chance of swapping out their Pikamoon.
- Newbie: When switching out Pikamoon, or when sending out a Pikamoon after their active Pikamoon was knocked out, the Newbie will not take type effectiveness into account and choose randomly.
- Bait ‘n Switch: When sending out a Pikamoon after theirs was knocked out, the Traveler checks to see if they have both a Pikamoon that is WEAK to the player’s Pikamoon and a Pikamoon that is RESISTANT AND/OR SUPER-EFFECTIVE against the player’s Pikamoon. If so, they have a 50% chance to send out the Pikamoon that is WEAK to the player’s Pikamoon, before immediately switching to the RESISTANT AND/OR SUPER-EFFECTIVE Pikamoon on their next turn.
As a rule, Rival Traveler Modifiers typically involve changes to the Rival Traveler’s attitude or strategies, and not simply buffing their Pikamoon.
As a rule, Wild Pikamoon Modifiers typically involve changes to the Wild Pikamoon’s attitude or strategies, but can also involve stat changes (narratively this is explained through training in a harsh environment).
- Normal: No changes to the AI.
- Careful: Injury checks will be made if the Wild Pikamoon’s health is below 40% instead of 20%.
- To the End: The Wild Pikamoon will NOT flee from battle under any circumstances.
- Brutal: The Wild Pikamoon has a higher chance of using Recoil and Exhaustion moves.
- Accurate: The Wild Pikamoon has a higher chance to land their attacks.
- Relentless: If this Wild Pikamoon drops to 0 HP, they will immediately recover 10% of their HP. Can only occur once per battle.
If a Wild Pikamoon with a modifier is captured, the modifier will be removed after the Pikamoon is added to the player’s party.
Powerful Travelers, Guardians, and even the Divines themselves are all beings the player can hope to confront over the course of their journey. These will be fine-tuned over the creation of the project to ensure each boss battle feels tense, epic, and unique. Typically however, bosses will
- Bosses can NEVER have the Newbie modifier.
- Bosses will ALWAYS start with the maximum number of healing items (if a Traveler).
- Bosses can have several AI modifiers.
Last modified 8mo ago