Minion Discussion

I micro my minions to the extent of focus fire and maybe some movement but that's just about it. I'm up for them fixing the AI on minions because I find that I'm missing a priest / or another minion from my group because they are stuck trying to path around a corner. /annoying!

This is something that should really be improved. You should be able to tell the minions to be aggressive, defensive or supportive INDIVIDUALLY, which means a different command for each selected minion(s). Moreover, you should be able to tell them which demigod the commands are applied to. Sometimes, you want them to be aggressive for your teammate while you go solo.

1. Aggressive priorities

a. attack enemies who are attacking the general

b. attack enemies who are attacking a minion

c. attack enemies who are close

d. keep attacking even if the general moves

2. Defensive priorities

a. attack enemies who are attacking the general

b. attack enemies who are attacking a minion

c. attack enemies who are within range

d. keep attacking while staying close to the general

3. Supportive priorities

a. attack enemies who are attacking the general

b. fall back when attacked but do not leave the general

c. attack enemies who are within range

d. move if the general moves

You should be able to tell them to patrol using waypoints.

You should be able to scatter them randomly by pressing a key.

You should be able to tell them which formation to follow. Pyramid, wall or surround.

1. Pyramid - melee units in front, missile units on both sides, support units at the back.

2. Wall - all units form a wall in front of the general

3. Surround - surround the general to intercept enemies around the clock.

Otherwise, the whole point of being a general becomes useless. Too much micromanagement demanded means that a general is not so general-ish.

Minions are fine the way they are, if ur too newb to handle them like a pro, dont ask the developers to take 3 days to code them again

I like to micromanage my minions but I wouldn't say no to better ai for them while they are passive either. I usually need to move them away from the enemy towers now and then.

Personally I think they are alright. They could use some improvements such as better pathfinding (noticing that half your team is stuck about quarter of the map away is indeed annoying, but not killer), and I'd like there to be a guard or follow button for your minions, so that I be able to assign my minions to help out the DG staying behind while I get items/upgrades.

Perhaps we could even perhaps specialize the minions for more customization options such as allowing the last tome ones to be further expanded in say: into mass healers or single strong healers, fire based damage or poision damage, etc.

agree on the follow button but beside that nothing need to be added

I would like to request that HP/dmg numbers be given for all minions in game. Both idols and summons.

Anyone else agree?

Agreed, SubtleSalmon.

I would like to know how much DPS I am getting out of my minions.  HP you can get indirectly by hovering over them but it would be nice to find it elsewhere.

As minions do not provide any XP or gold to the enemy i use them as cannon fodder.  I play mostly as oak, the spirits i use to engage towers along with my own creep wave while monks just constantly heal me.

You can press
8 - select minotaurs
9 - select ranges idols summon
0 - select monks
I - select general specific

This is useful as when you go back to the citadel to buy you can split your monks to heal and ally, your specials to scout around, ranged to attack and tower, melee to fight a DG etc.  In combat it can also be useful however usally just pressing M and selecting teh DG you are fighting yields best results.  If they run just press 0 so your monks dont go and die without your permission.

The primary thing I would like to see from minions is the ability to tell them to hold position.  I find it really annoying when I want to sit out of range of a tower and harass or creep and my priests keep running in and dying to the tower.

They need to have the basic stances that all RTS games have had since the beginning of time:

Return Fire

Hold Position

Attack on Sight

Minions  are pretty well done.

I usually select all minons and have them attack a DG of choice. There's a hotkey for 'select all minions' and i mapped it to where I can comfortably reach it.

In the case of Oak I often select just all spirits, cause flying units can ignore crowds and are even better for killing DGs.

Sending units somewhere while holding the CTRL key makes them attack everything in their path, which is often more useful than just running on.

And occasionally I have to control singe units because their pathfinding got them stuck somewhere.

It's easy, efficient and doing everything they should. No need to include detrituts from the stone age of RTS just because some are used to it and can't get it in their head that this game is not about the troops.

I'd like the pathfinding routines improved, though.

Micromanagement or whatever a general should give orders and not play puppet master all the time. And by the way, the general is commanding minions, not children. The minotaurs, for example, stay behind you when the battle is commencing. Why the hell do they do that? Sure you can micromanage them but is that the best they can do? Is their AI limited to that? While the priests with more courage take the front?

Sure I know how to micromanage. I came from warcraft 3 and starcraft (and still playing). Demigod is too easy to micromanage compared to those two but that doesn't change the fact that the minion AI is dumb. It's stupid to micromanage minions because they're dumb and get themselves killed without you ordering them to. In other words, they're acting alone and set to auto aggressive mode the whole time. Come on. Even starcraft has patrol, hold and stop commands. You don't have to drag them out every time they charge in without you ordering them to. That's lame. This is RTS and micromanagement is no excuse for that.

The priests are really funny. They just rush in and attack towers. Sure I can micromanage them without any problems, but they just shouldn't do that (period). The thing that generals lack in demigod is "giving orders" which is very basic.

How can you call the general a "general" if he/she couldn't give orders? Demigod is a great game but I want it to improve even more. That's why I'm posting.

I think they're mostly fine after you've spent some time with them.

Though a generalized Passive Agressive Defensive  tab wouldn't be out of the question.

Super Agreed. They should kinda play like pets in WoW. Sometimes they are a little too agressive and go attacking towers and shit just because we are close by when I'm simply waiting for next wave of grunts to kill.

Well, the minion AI as it stands is simple: Detect and attack the nearest enemy target. This be quite frustrating when I am capping a flag, and half of my army decides on it's own to attack a tower, with obvious results.

You have to actively control them; otherwise, they will wander off on their own and get themselves into trouble. Minions can be a general's most powerful weapon, but you have to tell them where to go and what to do. 

QFT. Minion pathfinding is somewhat less than ideal at this time. I can't count the number of times that I have had to shepard one little lost lamb back into the fold. I have had them wander off the map entirely, or more often into the map, where they should not be, just hanging in space. When this happens, there is not much that I can do, other than to die, and respawn.

You can control any one of your minions individually. Highlight them and give your orders. Sadly, the only orders I can give now are 'go here', and/or 'attack this'. If at any time a minion has a conflict between your order and it's 'prime directive' (detect and attack an enemy), it will default to it's prime, and you will most likely lose it. Priests are the only minion units that are a real problem. Minotaurs are melee units, and are expected to die. Your ranged units are generally pretty good. (except for their pathfinding; the 'lost lambs' I spoke of are more often than not ranged attackers). Priests should NEVER be used as offensive weapons. Their primary purpose is to defend their master, and should always hold behind the lines. 

Minions can be a general's greatest weapon. I just need more control over them. 

u guys are all just newbs, all the problems u have listed u can fix them by just spamming near the flag so ur minions dont go there, ias i said before if ur too newb to handle minions go play assasins THE ONLY OPTION that would be cool is to have a follow buttom for priests, when i play on vent with teammates i manually make my priests follow my injuried teammate but a button for it would be a plus but IT IS NOT NECESSARY

+1

Fix AI pathing

Hehehe. Weren't you reading? There are no problems in micromanaging units in demigod. It's way too easy compared to, for example, warcraft 3 (3 heroes, 30+ minions, and MACROmanaging the huge base from scratch, in my case that is) although you keep stressing the word newb and keep saying that we're too newb to handle a teenie weenie demigod and a few minions. A demigod and 8 - 10 minions? Come on.

WE ARE SIMPLY SHARING IDEAS ON HOW TO MAKE THE GAME BETTER. Sure we can handle it but we're constructive critics, understand? This forum is used to help the developers fish ideas. That's the reason why they created this.

Now, we aren't telling them to code the program in 3 days. Nope. We are trying to share with them our ideas on how they can improve the game (period). It's up to them to decide whether they want to implement it or not. Get it?

Give them some ideas for a change, instead of just agreeing with the ideas of other people or saying "you guys are all newbs" (talk about offensive). Is that all you got? Hehe if so, then just sit there and watch 'cause you're obviously not imaginative or creative enough to think of something to contribute.

And by the way, sheesh you really don't understand, THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS TO FIX (like you just said in your reply). It's about enhancement/improvement, newbie. Read and analyze, please. This is the purpose of critics. We criticize the game balance, technical issues, design, etc.

A simple question. Is the game better without the improved features of the AI or not? If no, then I understand the problem here hehe.

Anyway, peace.

LOL UR SUCH A NEWB LOLOLOLLOLOLOL

Yeah I figured there was a kid in the thread making a fool out of himself hehe. And look he's even teasing like somebody's gonna fall for that.

Next.

I think the only thing that needs to be improved is the pathfinding. By adding stances and generally making it easier for the minions to control themselves it would give generals an unfair adavantage. It's already easy enough to keep minions doing what you need them to do if you just pay attention to them.

Is it just me or are minion really unresponsive sometimes? Because i really hate it when I want to kill that enemy DG with 100 remaining hp before he reaches his base and my minions can't find the time to stop bashing whatever creep they happen to be standing next to.

It admittedly doesn't happen often but when it does I'm raging. Is is a case of bad minion AI or just another variant of the skills/commands-not-triggering-bug?

A few stances and formations does not give the generals unfair advantage over the assassins. It's not like the AI will out micromanage the human player. Doubling the health and damage of minions, now that is unfair advantage.

Not only minions but the demigod themselves. I hate it when I use UB, click on a demigod to lockdown for the kill and after the demigod leaves UB doesn't follow and attacks some creeps instead. I couldn't be mistaken about it.

Moreover, I'm not sure if the developers intended it but when you chase down a target that's moving away from you, the attack speed kind of gets messed up. Sometimes, QoT's normal attacks double or even triple.