Tactical AI and Logistics
This area explores NPCs that plan from what they know and what they can actually reach, carry, command, or afford.
What it is
This area explores how NPCs and factions could make plans with limited knowledge, people, time, and supplies. It covers scouting, danger, squad orders, movement, communication, transport, reinforcement, and longer operations.
Why it matters
An NPC feels less like a cardboard target when its choices follow the world around it. It should not know everything, teleport supplies into existence, or send fifty soldiers when only six are available and two of those are apparently on lunch.
A simple example
A commander asked to attack an outpost might first send a scout, compare the reported danger with available troops, arrange ammunition and transport, then delay or change the plan if the road becomes unsafe. A plugin can request the outcome without scripting every footstep.
Where it stands today
This is one of ADK's larger ambitions and will be difficult to build well. The notes define decision responsibilities and reusable support systems, but no general tactical intelligence is running today.
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.
Searching Where the Searchers Actually Think Someone Might Be
This service turns uncertain reports into a practical search plan. It does not secretly look up the target's real location. It works from the areas, alternatives, confidence, risks, time, and people the searching group is legitimately allowed to know.
For example, if a missing courier was last seen near either a bridge or a forest track, one squad might search the stronger lead while another checks the wider fallback area. Finding nothing is useful evidence, but it does not magically erase an area from everyone's knowledge; the observation must first pass through the normal knowledge system.