Tactical AI and Logistics
These notes describe tactical decisions made from incomplete evidence: threat assessment, squad command, movement, communication, supply, reinforcement, and multi-stage operations.
NPCs and factions should act from what they can reasonably know and physically support, rather than receiving perfect knowledge or resources without a route through the world.
Tactical Decision Boundary
Tactical systems may choose, score, coordinate, and request behavior. They do not get direct authority over the world. They work from limited evidence. They submit intents or records. They keep uncertainty when communication, perception, or knowledge is incomplete. This keeps tactical AI readable and fair. It prevents omniscient squads, magical radio, hidden state changes, and plugin shortcuts around Brain, Pinky, host, or world-state authority.
Example: A squad can request a retreat from limited evidence, but Brain, Pinky, the host, and world owners keep their own authority.
Cover Depends on the Threat
This service helps an NPC or squad compare a small set of reachable cover positions. Cover is judged against known or estimated threat directions, the actor’s posture, travel danger, concealment, protection, and what the actor needs to do from that position.
For example, a crate may block a northern shooter but remain open to an eastern flank. Under immediate fire, the NPC can run toward the best recently checked wall and refine its position after reaching relative safety instead of conducting a perfect architectural survey while being shot.
How Suspicious a Disguise Looks
This service estimates suspicion from what an observer can actually see: clothing, tools, actions, and surroundings. Different observers may reach different levels of suspicion from the same scene.
The result is a warning signal, not a declaration that somebody is an enemy or an automatic reason to attack. Other systems decide how, or whether, to react.
Uncertain Threat Information
NPCs make decisions based on incomplete or uncertain information. This includes what they observe, hear, remember, or predict.
Evidence can be old, wrong, conflicting, delayed, or misleading. Different NPCs may react differently to the same clue.
For example, hearing gunfire might cause one NPC to hide right away while another investigates where it came from. Neither knows who fired.
Planning Routes That Match the Mission
ADK can plan paths for one person, a group, or a convoy without making them see into the future or teleport. The route uses what the group knows, the terrain and dangers they can see, and what the mission needs.
For example, a scared courier might take a longer covered path while a rescue team takes more risks to get there fast. A route is still just a plan: the people or units have to actually travel it.
Plans That Survive Interruptions
NPCs and squads can keep a small portfolio of active, paused, deferred, and opportunistic plans instead of forgetting everything whenever combat begins.
Committed promises remain different from passing ideas, and plans keep their identity as they pause, change route, or transfer to another actor.
For example, a courier carrying medicine may dive for cover, wait for danger to pass, and resume from the delivery checkpoint. It may loot one nearby crate on the way, but it will not turn a time-critical delivery into a scenic tour of the island.