Detecting/guessing spells & reacting to them as they're being cast

[subtledoctor]

^ What he said. I don't disagree that it might be interesting if the AI could do that stuff. But it can't. AI scripts cast spells every 6 seconds. They cannot cast earlier than that in order to counterspell, and I cannot imagine a script that would let them wait longer (how much longer??) in order to attempt a counterspell.  Every caster has an individual round timer - they are not sync'd up. If an enemy caster's round starts when he sees your front-liner and your back-line caster's round begins a split second later, then your caster will always be casting a split-second after the enemy. Which means you can always counterspell, and the enemy can never counterspell. The human has the ability to pause, to manipulate that timing; the AI does not.

A counterspell kind of mage duel mechanic can only work if the rounds are simultaneous. Or, even better, if there was a 5E-style reaction/bonus action system. But those are impossible to implement in this engine. Attempts to simulate that kind of system would only introduce ways for human players to easily stun-lock enemy casters. 

If you really want to remove your informational advantage over the AI, then like I say, the most effective and realistic way would be to remove the information. Which would be super easy to do. 

[Jarno Mikkola]

10 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

But it can't. AI scripts cast spells every 6 seconds. They cannot cast earlier than that in order to counterspell, and I cannot imagine a script that would let them wait longer (how much longer??) in order to attempt a counterspell.  Every caster has an individual round timer - they are not sync'd up.

Thing is, the AI can CHEAT. How... I revealed this already, by ReallyForceSpell... actions.

Aka, the round timer comes from creature actions, not the reverse. The AI can check variables 15 times a second, half the frame rate the game runs on.

Now, I suspect that DavidW doesn't like to make the AI cheat this way, so he doesn't. Except that maybe when the creature is threatended and has a reserve bank to use... aka it has a contingency or other effects applied ... which is why the action is actually there for. Not just for the benefit of the AI.