Tasoth Suicide Bombers - Is This a Bug or a Feature?

[DarkGam3r]

Quite a few times in my ongoing opentdfd game I'd end up in situations where one soldier goes one to one against a Tasoth in a confined space. Three things tend to happen.
1. The Tasoth will run away for a more strategic position.
2. It will shoot my aquanaut.
3. It will prime a grenade and toss it at the feet of my aquanaut, despite being so close to him, this taking both of them out.

Am I supposed to be living a reenactment of the WWII American invasion on Japan or is this just a funny bug?

[Warboy1982]

feature. aliens aren't terribly afraid to use kamikaze tactics, especially when they have low morale.

[Hobbes]

Be glad the Tasoth wasn't carrying a DPL

The other side of the coin is that the aliens will also blow themselves while alone (or in the company of other aliens) once in a while.

[SIMON BAILIE]

I take it the days of going up next to an alien carrying a DPL and using the fact they won't blow themselves up with you are over. Damn I'll have to come up with a new strategy!

[Hobbes]

I take it the days of going up next to an alien carrying a DPL and using the fact they won't blow themselves up with you are over.

I remember this happening on vanilla TFTD, as well as the original UFO, I suppose.

[Warboy1982]

yeah, basically they tally the number of estimated friendly and enemy kills and weigh them against each other, factoring in morale, current health level, difficulty... and probably a few more. but at the end of the day, they can still choose to go out in a blaze of glory. if nothing else, it denies you the points for a kill, prevents them being captured alive and might even take a few of your guys with it.

[hellrazor]

yeah, basically they tally the number of estimated friendly and enemy kills and weigh them against each other, factoring in morale, current health level, difficulty... and probably a few more. but at the end of the day, they can still choose to go out in a blaze of glory. if nothing else, it denies you the points for a kill, prevents them being captured alive and might even take a few of your guys with it.

What kind of factors do they take into account? Can this behaviour be influenced by intelligence and aggression settings?

[Warboy1982]

... they're listed in the post that you quoted.

[hellrazor]

... they're listed in the post that you quoted.

Ok nevermind myself asking.

[Hobbes]

... they're listed in the post that you quoted.

I'm curious though if all that was present on the original. This is purely because the original AI has always been a riddle to me and you're the best person to ask about it

But I'll also understand if you don't want to post it all over the forums and risk major spoilers.

[tifa77]

Do Tasoth panic really easily? Killed 2 one a downed transport and got a few panics and even a berserk.

I would assume nothing has been done to alien behaviour/stats.