TitanFall's Bots (And 4 of its Criticisms)

One of the most controversial addition to TitanFall are its bots. I've noticed criticism for their inclusion, but also some confusion about their role and how they are utilized. Further, they are also the source of deeper criticisms involving player count and Respawn's ability to design a game with good A.I.

I aim to look at four of these criticisms centered around the inclusion of bots, and try to clarify and justify their existence. Let's start:

1) The Bots Are Dumb

This is not technically false, but the impression it gives twists the purpose of bots to make TitanFall look bad. Anyone who has played TitanFall, or MOBAs immediately knows that if you are expecting bots to play as human clones, you're playing the game with the wrong expectation.

Bots aren't meant to be human players. They literally are fodder, meant to make the game seem more “full” and to act as an alternate strategy to gaining your Titan faster. One of the strategies that have developed in the beta, for example, is equipping a smart pistol to hunt down bots and greatly reduce the time it takes to get your Titan on the field (which of course, is the main staple to success).

There are two counter arguments here:

a) “Well, if you want to make the game full, why not just add more human players?”

b) "Why not just take the bots out?"

Let's look at (a) first:

This would actually make the game worse off. As it is now, titan fights add a whole chaotic element to the game. It's not uncommon to see four titans going at it, electric smoke screens choking out alleys, silos firing in all directions. The fact of the matter is that it really is hard to imagine the game adding more players, which would only result in more chaos. There is a flow to TitanFall's 6v6 multiplayer that just clicks. Could there have been a “Ground War” 9v9 or 12v12 mode? Sure, but considering the map design is meant for 6v6, and considering the sheer chaos of imagining more than 12 titans on the field, it's not hard to see how fundamentally different the game would be if it were any bigger. This idea that adding in more human players suddenly makes the game better not only overlooks the game's intent, but it also somehow assumes that this would not totally throw off the balance of how the game flows with Titan fights.

b) "Why not just take the bots out?"

One thing TitanFall does really well is that it simulates this idea of a meta-battle happening outside of the 6v6. It's not just the bots that help fulfill this. You hear chatter, you see action in the sky and background, you have a soundtrack that plays as if you are playing in a single player game, you have a much more involved voiceover giving you instructions, you have an epilogue that tries to give a fitting conclusion to your battle. Everything is intentionally done to give you a sense of warfare that is much bigger than it actually is. Some people will look at this negatively and point out that this is a mask to hide the reality of the game's 6v6 "limit". But the reality is, if you imagine the game without the bots, and without the chatter, without the voiceover, and without all the other things added to give you this sense of involvedness, you have a game that lacks the presentation and polish that Respawn have put into the game. Compare this to the likes of Call of Duty, where the game plays much more silently, and you can literally feel the difference. Where Call of Duty comes off as much more quiet, TitanFall adds an ebb, a narrative to the multiplayer. Some people will cynically look at this as a negative, but it simply cosmetically adds to the presentation of the game.

2) 6v6 is too limited/Bots Should Be Removed to Add More Player Count

In addition to the obvious chaos, I feel this criticism purposely shoves quantity as a factor in quality. This is simply not the case. A game isn't “next gen” just because it adds more players (Battlefield's console jump to 64 being the exception). There are usually two extremes to a multiplayer game: One where the player count is high (24-64), and one where the player count is low (4-12). One is not better than the other. They serve two different purposes. I've been able to enjoy 64 player Battlefield, and then have just as an amazing experience playing 4v4 Last of Us multiplayer, or 3v3 Team Tactical in Call of Duty 4.

The principle difference is that, in smaller game types, your actions have a much more direct consequence to the game. This is what makes games like Halo, Call of Duty, and Last of Us more impactful in terms of your actions and decisions than a game like MAG or Battlefield. There is a bigger emphasis in smaller player games of control and predictability, of understanding spawn points, and of outstepping your opponent's moves. And this is an important design decision that TitanFall needs to maintain.

TitanFall's 6v6 works, and it works well. Any more would tamper with the balance and mentality of smaller player games.

3) It's hard to find pilots/Bots outnumber the pilots/I Kill More Bots than Actual Players

This is just not true. With modes like hardpoint, the action intentionally flows in a manner where you expect firefights to happen against human opponents. In Attrition (TDM) Titan fights happen often enough, which is where you expect to find other pilots.

There is also this strange myth that you kill more bots than humans. While one can intentionally go out of their way to do this, bot kills aren't valued the same as pilot kills. People seem to suggest that getting more bot kills somehow proves the game is “empty” or unfulfilling (since you kill more dumb A.I than have any actual human interaction), but this is not the case. It's practically the case that most players ignore bots, unless they decide to intentionally farm them to reduce their Titan fall.

I can only make the analogy to MOBAs and DOTAs to show how misguided this argument is. While you can kill creeps in DOTA, nobody praises or values bot kills the same way they value killing a human player. Both games intentionally separate bot kills from human kills, and both use bots as an alternative (in DOTAs case, necessary) farming role. The ratio of bot kills and pilot kills do not prove any sort of flaw, no more than it does in a MOBA gam.

4) The Bots Should Be Smarter

The problem with this is that it would completely take away from the Pilot vs. Pilot interaction. To have bots that are capable of killing in a frequent enough manner would destroy the flow of the game. In addition, it would lead to much more complaints and frustrations where the game becomes too chaotic. You would lose the control and meta-game of outstepping and outthinking your opponent, as the focus would shift on dealing with lethal bots. This argument once again misunderstands and misconstrues the role of bots, assuming them to play more like Unreal Tournament A.I as opposed to the MOBA-styled A.I that TitanFall is aiming for.

If any criticism can be made, it's that bots animate really poorly. They literally have the most basic, archaic poses and animations, which is what really makes them seem off. It would have been nice to have more involved animations, but this cosmetic oversight is the only real problem I seem to have with bots.

-------------------
What's My Point?

I wanted to make this blog because there seems to be a lot of confusion and false information about how the game is played. There also just seems to be negativity towards the game. Some of this is due to the hype behind the game, but I don't feel it's all that fair to completely crush the game under the weight put on it by the media, fans, and Microsoft (HAVE YOU SEEN TITANFALL!?)

The game isn't a revolution in gaming, but it also isn't so broken or mismanaged that it loses its purpose. It's a fun game, with flaws and potential. The bots seem to be the most controversial of its additions, and it's interesting to consider how they will shape the perception of the game, seeing that some blame the bots for a lack of a player count, or fault Respawn for poor incompetence in designing A.I.

[iRocket]

I agree that if the player amount was upped considerably, it would not be that good. With 18 titans running around in 9v9 there wouldn't really be that much space without running into one. I like that a single titan is a force to be reckoned with. If there would be 18 titans running around, it would destroy the significance of titans. Now they are not a common sight, but still frequent enough to keep you on your toes.

[fenome]

Okay, well then what about a higher player count, but only 4 Titans drop, and it's a race to the cockpit? Could be an all out ground-roof battle, then the sirens blair and they come crashing down. Anybody could pilot any Titan, hell you could eject someone and steal theirs, that'd be cool.

I'm just talking out my a$$, but that actually sounds kinda cool. Lol

[LightofDarkness]

My only problem with this blog is that the AI are not bots. Bots ARE meant to emulate human players, and these do not. They're just NPC AI. Bots would take up a player slot, show up on the leader boards and behave like players, i.e. they would be pilots.

In MOBAs they are called minions or creeps. If you called them bots, players would get very confused and either accuse you of cheating or think one of the heroes was AI controlled.

[-Alpha]

I've seen both terms used for TitanFall, but you are technically correct. Thanks!

Perhaps that's the source of confusion for some who assume that the grunts/A.I are "bots".

[LightofDarkness]

Yeah, people seem to really be unable to grasp the concept of bots vs. NPCs. Because it's AI in a MP game, they assume they're bots and should be super smart and human-like. But they're not, nor were they ever intended to be that way. If they really couldn't make the grunt/specter AI intelligent enough to fight competently, explain the Titans. They can fight very well in guard mode and are a very good fight for any human player. But the fanboys conveniently ignore these facets in order to continue playing dumb and calling everything "bots" while deriding the AI based on false assumptions.

I may have to write my own blog about bots in general :p

[jasonc1213]

Even the game calls them minions (on the scorecard for instance). This was a very impressive article! Great job.

[Bimkoblerutso]

My only gripe is that although I am having fun, I still can't shake the feeling that I am just playing a slightly different flavor of shooter.

I went in with the misconception about the bots as well, though I don't find the alternative that much more compelling. Minions just make me wish they could have found a more focused way to work around their core mechanics. I feel the same way about MOBA's.

Also, I haven't really seen anything yet, but I have this sneaky suspicion that these bots are going to be a hotspot for exploitation in the future.

I still like the game, though. It definitely is getting more hate than it deserves. I don't necessarily think it's reinventing the wheel, but at least it's got a few fresh ideas. That's more than you can say about 99% of the shooters we see nowadays.

[AKissFromDaddy]

The bots will be abused by the best players, making player vs player interactions useless.
http://youtu.be/IEV5VL86aEo

I only like playing "kill objective" game modes like Death match and Team Death match. The last game I played was with my close friend, formly keastkeast87 but today Conkeastador. I killed 9 Pilots, 1 Titan, 8 Minions, and died 4 times.

ConKeastador killed 1 Pilot, 1 Titan, 51 Minion!!!, and died 2 times. He came in 1st place on my team while I was in 3rd. I was beat out for 2nd by a stranger named "Potatobellum", who kill 2 less pilots but killed 12 more minions than me.

We completely completely destroyed our opponents in Attrition, 250-85.This is the video: http://youtu.be/IEV5VL86aEo
They didn't even get to the half way mark. Nevertheless, Conkeastador just got access to the PC beta last night, Feb. 18, 2014 at 11PM for the first time. This is the video I shared with WolfLeBlack, another member, to prove my point against bots.

This was our 13th match and he figured that if he uses "Stim", instead of "Cloak", to run ridiculously fast with the Smart Pistol, he could get too many minion kills, too fast. Look at the scoreboard towards the end of the video or enjoy the AWESOME gameplay towards the end. Either way, get to the end of the video. "Stim" with the smart pistol = too many minion kills.

I killed much more pilots but that wasn't enough to even place me at 2nd place.
http://youtu.be/IEV5VL86aEo

Titan Fall is better without bots or with mirror modes without bots. What do you think?

[Pandamobile]

You know you guys are supposed to attempt to protect your minions, right?

If some guy is sitting there slaughtering your minions and gaining points for his team, put an end to it! The minions act like tickets (if you've ever played Battlefield), but instead of counting down to zero, they count up to 250. Killing the grunts and specters is just as much a part of the game as killing pilots.

I often kill around 8-10 pilots, 3-5 titans and 20-30 minions every game. That earns a lot of points for my team and can often tip the tide of the battle in my team's favour.

Titan Fall without minions wouldn't be Titan Fall.

[AKissFromDaddy]

"The minions act like tickets" Minions are worth 1 Attrition, Pilots are worth 4, and Titans are worth 5. My incentive is to kill pilots and Titans. If there were more players and less minions, ConKeastador couldn't focus exclusively on killing an absurd amount of minions in fastest way possible.

Minions don't listen to me. They go where they want to go. Personally, I don't want to babysit bots. I want to kill pilots in team death match.

"Killing the grunts and specters is just as much a part of the game as killing pilots." It's because there is so many of them. You can't avoid them. Especially, when they're asking to die a short death, particularly by the Smart Pistol.

"I often kill around 8-10 pilots, 3-5 titans and 20-30 minions every game." Personally, I don't think you're playing team death match on PC with gamepads, like ConKeastador and I. However, you should record and share such gameplay.

"Titan Fall without minions wouldn't be Titan Fall." It'd be better, in my opinion. An opinion that's shared by a majority number of people. At the very least, mirror modes without bots would suffice. However, I bet everything, almost everyone would optionally play without bots if given the option.

What do you think?

[Pandamobile]

The majority of Titan Fall players think that it would be better without bots?

Where the hell are you pulling that figure from?

Oh right, thin air.

Titan Fall is probably the best designed multiplayer shooter since Team Fortress 2. Removing the grunts and specters takes away 1/4 of the game. Why can't you guys just see them for what they are and accept that they're part of the game? They're there to keep the action moving and give players options in how they earn points towards their team.

Once more players learn how to properly play the game, most of your concerns will dissipate.

It's a team-based game, dude. The grunts and specters are part of your team. If you're not providing enough of a distraction for enemy players that are just farming bots, you're not doing your job as a team player.

[AKissFromDaddy]

"Where the hell are you pulling that figure from? Oh right, thin air."
Okay. If you think so. However, if you could play with more players to fill the map and no bots, would you prefer that option? If not, can you express that for the majority, knowing it's already an issue; there's articles, videos, and blogs like the one we're on, discussiing this? Just think about what you believe other people would naturally prefer.

I understand if you still disagree. If you disagree, I'm most likely in my own bubble and I didn't understand that the majority of people preferred playing with bots. I apologize if I've made you upset.

"Titan Fall is probably the best designed multiplayer shooter since Team Fortress 2." Wouldn't you agree that's your subjective opinion? What do you think?

"Once more players learn how to properly play the game, most of your concerns will dissipate." Understood. However, what would you write if these concerns don't dissipate? What happens next?

"It's a team-based game, dude. The grunts and specters are part of your team." Understood. But I don't want them as part of my team. Is it unreasonable to ask, prefer, and/or demand optional mirror modes without bots? Is it unreasonable that I want more real teammates/enemies to play with or against? What do you think?

"If you're not providing enough of a distraction for enemy players that are just farming bots, you're not doing your job as a team player." Our video shows that we embarrassingly destroyed our opponents in Attrition, 250-85. In your opinion, how would stop Conkeastador or a team of him from farming minion kills?

He was on my team, and he earned 51 minion kills and died only 2 times. How do you stop that, let alone a team of him? Did I play badly, in your opinion? If yes, what were my faults to you?

You haven't quoted me, answered my questions, or specifically addressed which parts of my arguments you disagree with, as I do yours. Would you kindly do that, so I may try to better understand you.

To reiterate, I'm only demanding optional mirror game modes so that I have the option to not play with bots with everyone else who would do the same. My notions doesn't take bots away. Would that still an issue? If yes, why is the option an issue? Don't you personally believe that significant number of people enjoy playing with bots?

Please answer as many questions as you're capable of. Appreciate it.

[Pandamobile]

I'm not saying that they can't have a minion-free mode. There might very well be one. I'm just saying that it fundamentally changes the balance and the nature of the game.

If people wanna do nothing but kill bots, who cares? They're afforded the option to only engage in AI enemies if they're not comfortable dealing with players. The same way you might be able to play without bots (and to be perfectly honest, I actually like losing in Titan Fall more than I do winning). I'm all for having options and accommodating players in a game

Besides, it's only a beta. Respawn can still balance the game if they find any glaring irregularities with what is expected and what players do. That's just the nature of game development. I'm sorry if I appeared a bit harsh with my previous comment, I've just been reading a lot of comments from people calling for Respawn to flat out remove the minions from the game, so I've started lumping all the naysayers into one generalized group of people.

[Ducky]

The video your linking to shows a round with unevenly matched teams. Not sure how you can make any conclusions based off of that.

The match barely lasted 5 minutes, which means your friend keast was killing at a rate of 1 minion per every 6 seconds.
That is kind of impressive, yet if the opposing team was any good, then they wouldn't have trouble killing keast since his focus is on the bots and likely only has a smart pistol to defend himself with.

It is also worth pointing out that if you were to subtract the minion kills from both team's attrition points, you would still get the same point ratio between the two teams.
In other words, the AI did not have an impact on how badly you beat the other guys.

So then why have bots anyways if they don't really affect the score? Try playing Crysis 2/3's multiplayer. You'll quickly see what happens when you have players with abilities like cloaking and highly-effective weapons: camping.
Now count how many campers you've met in Titanfall.

If there was a mirror mode without bots, the the maps would be empty and quiet. There'd be no incentive to move and risk making noise because that gets you killed. There's only 12 players on a relatively big map, so the pilot gameplay wouldn't be all that exciting. Increasing the player count beyond 12 makes the titan gameplay too chaotic.

In other words, the balance of the game goes away once you start making those changes. Which is probably why Respawn didn't incorporate them (it's foolish to assume they haven't considered all these ideas). If what you're looking for is strictly player vs player TDM, then you might be better off looking at one the abundant number of other shooters that already do this.
... but I suppose Respawn can still throw you a bone by releasing a mode without the AI, but then you'll have people that'll only play the mode and judge the entire game off of that.

[AKissFromDaddy]

The match was is longer than 6 minutes. It starts at 22 seconds and ends at 06:30.

"The video your linking to shows a round with unevenly matched teams. Not sure how you can make any conclusions based off of that. " Both teams started with the same number of players. Why write that?

"...if the opposing team was any good, then they wouldn't have trouble killing keast since his focus is on the bots..." 3 of their opponents were leveled in the double digits vs. our 5. Why do you assume that our opponents suck, and that Keast isn't just better than them?

"It is also worth pointing out that if you were to subtract the minion kills from both team's attrition points, you would still get the same point ratio between the two teams." We had 104 Minion Attrition points, 51 belonged to Keast. They had 31 Minion Attrition points. Keast had more Minion Attrition points than our opposing team by himself. He figured out a tactic to racking up kills very quickly.

"the the maps would be empty and quiet." You've mistaken me, good sir. I would replace all the bots with real players or enough to fill the map.

If you think it'd be too crazy, that's the fun part and that's why it's optional ^_^.

"In other words, the balance of the game goes away once you start making those changes." I only demanding options outside the default game modes. Is that unreasonable?

"but I suppose Respawn can still throw you a bone by releasing a mode without the AI, but then you'll have people that'll only play the mode and judge the entire game off of that."
As long as it option and they increase the player count, personally, I don't care what people only play or how people will judge Titan Fall then. I'm having fun playing with real people. I won't care ^_^.

If this option became available, with more players, the modes with bots would surely and quickly die though, in my opinion. I'm confident people enjoy playing with other people over bots 95% of the time.....I'm pretty confident ^_^.

What do you think? Of all of this?

[Ducky]

The epilogue starts near 5:30.
You do not get attrition points beyond the epilogue. I don't even think any kills show up on the scoreboard after that either.
So the round was only around 5 minutes.

Yes, the teams started with the same number of players (actually, are you sure about this?), but the other team wasn't playing effectively. Keast only had 1 pilot kill and 2 deaths, meaning he was hardly challenged by anyone. The minions cluster near the center of the map, so it's not like he was in some secluded corner; he was in the open.

You can just as easily post a battlefield round where one guy spends the entire game in a tank and gets an insane amount of kills because no-one on the other team bothers shooting any rockets. That round doesn't mean the tank is overpowered, it just indicates that the other team is not performing well.

... but I'm not entirely against the idea of a mode without minions. Even though I don't see the point of it and think the game would be worse off, I still believe that options are rarely ever a bad thing. I suppose that's a question you're better off asking the devs.

[AKissFromDaddy]

This is my last bubble, so I won't be capable of replying outside of a personal message.

"You do not get attrition points beyond the epilogue. I don't even think any kills show up on the scoreboard after that either."
In the epilogue, you're right about the attrition points and kill count stopping because the maximum attrition amount, 250, has already been achieved but everyone still earns XP from kills and the kills still display on the kill feed.

The match isn't over for you unless you personally give up during the Epilogue, which no one does. Every surviving real player rushes to successfully get on the dropship or destroy it. The game continues, which is why it's a part of my footage.

"Yes, the teams started with the same number of players (actually, are you sure about this?)..."
I'm 100% Positive.

"Keast only had 1 pilot kill and 2 deaths, meaning he was hardly challenged by anyone."
Keast only died in his Titan. On the ground, he used "Stim" to run really fast with the Smart Pistol. He wasn't challenged because he was killing minions too quickly and moving away too fast. Personally, I died 4 times and earned only 8 minions kills and I wasn't using "Stim" at all. I'm using it now ^_^.

"You can just as easily post a battlefield round where one guy spends the entire game in a tank and gets an insane amount of kills because no-one on the other team bothers shooting any rockets."

I disagree with you. Personally, it's almost impossible, for me, to keep a tank alive during the entire match of Squad Death Match in Bad Company 2 or the entire match of Team or Squad Death Match in Battlefield 3. I don't own or play Battlefield 4, I have no experience with that.

Nonetheless, if you have your own personal footage, showing how easily it is to keep a tank alive with all real players in Squad or Team Death Match, please don't hesitate to share it. I'd be excited to watch you demonstrate its ease and be proven wrong ^_^.

"That round doesn't mean the tank is overpowered, it just indicates that the other team is not performing well."

I'm not implying that Keast is overpowered but better, definitely, especially because of "Stim" with the Smart Pistol. However, I'm imply that the bots are much less fun to play with, real people are always better, and almost exclusively killing bots, that die quickly, is enough to position oneself as the best player in Attrition.

"but I'm not entirely against the idea of a mode without minions." That's excellent.

"Even though I don't see the point of it and think the game would be worse off, I still believe that options are rarely ever a bad thing."
We disagree but it's better to have this option than to not have it at all.

"I suppose that's a question you're better off asking the devs." I believe the community making noise, videos, blogs, articles, and places of discussion will get more attention and more likely to encourage implementation.

This is my final bubble and I rarely use them all. I believe I've responded to all of comments. I'll read your reply but I'll reply via PM, if you don't mind, of course. Anyways, thank you for the dialogue and time.

[ExCest]

I just like how they're there. They give me points and I feel good about getting points.

[GutZ31]

So... what you're saying is that everyone that is criticising the AI in Titanfall are missing the point, and that it is suppose to be dumb.

Thats fine and dandy, but a little more effectiveness on the AI's part wouldn't hurt the game.

[tkato]

no!, do you want to focus on killing smart AIs or focus on hunting other pilots?

[jasonc1213]

Point #4 of the original article illustrates why this is not the case. Unless it is a VERY small effectiveness boost, my opinion is that it would ruin the balance of the game. If you look at the BOT thread on the Respawn forums, it seems to me that the majority of players share that opinion.

[SilentNegotiator]

The AI isn't dumb; it's brain dead. You could wipe out a million of them with melee without being killed. And they count towards getting a titan faster.

The AI needs to be done away with, more players need to be added, and acquiring titans needs to work differently (not one for everyone).

[tkato]

Well when I first heard of the AI fiasco I was kinda bummed, but then I got to play the beta, and man, it is fun!. npcs or not it's a great fluid multiplayer shooter that reminds me the golden days of UT2004, the AI is there to act like tickets, I wish this game had more destruction thou, it feels like my titan should crush walls, but it won't.
Either way, I pre-ordered it for pc today after the beta closed, because no way I'm buying an XBONE for this game, and the PC controls are better for these games.
Man this game makes you feel like rambo even if you lose! :D

[Z501]

It's funny. [anyone else notice?]

People in the [Unreal video shows how bots could ruin Titanfall] comments section here at N4G say the guy in the video is 'playing it wrong' http://n4g.com/news/1457733...

Meanwhile ...

Ducky's respone to AKissFromDaddy's video [in this blog] is ... "the OTHER TEAM wasn't playing effectively" [otherwise known as 'playing it wrong']

The moral of the story: Any Titanfall article regarding bots in a 'negative' manner = Everyone's playing it wrong, unless you're playing it "right"?

- Screw fun and your play-style. We're supposed to be winning!

[Ducky]

Maybe you should notice the game-mode.

That guy in your video is playing an objective-based game mode, yet all he does is run around the center of the map kicking AI rather than play the objective.
The other team was doing what they're supposed to do: Capture objectives.
No surprise, he gets bored, his team loses, and that's that.
If the scoreboard was shown, then he would've been near dead last because he had little to no objective points.

AKissFromDaddy's scenario is team death match, where killing bots does matter. In this case, both teams should be trying to kill everything, and his team was simply better.

In both scenarios, the AI didn't change anything as far as outcome is concerned.
OnlyUseMeBlade's team would've lost anyways because he seemingly doesn't know there are objectives, while KissFromDaddy's team would've won by the same margin if the AI didn't contribute to the score.

... but my bad. Maybe people who don't play the objective should be rewarded because apparently that's a "play-style".
People also shouldn't try to win when playing competitive multiplayer.

[Z501]

I'm just saying ...

It's a trend I'm seeing.

Even if you've played TF, but you have an issue with the bots. You're either

A hater
A Sony fanboy
Jealous

Show a video to back-up said 'issues'

"You're playing it wrong"
"The other team is playing it wrong"

j/s

[Ducky]

What "issue" did the videos show?

[Z501]

I'm talking about AKissFromDaddy's OP 'issue'

"This game is broken
The bots will be abused by the best players, making player vs player interactions useless"

Which turned into the trend I've been reading/hearing. "The other team is playing it wrong"

[TheSaint]

'I wanted to make this blog because there seems to be a lot of confusion and false information'

All the while trying to pass off opinion as fact, good one.

The bots are dumb as shit, embarrassingly so. You can shoot at one, stop shooting then go back to shooting and there is zero reaction from the bot. It's frankly pathetic how bad they are.

If they were in a single player game their AI would be laughed at.

[Phaethon0017]

I personally believe this 6v6 philosophy stifled game production. Regardless they have created 14 "6v6" maps. I disagree that these maps are too small to have increased player count (especially when additional modes could have less Titans but more Pilots) but even still, they could have devoted 3-4 maps to 8v8 and up, maps for bigger game modes.

Last Titan Standing is the perfect example of the direction they could have gone. Add more players to it, then alternate teams in Titans and Pilots for the six rounds.

Still, in my book they did everything right regarding game design when it comes to controlling Pilots and Titans. It's pure fun. I just hope they're paying attention for the eventual sequel.