I even made a screenshot because I wanted to say to OP that modding skeletons is not possible
since they only have normal controller but then I just looked at the controller and noiced it can be
changed easily so I forgot about this screenshot:
pretty sure i 100% saw a (if not multiple posts) incl from Maya, complaining about it/confirming they were not aggressive, and multiple issues arose from it, ex like Protoss mentions
The barking is just an added bonus.
Can confirm the moment I run even a bit from the mob, those skelly horde immediately disengage unlike aggressive Hellhound.
This probably depends on what one considers “aggro range”. Here’s a post from Evil_Baka:
I personally didn’t encounter much problems with skeletons range. Maybe their range is a bit lower, but I wonder if it has something to do with a size of a pet model.
They have the same numbers as others pets switched to normal, well at least hellhounds which I checked.
OP just wants to be able to switch them to aggressive for more consistent behavior among his pets,
because he prefers aggressive mode. So do I, I even wrote AHK script that toggles pets to aggressive,
because this clicking every time you start the game is pretty tedious.
Well, I’m not tampering with game files so I wouldn’t know the numbers. But if memory serves me, I’ve seen the discussion of temporary pets having “poor aggro range” and I guess Z said they have “aggressive” by default. So I figured it would only make sense if skeletons had the same going on.
Can’t find the topic though =\ Also not 100% sure if Zantai was saying something about the matter either. My memory is kinda shit. Well, at least I know what kind of testing I’m gonna do tomorrow…
So I did a simple and short test by summoning some pets, walking out of DC and taking baby steps to pinpoint the range at which they aggro. Tested on Skeletal Servant, Hellhound and, of course, regular skeletons. Servant and Hellhound were set to “aggressive”, obviously.
And… results are unsirprising: aggro range of all pets in question seems to be pretty much the same. I made three recordings to capture the moments at which pets become aggroed, and here’s what I’ve got:
So here’s that. I’m not sure why some people have problems with skeletons “chilling” if their range is ± the same. Don’t forget they have some kind of “encircling formation” around the player:
As you can see, the distance between those two outermost skeletons is quite significant (can squeeze 2-3 skeletons between them), so it’s no wonder the ones at the front will aggro and the ones at the back will not.
Also keep in mind the size of pet models. Bigger ones can stand at the same distance as small ones, but since their model is biger, they are closer to mobs and can trigger faster. At least I think how it may happen.
I think it’s more complicated than the one number you’re trying to measure. Here you can see why skeletons are normal, the same as normal hellhounds and differ greatly from aggressive hellhounds. Skeleton casters are the same as normal skeleton. Difference in sizes was definitely not taken into account here. Values from controller_skeleton_normal.dbr that skeletons use, were just copied values from other normal pets. Honestly, not sure, why you bother to prove anything here. Some players just request behavior selector for skeletons and that’s about it. For sure it’s useful for other pets.
Here’s table with some values from the files. These are the files that govern appropriate pets behaviors.
| parameter | skeletons | normal hellhounds | aggressive hellhounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| pursuitDistance | 18.0 | 18.0 | 20.0 |
| viewDistance | 14.0 | 14.0 | 18.0 |
| pathingViewDistance | 14.0 | 14.0 | 18.0 |
| fleeDistance | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.0 |
| roamBehavior | NeverRoam | NeverRoam | Roam |
To be able to see images better, you need to
Because their range isn’t the same. Never was. Not sure what else to say on that.
I believe you, but it’s not like every player will unpack the game files and will try to decypher what does what. So I did a very simple test that everyone can do, and it showed no significant difference, if any.
I’ve this question being brought up a few times, but since Crate didn’t “fix” it until now, then there’s probably no “problem” to begin with.
Just because something hasn’t been done before, doesn’t mean that something can’t or shouldn’t be done now.
Then why wouldn’t they fix it already if it’s that simple as to change a couple of numbers? AoM came out like 3+ years ago, although I wouldn’t know how skeletons were back then.
I changed a few numbers which causes them to change to aggressive permanently (provided I modded it right).
Not sure what it takes / is it feasible to make a selector so that you can choose the behavior on the fly.
Similar with some small visual mods I make - not really suitable for normal game because they for example change basic Forcewave look as a side effect when I just want to change Elemental visual.
Because fix implies something broken. This is not a bug.
If you want something a bit similar, Necromancer pets behave differently regarding their summoning compared to Occultist/Shaman ones. Like if you press the button to summon Hound while running, it won’t make you pause while the pet is summoned. But with say, Blightfiend, your char will stop moving, summon the pet and then resume moving.
Forcewave was ingame since the base game. But dmg conversions giving it different tints/effects came only recently.
This. Crate want the skeletons to behave the way they do, otherwise they would have “fixed” it. It’s a design decision.
Hm, Hellhound being an underwhelming pet also wasn’t a bug, but with some previous patches they tried to fix / improve that. So if they wanted skeletons to have stupidly obnoxious long range they’d probably do so taking player’s pleas into account.
But I dunno, maybe I’m just playing wrong and don’t notice there’s some kind of issue. Maybe I should kill Ravager standing at Barrowholm entrance or something like that.
You are comparing balance changes that take into account pet stats to design changes like leash range.
Do you believe that pets on aggressive stance have “obnoxious long range”?
That would be about changing Ravager’s leash range.
