Enemies' Order of Attack

[Scarlet Shocker]

We know that every mob we come up against has a range of attacks.

 

We know that the more powerful they are the more attacks they have.

 

We know tht some signature characters have some interesting stuff going on (See Personal Stories if you don't believe me)

 

So I'm building a char and it occurs to me that an enemy (I have an amorphous AV in mind) is attacking me back. Imagine for the moment we are one to one. S/he has a variety of attacks, probably about 5 or 6 at that level.

 

What determines the attacks they use once we are in combat? How are the decisions made for an NPC to attack me? I understand that if I'm at range there won't be many melee attacks aimed in my general direction but say s/he has 3 range and 2 melee, I'm outside of melee distance, what actually determines the next attck used?

 

Is it the next cab off the rank? The most damage dealt? A random choice? Cthullhu made me do it? A Nemesis plot?

 

What I'm driving at is simple: Is there an attack chain that NPCs use? Is it predictable? Do they all use the same chain (or not)? etc etc

 

Knowing your enemy's move can save the day.

[biostem]

I think it's a fairly simple if-then routine with some tweaking for entity type and other situational factors.  For instance, are they in melee range or not?  If in melee range, check for available melee attacks.  If one is available, use it.  If not, check for available ranged attacks.  If neither a ranged attack nor a melee attack are available, either run or remain, depending upon critter behavior and whether they have been taunted or not.  As to which specific attack an enemy might use, that I cannot say, but I think it defaults to a ranged attack, (going strictly by my anecdotal experience)...  You'd need someone far more familiar with the game's code to tell you for certain, but it isn't any sort of complex AI or anything)...

Edited 11 hours ago by biostem