Ai

This is the official AI guide for The Legend of Xenon.

Terminological Note

The Legend of Xenon uses roguelike geometry, in which space is rigidly quantised into square cells, and the distance from a cell A to another cell B, joined to it at either an edge or a corner, is exactly 1. The distance from cell A to a distant cell C is the minimum number of edges and vertices which one must traverse to get from cell A to cell C. The "cardinal directions" of roguespace are the directions in which one can move from one cell to an adjacent cell.

Movement Selection Algorithms

There are five movement selection algorithms used in Legend of Xenon, as follows:

Naive AI

The "native" AI is used by "stupid" monsters without ranged attacks who have line of sight to the player. The monster tries, for each of the three adjacent squares which are closer to the player, to get closer to the player.

Missile AI

The "missile" AI is used by any monster with a ranged attack (either shooting or black magic) requiring cardinal alignment which has line of sight to the player. The monster tries to close with the player, preferring to do so along a cardinal if already on one, and to get onto the cardinal if it isn't already on it.

Smart AI

The "smart" AI is used by "smart" monsters without ranged attacks who have line of sight to the player. The monster tries, for each of the three adjacent squares which are closer to the player, to get closer to the player, preferring to find a square which is not on cardinals relative to the player unless that square is also adjacent to the player.

Drunk AI

The "drunk" AI is used by "stupid" monsters which lack line of sight to the player. The monster tries three randomly selected adjacent squares.

Seeking AI

The seeking AI tries to get closer to the player. It's not sophisticated enough yet, but I think it should work at least some of the time.