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Game Mechanics

Creatures in SWG engage in a number of social behaviors within their own species as well as with hostile targets. A list of creature behaviors is as follows:

• Scout
• Herd
• Pack
• Carnivore
• Herbivore
• Lair Defense
• Lair Healing
• Lair Tethering
• Baby Tethering
• Resting Behavior

Test Logs

• NGE Lair Healing Testing

Scout

Scouting behavior is linked to creatures flagged as Scouts. A scout can only appear in a lair that can spawn 5 creatures. Of these five creatures, one will be created as a scout and upon being attacked or if it is assisting another creature of its social group, it will then run to the lair. When the scout reaches the lair, all creatures associated with that lair will be alerted, become hostile and then go after the attacker and any grouped party members. Scout creatures are considered as a Type of whichever animal classification they are, i.e a bachelor gualama (scout) is a type of bachelor gualama.

Healing

Some creatures are flagged with the ability "healer" that allows them to heal members of their social group who are injured. No known values exist for what the values should be for creature heals however there is some information relating to NPC pets that are given the ability. These NPC medics have the ability to heal 250 damage every 10 seconds.

Herd

Herd creatures move in groups but do not assist each other unless they are also flagged as being Pack creatures. Herding behavior essentially mirrors real-world creatures that stick near other like herd animals. These creatures will keep within a certain range of other herd creatures of their species. If the creatures are split up (for whatever reasons) then they will try to find the nearest herd creature of their species at the lair. Creatures should always remain within the 64 meter tether of their lair spawn point.

Pack

Pack animals will assist other creatures of their social group if the friendly member is under attack. Pack animals will assist friendly targets up to 45 meters away. Pack animals that are faction aligned (gungan kaadu as an example) will be aggressive or friendly towards targets depending on what the target's factional status is with the creature's linked faction group.

Carnivore / Herbivore

Carnivorous creatures and herbivorous creatures are unique social groupings in the game which are antagonistic to one another. Both groups have a chance of attacking one another if the other gets within detection range. Carnivorous and herbivorous creatures place a high priority on attacking creatures of the opposing social group that are within their detection range.

Note: We should add some special aggression checks between carnivores and herbivore to mirror the natural stalking / defense behaviors of real-world counterparts.

In-fighting

Some creatures will fight amongst themselves as shown in the following example:

Lair Defense

All unengaged creatures that are linked to a particular lair will move to attack any target that actively attacks the lair regardless of their distance from the lair.

Lair Healing

All creatures will heal their lair if it is directly attacked. Creatures will immediately heal the lair if it is attacked while they are present. They will heal it until it is fully healed and then proceed after the attacker. Creatures place a high priority on healing the lair if its health falls below 90% and will not directly engage an enemy until the lair has been repaired. Creatures will in fact disengage from combat to go repair the lair. Creatures can heal 20% of the lair's total hitpoints per heal. After the repair is done, then the creatures will go after the attacker(s). In order for a creature to repair its lair it must first go to point blank range and then issue a heal. Healing the lair and then re-engaging the attacker takes approximately 5 seconds.

Baby Tethering

Baby creatures will automatically use herding behavior to attach to the nearest lair mate (non baby) creature of their social type and will follow that target around. Note: babies do not utilize any "pack" attribute that would normally be on the adult version of the creature. This prevents them from aggroing potential tamers that are killing their lair mates. Babies will however aggro targets that directly attack the lair.

Lair Tethering

Creatures will stay within a 64 meter range from their lair or spawn point, although they do roam around anywhere in between these points. They will only leave this range in order to chase after a target, however when they disengage from that target, they will return to their spawn point of origin.

Resting Behavior

Many creatures can activate resting behaviors such as sitting or laying down and sleeping. These behaviors are activated randomly and are allowed if the creature is not engaged with a target, or otherwise on alert having spotted a potential threat within its detection range. Resting creatures will stand up and become alert if something enters their detection range.

Source References