AI versus "logical choices"

[shevegen]

Lately i had four xcom units arranged. One was moving too close to the alien and I expected him to die.
My mistake i guess.

However the alien in question used his close combat weapon, and WALKED AROUND the front unit, attacking
the unit behind him (who I thought would auto-fire, because that one was walking around crouched and I ensured he had plenty of movement points left to fire)

What disturbs me in this situation is that the AI went straight for it - could it be that the alien targeted the "strongest" or most dangerous unit?
At any rate I would personally think that hitting the most-forward unit makes most sense if you "think" like an alien. In reallife he wouldnt run around someone only to start hacking on someone in backrow. (Maybe he has a reason, or its a crazy alien that does not think like humans though)

So whatever it is, Personally this behaviour totally surprised me, and I think the aliens should rather prefer to hit what is closest to them (I dont intend to "bait" them but I find it not realistic to run around a unit to hit another unit without any reason)

[EuchreJack]

Just out of curiousity, what weapons were the front and rear soldier using?  If I was the alien, I'd probably attack the rear soldier if he/she was equiped w/particle weaponry and the front soldier was equiped with a conventional handgun.

[Sarkus]

I've had the AI act oddly sometimes as well.  On the "canyon ambush" mission I had a guy run between two trucks and look to the left, seeing an alien.  He fired on it but missed, then turned around and saw two more behind him.  He was out of time so he couldn't retreat or fire back on the alien turn, but none of them fired on him.  They just walked away.

My only guess is that there is some randomness built into the AI decision making process.

[Panthera Leo]

Where is the AI anyway? /src/game/g_ai.c?

[shevegen]

I have noticed something else.

This is not so much a bug, but a "weirdness".

The aliens seem to behave in a predictable manner.
Lets take the rome map. It is a rather difficult map, with two bridges, and a
very long area. You can sneak from house to house. Then, once you reached the
other side, the aliens will in like 80% of the cases, aggregate in one building.

You can kill them all one by one by moving outside your cover, shoot at them,
and move back again to cover. The aliens will in most situations never leave
this place.

There is more weirdness actually, the aliens will tend to aggregate in certain
hotspots of maps. I think in some time I will know all their pattern and choose
the best situation to snipe em (that being said, i sometimes make mistakes and
an alien gets one of my guys... cover is really vital)