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Waste Disposal - bug with Rumblers
Submitted by Amrynel on Sat, 01/24/2009 - 13:08.
Hi, I noticed on Waste Disposal that Rumblers will sometimes make a right turn at the first grid area - straight through my defensive line of towers. Here's an example setup I've seen affected:

..OO.
CCTCC
.OOO. <--- incoming path of Rumbler ---

Where 'O' is an unused square, 'C' is a cannon and 'T' is a temporal. One other datum that might be important is that so far I've only had it happen when using fast forward. I suggest fast forwarding through Wave 19 on Practice Mode a few times, it happens maybe 1 in 4?
‹ White Screen @ Full Game Xbox 360 Minor sound stuttering on Xbox LIVE Arcade version. ›

Comments

Framerate related

Submitted by jeff on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 01:17.

Usually this bug appears when a user has very low frame rate and the timing gets off in the AI for the fastest aliens - typically rumblers.

 

Jeff

 

video

Submitted by jeff on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 16:04.

You can post it to Youtube if you'd like, or email it if it is under 5MB.

 

Jeff

 

Re: A video of the bug

Submitted by Amrynel on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 08:20.
Now have a 2.42MB xvid clip, 840x524@25fps. Shows a Rumber doing a right turn between a tower and a cliff face. Have also seen Rumblers do right turns between two Cannons, between a Cannon and a Temporal, etc.

Re: A video of the bug

Submitted by Amrynel on Thu, 01/29/2009 - 05:27.
The raw file got extremely choppy just when the bug occurred, and after editing I had a 54MB MPEG4 file. So I think I'll have another go. With that in mind, how do you want the video? (e.g. emailed or uploaded or other, codec used, resolution, time period captured, file size, etc)

A video of the bug

Submitted by jeff on Wed, 01/28/2009 - 19:25.

A video of the bug would be great!  Thanks much.

 

Jeff

 

AI logic

Submitted by jeff on Tue, 01/27/2009 - 16:43.

So, likely the reason the rumbler is going through the cannon tower is that its path is blocked somewhere else.  The way the AI logic works is that if there is an open path it will take it, but if there is not, it will take the shortest path through the least number of towers.

 

The information above is saying which path the rumbler took (which is the shortest path, it turns to the right immediately), but it doesn't have the info of where you have a way out so we can't know if the rumbler should have turned or not.

 

As for temporal towers, when there is only one temporal tower, fast aliens such as racers or rumblers can actually make it past the tower fast enough that they get by in between pulses - it doesn't always happen, but it can happen.  Upgrading the tower or having two temporal towers nearby can prevent this.

 

Jeff

 

I've noticed this as well

Submitted by floridabroncos on Sun, 04/12/2009 - 18:43.
I noticed this bug in Grinder Mode on this map. I made sure that there was a clear path for the AI to follow, but on just about every run, at least one walker would make an immediate right turn. I didn't catch it until I had been following the action away from the beginning and then suddenly, without warning, I saw that two orbs were taken. "Impossible!" I said, seeing as how I had been keeping up with the walkers and not one had gotten through all my defenses yet. So I started watching them from the very beginning, and sure enough, on just about every run one or two of the walkers would take an immediate right turn, despite the way being blocked and another path being open to the orbs.

Re: AI logic

Submitted by Amrynel on Wed, 01/28/2009 - 11:51.
Sorry Jeff. I shall be clear: all aliens follow the unblocked path, except for the rumbler which occasionally turns and goes through the line of towers if I am fast forwarding on Waste Disposal. If the bug does not occur, then backspacing and fast forwarding again, without making any changes to my defense grid, can reproduce the bug. It does not happen every time, but it will happen every N times where N is (so far) smaller than five. If you are having trouble reproducing this bug, I can record a video of it.

Also seen on Waste Disposal

Submitted by Amrynel on Sat, 01/24/2009 - 13:12.
I've also, once in a while, seen a Rumbler go straight through the "blue pulse" of a Temporal without being affected. I can't reproduce it though, so it might be an optical illusion or something.

To me it seems likely to be

Submitted by kofrad on Mon, 01/26/2009 - 03:48.
To me it seems likely to be one of those 'freak accidents' that occur in programming. During development it can be next to impossible to check every single piece of information for errors. Sounds like something slipped through the cracks.
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