Today we received patch 0.16.1.3 for Escape from Tarkov, which included many fixes for the game mostly revolving around AI scav improvements. In the past AI scavs have been notorious for being able to one tap players. Sometimes this would happen from insane distances which often times made them feel way too strong. The AI scav changes in this most recent patch will likely make the game much more enjoyable to play. Lets go over the major changes.
Detection
The first major change we have is the AI scavs ability to detect players in raids. With this update the AI now considers both the distance the player is away from the scav. They also consider the angle the player is in regards to the direction the scav is facing. This means you are much more unlikely to be spotted by an AI scav. If you are to the side of the the scav or if you are a long distance away they are less likely to notice you. The speed you are moving also effects the AI scavs ability to detect you.
Weather
Another promising change is the scavs ability to detect players is also now affected by weather conditions. Previously players were always affected by weather conditions and had limited visibility from rain and fog. However scavs did not, and were able to shoot at you through these conditions with no hindrances. Now scavs should have a similar negative impact from these conditions as players. This should make fighting scavs in these conditions much easier, and make the games gunfights with bots feel more natural.
Cover Fire
Cover fire has now been removed from regular AI scavs. Now it is only used by higher difficulty AI such as rogues and raiders. The cover fire function was a recent addition to the game that made fighting a lot of scavs feel far more chaotic. They would continue to shoot in the players direction even when behind cover. This lead to PMC’s swarming the area, as well as the occasional death through a wall. The decision to reduce the amount of AI utilizing this function should greatly reduce those annoying third party deaths.
Overall these Ai scav improvements greatly fix AI behavior to make them feel more realistic, which should lead to more natural feeling gunfights, as well as make the encounters with scavs more skill-based. Players will now be able to use the weather more effectively to their advantage without scavs giving away their location and ruining their raids.
Here is a link to the official patch notes if you want to have a look at all of the most recent changes. Patch 0.16.1.3
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