Hireling's A.I. Questionable?

[oldnorsehero]

I'm wondering whether the Hireling A.I. is different than enemy NPCs in terms of accuracy, aggressiveness, etc.

All of my hirelings absolutely suck. I've replaced 4 from dying, and I'm losing more coin than gaining using them. They absolutely get their asses handed to them on a silver platter in almost every fight. I've counted maybe 4 wins total from them, without my help. I've noticed how crappy their accuracy and aggressiveness is in swinging, you can see it clearly in pugilism matches. My dude's arms point next to the enemy, while the enemy's points directly at my dude's face, inept VS inept and beyond. Not even kidding, my dudes bring great shame to my dojo.

Is this normal? Or a small side-effect of a glorious beta? It's hard to get them to rank up, as inept doubles/skirmishes are very rare, so I send them to get bopped up in pugilism matches.

 

[burgzaza]

Mines rock ! But they are very well geared. At low ranks, what you give them as a weapon + what skills you picked, can make a difference, depending of how is set up the opponent.
Seriously my hirelings rock, they may have a 8/10 win/lose ratio.
I've even seen some recruits win longs 1v2 ( while I was eating the dust )
But maybe it's just luck.
I lost some recruits too.

 

[Orlacktherof]

I'm wondering whether the Hireling A.I. is different than enemy NPCs in terms of accuracy, aggressiveness, etc.

All of my hirelings absolutely suck. I've replaced 4 from dying, and I'm losing more coin than gaining using them. They absolutely get their asses handed to them on a silver platter in almost every fight. I've counted maybe 4 wins total from them, without my help. I've noticed how crappy their accuracy and aggressiveness is in swinging, you can see it clearly in pugilism matches. My dude's arms point next to the enemy, while the enemy's points directly at my dude's face, inept VS inept and beyond. Not even kidding, my dudes bring great shame to my dojo.

Is this normal? Or a small side-effect of a glorious beta? It's hard to get them to rank up, as inept doubles/skirmishes are very rare, so I send them to get bopped up in pugilism matches.

It's called a beta.

 

[zhuliks]

It's called a beta.

I call for poor management. Right gear makes all the difference.

 

[Orlacktherof]

I call for poor management. Right gear makes all the difference.

There's always ways around it, but the bots on our team compared to us?

 

[konggary]

If the hireling's skill is based on the quantity if skills they have, isn't this just a RNG + equipment simulator? Having two equally skilled & equally equipped AI face each other is just rolling the dice.

 

[burgzaza]

I've Just lost one hireling... and it might be my fault. I'm not sure but I think I landed the killing blow while he was K.O on the floor, with a miss overhead >'<
Pro tip: don't fight near your unconcious allies on the floor...
But her partner won an adept elimination easily. She weild the new battle axe and a square shield, she has the shield skill, and used all equipment points... witch helps !

 

[oldnorsehero]

Mines rock ! But they are very well geared. At low ranks, what you give them as a weapon + what skills you picked, can make a difference, depending of how is set up the opponent.
Seriously my hirelings rock, they may have a 8/10 win/lose ratio.
I've even seen some recruits win longs 1v2 ( while I was eating the dust )
But maybe it's just luck.
I lost some recruits too.

So I guess it's just something to tough out for now. Hahaha

It's called a beta.

Go be a jackass somewhere else, this thread is for adult communication.

I call for poor management. Right gear makes all the difference.

I dunno, I gear them up pretty good, they just suck ass.

If the hireling's skill is based on the quantity if skills they have, isn't this just a RNG + equipment simulator? Having two equally skilled & equally equipped AI face each other is just rolling the dice.

If this is an isolated situation, maybe starting a new character and testing out the pugilism matches will give me some answers.

I've Just lost one hireling... and it might be my fault. I'm not sure but I think I landed the killing blow while he was K.O on the floor, with a miss overhead >'<
Pro tip: don't fight near your unconcious allies on the floor...
But her partner won an adept elimination easily. She weild the new battle axe and a square shield, she has the shield skill, and used all equipment points... witch helps !

Well, now I know they can be killed with further damage after being downed. Thank you, good sir. =]

 

[MikeHBS]

I have a retarded hireling but I love seeing him getting beaten down or fighting by his side. He might be this stupid because I accidentally hit him really fucking hard on the back of the head on the start of a skirmish. Poor Olan, but his determination is contagious

 

[Mowglia]

It's tricky Norse, nothing is 100% guaranteed, but there are ways to improve your odds. At Inept/Aspirant it's tough to train Hirelings, although at Novice and above it starts to get a bit easier. Having said that I've had an Expert Hireling lose to an Inept, anything can happen.

Gear is absolutely essential. Regardless of the level of the Hireling I've only been fighting Inept/Aspirant matches so far (can't afford gear for higher matches yet). Inept/Aspirant gear is fairly cheap so you should be able to get that relatively quickly.

Weaponry is also essential. At Inept I use Iron-Shod Quarterstaff, at Aspirant I use a Bill (which is the go-to weapon for Hirelings), and Bardiche for Novice (occasionally).

Then you have the skills. I usually go for Fend, Remise, Riposte, and then at least one Armour Manoeuvring skill.

But management is also critical. Basically you want to pick on weak opponents. So at Inept you're kinda screwed. When you have an Aspirant Hireling they would be looking for Inept Tier/Rank matches. You can enter them into a Duel/Challenge (alone) and then carefully observe how they perform. Once they reach Novice then try to enter them into Aspirant Eliminations with a Bill as this pays off really well in terms of experience. As they rank higher don't scale up, just stick to the Aspirant matches (preferably Eliminations) and eventually they'll win a lot more than they lose.

The golden rule is don't ever enter the Hireling into a match at the same Tier (unless you have no choice), you're looking to give yourself every possible advantage. And obviously you can use a Recruit to boost the Hireling in Doubles if they come up.

You won't make much cash from it to start though, in fact you'll probably lose cash. So it's better to use a Recruit to generate a stack of gold before you get started on Hirelings (unless you want a hardcore challenge).

Once you've got several Expert Hirelings with excellent gear/weapons then theoretically you'll be able to enter all three into Skirmishes, at which point the gold should start rolling in.

Just one last thing. Once your Hireling is doing ok, don't ever enter an Inept Elimination. Personally I wouldn't enter any Inept match. It's entirely possible your Expert Hireling will be whacked in the face and ended right there and then

 

[oldnorsehero]

I have a retarded hireling but I love seeing him getting beaten down or fighting by his side. He might be this stupid because I accidentally hit him really fucking hard on the back of the head on the start of a skirmish. Poor Olan, but his determination is contagious

Lol I had one named Ferrand, but some a-hole with a butcher knife killed him... :/

It's tricky Norse, nothing is 100% guaranteed, but there are ways to improve your odds. At Inept/Aspirant it's tough to train Hirelings, although at Novice and above it starts to get a bit easier. Having said that I've had an Expert Hireling lose to an Inept, anything can happen.

Gear is absolutely essential. Regardless of the level of the Hireling I've only been fighting Inept/Aspirant matches so far (can't afford gear for higher matches yet). Inept/Aspirant gear is fairly cheap so you should be able to get that relatively quickly.

Weaponry is also essential. At Inept I use Iron-Shod Quarterstaff, at Aspirant I use a Bill (which is the go-to weapon for Hirelings), and Bardiche for Novice (occasionally).

Then you have the skills. I usually go for Fend, Remise, Riposte, and then at least one Armour Manoeuvring skill.

But management is also critical. Basically you want to pick on weak opponents. So at Inept you're kinda screwed. When you have an Aspirant Hireling they would be looking for Inept Tier/Rank matches. You can enter them into a Duel/Challenge (alone) and then carefully observe how they perform. Once they reach Novice then try to enter them into Aspirant Eliminations with a Bill as this pays off really well in terms of experience. As they rank higher don't scale up, just stick to the Aspirant matches (preferably Eliminations) and eventually they'll win a lot more than they lose.

The golden rule is don't ever enter the Hireling into a match at the same Tier (unless you have no choice), you're looking to give yourself every possible advantage. And obviously you can use a Recruit to boost the Hireling in Doubles if they come up.

You won't make much cash from it to start though, in fact you'll probably lose cash. So it's better to use a Recruit to generate a stack of gold before you get started on Hirelings (unless you want a hardcore challenge).

Once you've got several Expert Hirelings with excellent gear/weapons then theoretically you'll be able to enter all three into Skirmishes, at which point the gold should start rolling in.

Just one last thing. Once your Hireling is doing ok, don't ever enter an Inept Elimination. Personally I wouldn't enter any Inept match. It's entirely possible your Expert Hireling will be whacked in the face and ended right there and then

What an absolutely thorough and thought-out response, I really appreciate that!
It makes sense what you're saying, it was my plan when I first started the arena campaign with the first beta update. I hope things do tend to look up, maybe the accuracy judging thing is just my imagination? I look at an inept brawl between one of my dudes, against another dude and my dude just swings at their side, they aim closer to his nose. I might just be seeing things, but literally, they never win anything without me in there with them. I guess I'll just have to see what goes on. But your strategy is definitely a safe one, which is the best at low ranks...

 

[oldnorsehero]

So... The recent updates(s) fixed the whole questionable A.I. of hirelings. My dudes wreck EVERYONE they fight.
Ortunel here entered an aspirant fray, bopped out 3 of the 5 enemies, and get this... Not a scratch on him.

 

[Orlacktherof]

I got a theory on why the AI for your hired fighters used to be terrible at fighting. You, as a player, will always be able to fight an opponent of equal size and strength better. You can actually think, unlike the computer players. You both may be stuck in the game's rule-set, but you still have the upper-hand in actually committing your enemies.(ever notice how they usually never back up as much as you do?)

With this, your own fighters would be worse, thus giving a level of balance in the fighting arena.

 

[Tony]

Previously the hireling AI was actually bugged out. Madoc fixed it with the recent patches.

 

[oldnorsehero]

I got a theory on why the AI for your hired fighters used to be terrible at fighting. You, as a player, will always be able to fight an opponent of equal size and strength better. You can actually think, unlike the computer players. You both may be stuck in the game's rule-set, but you still have the upper-hand in actually committing your enemies.(ever notice how they usually never back up as much as you do?)

With this, your own fighters would be worse, thus giving a level of balance in the fighting arena.

When I first started playing Exanima, all I'd do was back up. Now, I know how to dance properly.

But like Tony said, I knew something was wrong, they were fighting like children. Now, I've got an adept that demolishes almost everyone he fights. Man, as soon as a problem comes up, the devs take care of it like a snap of the finger. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

 

[Orlacktherof]

When I first started playing Exanima, all I'd do was back up. Now, I know how to dance properly.

But like Tony said, I knew something was wrong, they were fighting like children. Now, I've got an adept that demolishes almost everyone he fights. Man, as soon as a problem comes up, the devs take care of it like a snap of the finger. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Oh...

And also, that Signature is bloody massive...

 

[oldnorsehero]

Lol yeah, I've had plans to change it to something phat for a while, think I've found a good one.

 

[Orlacktherof]

Lol yeah, I've had plans to change it to something phat for a while, think I've found a good one.

Still pretty big...

 

[konggary]

Font color does not go well with the dark website theme.

 

[Orlacktherof]

Font color does not go well with the dark website theme.

Well, it is damn easy to read compared to some other Forums