I am beginning work on AI and the major factor that can either make or break the game; the killing factor. This is espionage oriented, so going off guns blazing won't be the theme here. Although assassinations will be necessary here and there, thats about all the killing that will be done. In aggressive situations, you will be required to disengage the enemy without killing. To reinforce this, I will put penalties on killing random people, witnesses, civilians, and other non-intended targets. That being said, I plan to make killing generally easy. This concerns me, which is why I'm putting this idea forward to you guys so I can get some criticism. Heavy duty weaponry such as snipers and machine guns will kill pretty quick. A sniper shot to the head is designed to be a one-hit kill no matter who you shoot, as long as they don't have head protection. There are a lot of factors here, so let me attempt to break it down and organize this.

Killing will be very easy, generally 4-5 shots at the most. This of course will come with major penalties for killing the wrong people. These penalties can include failing a mission, major money loss, agency trust will diminish, possibility of being traced by witnesses which will make AI hostile towards you, and a number of other things. Hopefully this will lower a lot of random killing and ruining gameplay of others. I still am nervous about this, yet I will try it and adjust accordingly.

Guns will be generally rare, and are given from the agency if they feel the agent requires a gun for the mission. Guns are for back up, a last defense. They should be used only if its use will save your life. The big boys get the snipers and machine guns, as their missions call for it.

Another option I was thinking about, AI will be easy to kill and players will be a bit harder to kill. Assassination missions will require you to kill AI, and on some occasions will require you to kill players too. This would cut down on griefing (hopefully) while still serving it's purpose.

Now, with the right armor it will be increasingly difficult to kill, but this has its draw backs. Maybe slower movement, slower reaction time, or raised suspicion in certian areas. AI will have lightweight armor on when they feel there is no threat, thus making them easy targets if you remain STEALTHY. Sounding alarms, or making them aware of any hostile situation, will make them more nervous. They will equip helmets (which will stop one-hit assassinations), and vests. This equipment will not only stop your bullets more efficiently, but will hinder attempts to render the AI immobile.


Well its a work in progress, I'm going to get the basics of this down and see how she runs.