FE4 AI targeting priority

[The Fir Coat]

Does anyone in the LTC community or whoever have a firm grasp on FE4 Targetting priority? I ask because I'm involved in this topic : http://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/36bwtk/rfireemblem_not_really_weekly_challenge_1_hold/

The challenge is to beat the game without using mounts. The problem I ran into is that there is weird AI stuff going on. Sometimes the all of the bandits will all attack Ardan, sometimes one will go for Sigurd.

Going for Sigurd:

http://imgur.com/FztPMST

http://imgur.com/76LpMmb

If I put Ardan on the tree instead, that bandit goes for him but the archer can't hit him.

http://imgur.com/GJlHbAY

Does this have to do with multiple people attacking the same guy? I guess I can understand why they would want to avoid it, but I'm not 100% sure and I was wondering if someone who has paid more attention to it knows.

[Lord Raven]

Does it happen strictly based on position? Did you reset and they do the same thing? How much HP do each of them have?

I have a feeling it may have to do with how much damage they can do cumulatively. FE4 seems to have more group AI at work than some of the GBA games.

[MartyTheDemonSlayer]

Even after doing a full LTC ofFE4, I'm not completely sure how the targeting it works, because it's really weird. There seem to be some targets the AI just enjoys attacking irrespective of whether it's a good idea or not, such as Ethlin or Holyn. It also often likes to attack Midir at two range with 1-2 range weapons. As for the Sigurd thing, I know that in a lot of circumstances the AI will use random numbers to determine targeting, likely with a higher priority for certain targets, which is probably why most of them go for Arden instead of Sigurd, but I'm not sure. I personally doubt there's anything at play with cumulative damage... sometimes squads like to all target one weak unit, but more often than not they'll spread attacks, probably due to the fact that RN's are used so commonly by the game's AI.

Edited May 18, 2015 by MartyTheDemonSlayer

[BrightBow]

There is definitely a significant random chance involved. If you set the AI to hard, it will be easier to predict.

Edited May 18, 2015 by BrightBow

[The Fir Coat]

probably due to the fact that RN's are used so commonly by the game's AI.

Ah Christ. In the prologue you can't repeatedly sacrifice the same virgin to RNGesus so no idea what I'll do there.

If you set the AI to hard, it will be easier to predict.

Is there a difficulty option in FE4 that I've been ignoring all this time?

[MartyTheDemonSlayer]

If you play around with unit positioning/the ordering of your attacks you may be able to get things to work out.

[momogeek2141]

Does anyone in the LTC community or whoever have a firm grasp on FE4 Targetting priority? I ask because I'm involved in this topic : http://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/36bwtk/rfireemblem_not_really_weekly_challenge_1_hold/

The challenge is to beat the game without using mounts. The problem I ran into is that there is weird AI stuff going on. Sometimes the all of the bandits will all attack Ardan, sometimes one will go for Sigurd.

Going for Sigurd:

http://imgur.com/FztPMST

http://imgur.com/76LpMmb

If I put Ardan on the tree instead, that bandit goes for him but the archer can't hit him.

http://imgur.com/GJlHbAY

Does this have to do with multiple people attacking the same guy? I guess I can understand why they would want to avoid it, but I'm not 100% sure and I was wondering if someone who has paid more attention to it knows.

Aw, seriously? They copied me!

I'm pretty sure it's a combination of damage dealt, hit chance, other specific things programmed (like the cross Knights attacking someone no matter what) and opportunity to kill. And counter chance. Based on these a percentage likelihood of attacking a certain unit is created which uses a random number to decide. That's the best I could come up with anyways.

[BrightBow]

Is there a difficulty option in FE4 that I've been ignoring all this time?

There is an AI setting in the options menu that gets unlocked after playing through the game once. Unfortunately, like with the BEXP window later in the Tellius games, the game doesn't draw any attention to that new setting once it becomes available.

Edited May 18, 2015 by BrightBow

[Yojinbo]

The enemy AI seems to be affected by just about everything that could possibly affect it. Things like moving another unit into enemy attack range can have an impact on what the enemy does - even if he decides to attack the same unit that he'd attack if you didn't move another unit into range.

There seems to be some sort of priority system that makes enemy units prioritize attacking Midir, Ethlin and Holyn [in that order of preference] and RN plays a major role as well. It really doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

[lonelyVoxel]

I've been watching a stream of someone blindly playing FE4, and he is also very confused about the AI, especially Ballistas. Ballisticians didn't seem to take DEF or remaining HP into account when attacking and would almost never double attack someone for him. For me, it was a bit saner, but still haphazard.

[BrightBow]

Given that Ballistas usually appear in large groups in FE4, that actually sounds like a reasonable design. It would be a problem if they all could focus all their attacks on one target, given that one can't usually reach them in a single turn and cause significant damage. So if you couldn't tank that onslaught, you would have a problem.

Edited May 19, 2015 by BrightBow

[lonelyVoxel]

I suppose, but it would make more sense to bunch up on a squishy. They're not terribly accurate, anyway.