Unconscious Vs. Dead

[joeljermon]

One thing that slightly annoys me in Thief is that the AI always assumes a body is dead, even if they're just knocked out with the blackjack. I think it would be nice if they AI could tell the difference and reacted slightly differently (obviously both would anger a guard, but slightly more so for a dead body). Perhaps whether they can tell the difference would depend on the character - a high-class gentleman or lady might check to see if they're alive or not, whereas a dumb street thug would might just see the body and go off running.

[obscurus]

I think it might be the other way around - the upper classes would probably be the ones running away or turning up their noses ("Oh, I say, a filthy corpse, guards, do come quickly and remove this wretched corpse from my balcony..."), unless maybe it was a friend of theirs, while the riff-rafferty would be more likely to see if there was anything on the body worth taking... probably would want to see if they could pull out some gold-filled teeth or remove an jewelery etc ("aagh curses, nothing on this stiff... Oh well...").

 

I think it would be cool if you could give each AI a unique name or tag, and make it so each AI has a list of other AIs which it knows, and what the nature of the relationship is. So for the AI named Benny, there might be a list of other guards with whom he works, the people he works for, and known criminals he will attack on sight. Could be a lot of work, but if it is done right it would add a lot of depth to the game.

[sparhawk]

Perhaps whether they can tell the difference would depend on the character - a high-class gentleman or lady might check to see if they're alive or not, whereas a dumb street thug would might just see the body and go off running.

 

Actually, it would be more realistic the other way around. After all, a street thug is more used to violence, while a noble woman might be shocked (not really in that times, but still). Anyway, we have planned for this a long time ago.

[FishFace]

The thing is, people are less likely to go ape when they find someone unconscious, because people do just faint, or collapse. It'd be more realistic (unless there's a huge bruise ) for them to be sat up in bed, carried off and splashed with water, or whatever, rather than everyone screaming.

[Dram]

either way, the guards would go and search for who did it anyway.

[FishFace]

That's the point, though, if you're unconscious and the Thief's done it properly, there's no indication that there was any violence. Often, if not always, it would be assumed that they'd fainted, or collapsed, not been hit. I mean, would you go around screaming if you found someone unconscious? No, you'd take their pulse and try and revive them. Perhaps you'd find a medical person or even ring an ambulance in some cases, but you wouldn't assume they'd been knocked unconscious.

 

On the rough, tough streets of The City, it would not be VASTLY different. In some situations, yes people might be suspicious, but most of the time, naa.