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VantageDocumentation

07 · AI and Threat

Monsters that wander, patrol, chase and give up, and a threat table that decides whom they attack.

A fight in progress with the threat list ranking three units just after a taunt.

Scene Scenes/07_AiThreat. Assets Content/07_AiThreat and Content/Shared.

What it teaches

  • Wandering, aggro and the leash are fields on the unit definition. A patrol is a route handed to a spawner.
  • A pack calls for help: hitting one monster pulls its neighbours.
  • A threat table decides the target. Taunts, heals and vanish change it through ordinary ability effects.
  • A monster pulled past its leash runs home, invulnerable, and forgets its threat.

Assets

Unit definitions use the demo defaults unless listed: one HP pool without regeneration, Physical damage in Channel Melee, Attack Range 2, Attack Interval 1, Move Speed 5, and the shared BasicAttack.

Ability Settings
Taunt Id ability.taunt, Icon Id siren, Targeting Mode Single Target, Range 10, Cooldown 6, Triggers GCD off. Effect TauntEffect, a Taunt effect at its defaults.
Mend Id ability.mend, Icon Id bandage, Targeting Mode Self, Cooldown 3. Effect MendHeal, a Heal effect of 70.
Vanish Id ability.vanish, Icon Id ghost, Targeting Mode Self, Cooldown 15, Triggers GCD off. Effect VanishEffect, a Threat Shed effect with Radius 30.
Unit Definition Settings
Guardian Id unit.guardian, Faction Player, HP 450 with Regen Mode Out Of Combat Only at 5 per second, Min / Max Damage 10 / 14, Granted Abilities Taunt, Mend and Vanish.
Squire Id unit.squire, Faction Player, HP 300, Min / Max Damage 7 / 9, Use Hostile AI on, Aggro Range 7.
Wolf Id unit.ai_wolf, Faction Enemy, HP 110, Min / Max Damage 4 / 6, Use Hostile AI on, Use Threat Table on, Aggro Range 5, Roam Radius 5, Leash Radius 16, Roam Idle Min / Max Seconds 1.5 / 3.5.
Bandit Id unit.ai_bandit, Faction Enemy, HP 150, Min / Max Damage 6 / 8, Use Hostile AI on, Use Threat Table on, Aggro Range 5, Roam Radius 0, Leash Radius 18, Roam Idle Min / Max Seconds 0.5 / 1, Respawn Time 10.
Ogre Id unit.ogre, Faction Enemy, HP 600, Min / Max Damage 12 / 16, Attack Interval 1.6, Move Speed 4, Use Hostile AI on, Use Threat Table on, Aggro Range 4, Roam Radius 0, Leash Radius 9.

BanditUnit.prefab is a prefab variant of Unit with Definition Bandit and VtNameplateInfo with Subtitle “walks a patrol route”.

Scene

Ground 40 × 40.

Object Setup
Player Player prefab at (0, 0, -10). Definition Guardian. VtThreatAutoSubscriber added. VtAbilityHotkeys slots: key 1 Taunt, key 2 Mend, key 3 Vanish. VtDemoReviveAfterDeath 4 seconds, Return To Start on.
Squire Unit prefab with Squire at (2.5, 0, -9). VtNameplateInfo with Subtitle “your ally, attacks on sight”. VtDemoReviveAfterDeath 6 seconds.
Wolves Three Unit prefabs with Wolf at (-11, 0, 6), (-13, 0, 9) and (-9, 0, 10). VtNameplateInfo with Subtitle “wanders, calls the pack”. VtDemoReviveAfterDeath 8 seconds.
Patrol Route Empty object with VtPatrolRoute, Loop on, and four children Waypoint 1 to 4 at (6, 0, 2), (14, 0, 2), (14, 0, 10) and (6, 0, 10).
Bandit Patrol Empty object at (6, 0, 2) with VtMobSpawner: Prefab BanditUnit, Count 1, Spawn Radius 0, Reuse Instances off, Corpse Linger Seconds 0, Patrol Route set to Patrol Route.
Ogre Unit prefab with Ogre at (0, 0, 15), scaled 1.4. VtNameplateInfo with Subtitle “leash 9 m: pull it away”. VtDemoReviveAfterDeath 10 seconds.
Demo UI Lesson card. Two VtUnitFrame with Unit set to the player and Region Top Left, one with Source Unit and one with Source Target Of Unit. VtBuffBar with Unit set to the player and Region Top Left. VtResourceBar with Unit set to the player, Bar Source Cast and Region Top Left. VtThreatList with Unit set to the player and Region Bottom Right. VtActionBar with the player’s VtAbilityHotkeys, Region Bottom Center and Slot Size Large.

Every VtDemoReviveAfterDeath here has Return To Start on.

Build it yourself

  1. Build the Unit and Player prefabs as in Build the prefabs.
  2. Create the three abilities with their effects, and the five unit definitions, with the values above.
  3. Make the BanditUnit prefab variant: right-click Unit.prefab, Create → Prefab Variant, and set its Definition to Bandit.
  4. Build the scene as in Build the shared layout with a 40 × 40 Level.
  5. Place the player, add VtThreatAutoSubscriber, and fill its hotkey slots.
  6. Place the Squire, the wolves and the Ogre.
  7. Create the Patrol Route with Vantage → AI → VtPatrolRoute and four child waypoints, then the Bandit Patrol with Vantage → Spawning → VtMobSpawner pointing at BanditUnit and the route.

Try

  • Watch the wolves wander and the bandit walk its route.
  • Hit one wolf and the rest of the pack comes to help.
  • Let the Squire attack the Ogre, then press 1 to Taunt it: the threat list puts you on top.
  • Press 2 to heal while monsters fight you: healing adds threat.
  • Pull the Ogre away from its spot: past its leash it runs home, invulnerable.
  • Press 3 to Vanish: every monster nearby forgets you.

In your own game