The AI of Barotrauma

Barotrauma, developed by Undertow Games and published by Daedalic Entertainment, is a survival horror video game with management and simulation elements in which players are able to control characters aboard a submarine in a hostile alien environment.

How Is the AI of Barotrauma?

In Barotrauma, there are multiple entities with AI (artificial intelligence), such as submarine crew, often called "bots", station crew, and monsters. Considering that these different entities play different roles in the game, their AI is expected to behave differently. For example, submarine crew is expected to perform regular maintenance of the submarine systems, station crew is expected to go on about their duties on the stations and monsters are expected to behave accordingly. It is interesting that in Barotrauma all of these systems function in harmony, in a dynamic ecossystem of different interactions. While they are quite different games, this AI ecossystem found in Barotrauma reminds me of the AI of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video games.

The submarine crew AI of Barotrauma performs different maintenance tasks, such as keeping the engine powered, performing cleaning duty, fighting invaders, fixing leaks, performing electrical and mechanical maintenance, among other tasks. However, each AI bot needs to be specifically tasked of performing a certain type of duty, for example, electrical maintenance.

The AI present in Barotrauma is perfectly capable of dealing with most situations the game presents, as long as each member of the crew is already tasked with a specific duty, and as long as the duties are evenly organized. In other words, as long as there are different members performing different duties, and not most members performing the same type of duty.

It is quite interesting what the AI of Barotrauma is capable of doing. Considering the complexity and variety of the game systems present in Barotrauma, it must have been a challenge to develop such an autonomous AI capable of dealing with a variety of situations. While most video games often have the AI only performing basic tasks, Barotrauma features an AI that really performs as expected in many different situations and is also capable of adapting to certain events. In my opinion, even though Barotrauma is most often viewed as a multi player video game, the AI of Barotrauma should be praised for its well-developed behavior, and is often quite essential in both single player and multi player campaigns.

Is the AI of Barotrauma Immersive?

Barotrauma's AI, particularly the submarine crew, often makes remarks on different situations, either peaceful, quiet, calm situations and also dangerous situations. Not only do crew members and station crew comment on a variety of subjects, but they also chat among themselves in multiple occasions. There is also a very interesting immersion aspect in the game that when certain crew members are distant from each other or distant from the submarine, their radio frequency is disrupted and there is lesser quality of their communication. In other words, it is quite difficult to understand AI NPCs and crew members who are distant to the player character or to the submarine, as it would be expected in a hostile, dense environment as the deep of the ocean of a moon. In my opinion, these factors make the AI of Barotrauma quite immersive.

Can Barotrauma Be Played in Single Player?

Barotrauma can certainly be played in single player. As submarine crew NPC (non-player character) members are aware of how to perform most of the important tasks, they will perform their duties as expected as long as the crew members have been tasked of specific submarine duties. As long as the duties have been assigned, the player can focus on specific tasks and on overseeing the overall submarine operation.

However, it must be noted that the Barotrauma AI of submarine crew is mostly limited to the duties they have been assigned. In other words, bots in Barotrauma will not always be autonomous in the sense of switching tasks in order to prioritize something that is urgent. They often require the player character to manually switch their current assigned duty. For this reason, in large submarines, it is important to have many crew members assigned to different duties in order to be prepared for emergency situations, as they can be quite frequent in Barotrauma depending on the biome and on the chosen difficulty of the campaign or mission.

Is There AI in Barotrauma Multi Player? Are There Bots?

Barotrauma can be played either in single player or multi player. In both cases, players have the option of assigning AI crew members to the submarine to perform different duties and specific tasks. Players have the option of assigning AI bots or human players to different duties of the submarine. In many cases, having some AI crew members is helpful for certain repetitive duties in the submarine, while the human player crew is quite useful when adventuring in dangerous locations such as abandoned vessels and abandoned beacon stations.

How Autonomous Is the AI of Barotrauma?

As previously stated, the AI of Barotrauma is autonomous to a limited extent. They are autonomous regarding their assigned duty. In other words, in most aspects regarding their assigned duty, they will be autonomous in the different steps and phases of such duty. However, in many cases, for example, an NPC crew member assigned to fixing leaks of the submarine will not stop fixing leaks in order to fight hostile invaders unless manually assigned to switch duties. While AI crew members are quite capable of performing their assigned duties, they are not nearly as autonomous as human players, especially in emergency situations in the game. For this reason, when playing in single player, it is important to have a large number of crew members assigned to different duties, including fighting invaders, and when playing in multi player, it is important to have at least some AI crew members assigned to certain submarine duties.

How Does the AI of Barotrauma Compare to Human Players?

The Barotrauma AI is quite effective at performing assigned submarine duties. These duties often involve repetitive tasks, such as repairing submarine devices. Regarding these duties, the AI can sometimes even be more efficient than human players as the AI is constantly performing their duties, while human players can get distracted or involved in different situations than the duty they have been assigned to. On the other hand, the AI crew members in Barotrauma will often limit their behaviour to their assigned duties, and this can sometimes be troublesome in emergency situations, such as when a large monster is attacking the submarine. In these situations, if Barotrauma is being played in single player, it is best to have some AI crew members always assigned to emergency duties. In these situations, human players tend to perform better than AI. In general, human players in Barotrauma also tend to perform better when adventuring in abandoned stations and abandoned vessels. This is especially important for players who enjoy missions of adventuring in dangerous locations. When playing Barotrauma in single player, if the player character assigns some AI crew members to follow them during the mission, it is often difficult to assign new orders to crew members while also fighting monsters and hostile inhabitants of these abandoned structures, making the mission more difficult. In Barotrauma, some situations often demand of the players and of the crew members quick decisions. In these situations, it is best either to have additional AI crew members assigned to different duties, or to have human player crew members.