Notes

• the map is a continuous region but we need discrete points in order to reason about them
• designers place points grouped where they want a squad to be located
  • gives the high-level ability to define broad areas
  • allows low-level control of combat spacing and cover-seeking
• the designers control the movement of actors through a space solely by assigning them different sets of firing points to use
  • much of this happens automatically through attacking/defending and retreat conditions
  • for complicated movement, scripting is used
• each action uses firing points differently but they all use the same points
  • cover tries to find somewhere out of the target's line of sight
  • searching tries to find somewhere near the target's last known location
• casting rays for this calculation accounts for about 60% of all AI cost
  • the rest is mostly pathfinding and perceptual bookkeeping