Fatal Racing - Artificial Intelligence Behavior

Artificial Intelligence Behavior

When the player (or other AI car) inflicts a large amount of damage on them, at the next given opportunity they may strike back. Behavior is also team dependent; Global tend to be more aggressive than the others, DeSilva tend to try to impede other racers, Million Plus may sometimes try to go the wrong way or simply stand in the way. The player's AI teammate can also follow (or disobey) his or her orders. At the beginning of races, all the AI cars accelerate at the same rate to keep the grid formation until all cars are at full speed, regardless of the respective car's actual acceleration. This usually keeps the AIs in front clear of the initial pack-induced collision damage, which gives them another advantage.

Higher difficulty settings make the AI more aggressive and also make the race last longer, which allows the AI to pull out some of its more dirty tricks. Although the driving model is quite primitive, races on the highest difficulty level (Impossible) with High damage last about 10 minutes and require good racing tactics and a thoughtful pitting strategy to survive, let alone finish in a good position.

Offensive tactics

- When one driver of a given team is in a high position and the other driver is doing poorly, the latter may turn around and go the wrong way to cause chaos and head-on collisions. Although this usually leads to its own destruction, a stricken opponent loses speed, is forced to pit and may even be destroyed, allowing its teammate to move up in the pack. This is usually a tactic employed by the lighter and more reckless teams, or as a suicide tactic when a driver is down to its last life.

- The heavy and fast Reise Wagen and Global drivers tend to tailgate slower opponents, pushing them down the track. As the victim takes more damage, its top speed slows down, making it even harder to escape. If the track is too narrow for an evasive dodge, this may lead to an elimination in 15 seconds or less. For this reason, Impossible/High drivers are advised to swerve out of the way if they are damaged and a Reise or Global is approaching behind them. If there is an elevation change ahead, slamming on the brake may cause the assailant to fly overhead.

- Some drivers may race through the pit lane at full speed instead of following the regular track. Because damaged vehicles need to stand still in the pit lane to get repaired, this may lead to a high speed collision, launching the damaged car back onto the track with even more damage than before. The crippled car is usually eliminated shortly thereafter unless the driver is exceptionally good at damage avoidance. This tactic can be avoided by hugging the pitlane wall, staying on the inside if the pitlane is curved, parking against another car or if you are in an agile car, parking backwards in the pitlane. This tactic is unavoidable on the Bonus Cup tracks with a pitlane in the middle of the road, making these tracks very difficult to complete.

- Plain old sideswiping. While not very dangerous in and of itself, if this happens at a banked ramp, corkscrew or drop-off, it could lead to the victim falling off or landing upside down, after which the vehicle respawns in the middle of the road and usually gets rear-ended instantly, taking major damage.