Abigail does not start attacking after using the "attack at" command while in a soothed state.

10 hours ago, Fitzee said:

It's quite possible that "attack at" is meant as "attack from that position", in that the command is supposed to be used to reposition Abigail; if that's the case, then the real issue is the use of wording and how it needs to be changed, like "Send to" or something along those lines.

You aren't wrong, but either way something needs to change.

And on top of that there really isn't any application in passive mode.

The way it works is.. interesting.

Abigail will set the closest entity to the point of the attack command as a target, with a radius of 2 units (pretty sure it's accurate to the circle), and she also starts a timer to prevent her from finding targets on her own for 10 seconds (it's a retargeting block, which affects her even when riled up). Pretty sure that her or Wendy being attacked will work as usual.

It's a little weird how the dash deals damage, but the thing above suggests it's to also order her to focus a target. Maybe the 10 second timer shouldn't start if no entity is found at the dash point when clicking (probably even drop her current target too)? This would allow the user to choose to focus a specific target, or to simply dash to relocate her or deal dash damage to a bunch of enemies.

Something to note though, is that when not finding a target at the dash point, she won't abandon her current target, so if she keeps said target (her brain should basically pause when during a dash as far as I'm aware, so she should keep her target), she might continue to attack post dash if conditions succeed, otherwise she'll probably abandon the target (which is likely what's happening here, as she or the enemy is too far away from Wendy while not riled up).

Maybe said timer should also stop if she drops her current target, to ensure she doesn't just stop attacking for 10 seconds unless you or her get hit. And an alternative, although the rule to stop the timer should probably be a thing regardless, would be to add checks to her brain to not drop her target if the timer is active.

6 minutes ago, hoxi said:

The way it works is.. interesting.

Abigail will set the closest entity to the point of the attack command as a target, with a radius of 2 units (pretty sure it's accurate to the circle), and she also starts a timer to prevent her from finding targets on her own for 10 seconds (it's a retargeting block, which affects her even when riled up). Pretty sure that her or Wendy being attacked will work as usual.

It's a little weird how the dash deals damage, but the thing above suggests it's to also order her to focus a target. Maybe the 10 second timer shouldn't start if no entity is found at the dash point when clicking (probably even drop her current target too)? This would allow the user to choose to focus a specific target, or to simply dash to relocate her or deal dash damage to a bunch of enemies.

Something to note though, is that when not finding a target at the dash point, she won't abandon her current target, so if she keeps said target (her brain should basically pause when during a dash as far as I'm aware, so she should keep her target), she might continue to attack post dash if conditions succeed, otherwise she'll probably abandon the target (which is likely what's happening here, as she or the enemy is too far away from Wendy while not riled up).

Maybe said timer should also stop if she drops her current target, to ensure she doesn't just stop attacking for 10 seconds unless you or her get hit. And an alternative, although the rule to stop the timer should probably be a thing regardless, would be to add checks to her brain to not drop her target if the timer is active.

That is interesting, albeit seemingly needlessly convoluted.

I personally don't think it's too convoluted, rather there's a few oversights getting in the way of her intended behavior (dropping target while the timer is up due to brain/behavior logic, not stopping the timer on dropping a target) + some oversights to how it should work (not starting the timer if no entity is found within the dash point).

I think it could work nicely with the way they intend, if they address those specific issues.

Though one thing that could also be addressed is making it so the dash command also clarifies she'll focus a target (something like "Dash To Point", or "Dash And Focus Target"), and have that target be selected on the client side. The dash point shouldn't change, but the target should be selected by the client, so that that aspects works as expected even if the target is displaced on the server due to latency.

That would take a good bit more work, but it could work wonders. The alternative is finding a better suited name that conveys that she'll focus a target, assuming everything else is addressed.

Edited November 26, 2024 by hoxi
Typo

These issues have been fixed with 647828! Thank you! I hope the devs enjoy their break and have a nice holiday!

 

Also, I feel like I should clarify to avoid confusion given the name of the report here. In summary, they seem to have changed her to mostly work like what I described in my previous comments here, so here's how it works now:

• When commanded to Attack At, Abigail will set a 4-second timer that prevents her from switching targets if a target is found within the command circle, otherwise said timer won't be set and she'll drop her current target (if any) and use standard behavior.
• If Abigail drops her current target, she'll stop the timer (if it's running). This is done so she can go back to standard behavior if she was focusing one due to the command, instead of being prevented from gaining new targets and seemingly just idling for no reason.
• Abigail can't switch targets when hit now if the timer is going, meaning the command can properly be used to focus a specific target, or go through a horde of enemies without focusing anyone in particular, or both. It's up to the player!
• Abigail will still drop a focused target and stop the timer if brain logic (target too far, etc) or if other external factors make her do so (like the target doing something that makes anyone targeting them drop aggro from them), and resume standard behavior.
• This means that if you want her to focus a somewhat far target, but not too far, you should rile her up first. Otherwise she'll only focus a target while soothed if you're close to the target.

Edited December 20, 2024 by hoxi
Corrected timer duration (4 instead of 10)