Today brings quite a few updates. Version 0.2.2 has been released for higher tier patrons, the Supporter version 0.2.1 has been released for lower tier patrons, and the Free version 0.2.1 has been released for everyone. The version 0.2.2 brings new moves for Claw, a new Story Event and an overhaul of the combat scene AI, which has severely increased the difficulty of the game. You can check the latest version's changelog here.

Let's discuss the new AI changes. Long are the days when you could abuse the fact that they were just choosing random actions! This algorythm attempts to identify different situations, and chooses the most apt behavior for each of them - a fairly standard design. Here you have a scheme of these situations and behaviors:

Situations

If the NPC is in the passive side of a position, they may identify:
- Either me or my enemy are close to climax -> Choose "desperate attack"
- I'm far away from climax and I'm much stronger than my target -> Choose "slow attack"
- None of these are true -> Choose "struggle"

If the NPC is in the active side of a position, they identify:
- Either me or my enemy are relatively close to climax -> Choose "desperate attack"
- The last situation isn't true -> Choose "slow attack"

If the NPC isn't in a position
- An enemy character is close to climax -> Choose "desperate attack"
- I'm about to reach climax -> Choose "desperate attack"
- The previous situations aren't true, an enemy that isn't considerably stronger than me is out of control, and I'm not close to lose all control -> Choose "pin target"
- The previous situations aren't true, and an enemy is losing control -> Choose "attack control"
- No other situation is true -> Choose "balanced"

Behaviors

- Balanced: The NPC may use a self-buff action if they don't have enough buffs, or they may use actions that attack control or provoke debuffs.
- Attack control: The NPC throws a dice to check if it's possible to hit with a pounce attack. If it returns true, they take the risk. Otherwise, they try using an action that damages control, or an action that provokes damage or debuffs.
- Pin target: The NPC uses a pounce action or a character that's ran out of control.
- Desperate attack: Use an action that deals damage.
- Slow attack: The NPC may use a self-buff action, a damage action or a debuff action.
- Struggle: The NPC uses struggle.

Closing notes

This is still far from being perfect, as there are a lot of things that the AI isn't considering: Which attack helps me deal the highest damage? Is my target weaker against any affinities? Is this buff actually improving useful stats? But it's a great leap in the right direction. Players who could easily win most 1vs1 combats in the previous versions will now face a more serious challenge, as long as they aren't playing on easy.