Possible easy-to-implement feature?

[Maxables]

I want to say two things before I start this thread off properly. One, I'm very excited to be a new member of this awesome community, and look forward to interacting with all of you. Second, I would guess that there are many "Game feature I want" threads, and I'm not sure if it's considered in good taste to create them. At any rate, it is not my intention to upset or offend anybody.

Right then, on to the idea.

I was considering the NPC parameters, referenced in the Alpha 159 changes video. In the interest of making fights more varied, and making NPCs more interesting, I propose a mechanic that alters these parameters as their health drops. This would make an NPC's behavior change throughout a fight.

So, say you're fighting a relatively weak opponent, and as you land a few hits, his fighting style gets sloppy. His blocks are less successful, his attack speed slows, etc. On the other hand, you could face a very skilled but overconfident fighter, who begins to panic as he realizes he's being beat. This would mean that you could potentially take on a very strong opponent as long as you land a couple good blows before he could react.

You could also tailor this to different races. Say, by making wolves fly in to a rage as they take more damage; becoming very aggressive, but never blocking. Rabbits may flee after taking heavy damage, to reflect their more cautious nature. This would add an additional level of strategy when facing other species.

The biggest benefit of implementing this feature is variety. Each fight would be at least slightly different from the next, because your enemy would be altering his behavior mid-fight.

Right, well, that's my first idea. More to come later. What do you think?

[funymunky]

Neat idea. That kind of advanced AI might be a little difficult to program, but it would definitely be cool. Although, the rabbits already run away when they're injured, just so you know.

[Count Roland]

kind of reminds me of lugaru's "can't repeat one move over and over because they'll anticipate it after a few times."

[Jacktheawesome]

I like this idea. I want it.

[makatak]

This sounds like a great idea, and from my limited programming knowledge, not too hard to implement. They probably have some kind of damage meter in the code, and when that falls below a certain amount the NPC's behavior changes.