Whoever says ARC AI doesn’t learn to counter players isn’t playing the game at all! Embark Studios is keeping more than one secret about how its PvE experience evolves, and that’s honestly scary as hell! And also: Super Cool.
ARC Enemies Are Evolving, There’s No Way To Deny It
Recently, a series of reports from fellow Raiders has made me realize how leisurely I was enjoying the PvEvP experience in ARC Raiders, without realizing a critical detail: ARC Enemies are behaving weirdly.
And it’s not just me: Every Raider has been noticing that the enemy AI is growing smarter, or appears to be doing so. And despite a recent report from PCGamer stating the contrary, the evidence is piling up, and hundreds of reports and footage are proving my point: the ARC are learning and becoming more annoying.
From baiting Raiders into thinking they have the upper hand, to avoiding traps, or using the terrain to overreach, Comets, Fireballs, and Pops are becoming vicious Kamikaze balls of pure destruction.
Now, drones, with the addition of Fireflies, are beginning to coordinate attacks. The Firefly stays on the perimeter or below the players’ visual range, then approaches from behind while Wasps and Hornets harass the Raiders until they drop their guard.
Bastions are targeting players who try to flank them faster than before, and Bombardiers are calculating parabolic and angled shots to deploy their ordnance right on the heads of players believing themselves way too smart for their own sake.
Even Ticks, who jumped on the head of the first player they saw, are not patiently awaiting their moment, and coordinating their jumps with those of other ARCs, like Pops of Fireballs (and even Rocketeers and Leapers), to bamboozle players wherever they go.
In fact, Ticks are now relentlessly chasing players all across the maps, some of them waiting patiently until the moment comes before they close in to snatch your face. And they will do so at the moment when you are the most vulnerable.
Is ARC Raiders’ Enemy AI Evolving Or Not?
So, my dear Raiders, you might be asking: What the hell is going on? The answer is simple: Embark Studios loves to mess with its players, and we, as players, love the challenge.
A little tweak here and there, some pathfinding adjustments, better targetting, smarter AI, machine learning, call it however you want, it is what it is: The devs are doing a damn fine job! PvE enemies are becoming harder to beat, and that’s a great thing.
Last night, I was at a Launch Tower event in Spaceport, and two Rocketeers were taking turns to pin me and a group of Care Bears down on the main POI of the map, preventing us from kiting them, and calling in more drones and Leapers from around.
It was a total nightmare. We were trapped there for 15 minutes. fending off respawning Ticks, Fireflies, Hornets, and even the occasional Comets, who were entering one after the other through the open doors to destroy us.
We even got to extract (by a hair’s breadth), although we weren’t able to find the Fuel Cell needed to open the Launch Tower Zipline access; thus, we went back to Speranza without the ‘goop.’
On our way to extraction, we lost three Raiders to the Rocketeers and the Leaper, but they managed to crawl inside the Elevator just in time to extract. So, no Raiders were hurt during that Run! Except our pride: That went down as fast as a Rocketeer hit by a Hornet Driver.
In any case, The ARC is learning, and with the upcoming Flashpoint update, we will see what Embark Studios is really cooking.