ModernUO/dev-docs
Kamron Batman 1e891094fe
fix(ai): FamiliarAI owns familiar movement and combat; herding reaches its tile; ForcedAI read once (#2644)
## Problem

`BaseFamiliar.OnThink` drove its own movement (`WalkMobileRange` toward the master) while the familiar was also a controlled pet running `Obey()`. `Summon → SetControlMaster` issues `Come`; `DoOrderCome` converts it to `Stay` within two tiles and anchors `Home`; from then on `OnThink` walked toward the caster while `DoOrderStay` greedy-stepped back toward the stale post — the backtracking. Combat never approached anything: main only copied `Combatant` while already adjacent to the caster. `CurrentSpeed = 0.01` was a 10 ms think / 50 ms step sprint hack, and `RangeCheck` teleported the familiar to a spot eight tiles *from* the caster.

## Change

A dedicated `FamiliarAI : BaseAI` (registered through `ForcedAI`, like `CloneAI`) owns every familiar decision, for both the controlled (`Obey`) and uncontrolled (`Think`) dispatch:

1. **Lifecycle** — caster gone → drop pack, delete. Caster on another map → stand down and wait for `TeleportPets`.
2. **Herding** (Dark Tides) — stands down, then `CheckHerding()`. Outranks combat.
3. **Assist** — combat-capable familiars (dark wolf, vampire bat, horde minion) engage the caster's target; otherwise anything in a fight with the caster's side — attacked the caster or the familiar, or attacked by the caster (a pet's attack is credited to the caster) — that is still fighting the caster, the familiar, or one of the caster's pets. Leashed to `RangePerception` of the caster; dropped when the caster hides. Shadow wisp and death adder never fight (`AssistsMaster => false`, enforced at the `Combatant` setter so no path can hand them a target).
4. **Follow** — `MoveTo(master, 1)` through the centralized `ApproachTarget` (greedy step / persistent `PathFollower` / stall detection).
5. **Keep-up** — snap to a validated tile beside the caster (on the caster's floor) when outpaced on open ground beyond 10 tiles, or when `ApproachTarget` gave up; never while a detour is working.

**Command immunity** is expressed inside the order machinery rather than around it: `FamiliarAI.IssueOrder` does nothing and rests the order on `Come`, so `TeleportPets` keeps working and no system-issued `Attack` (retaliation on ML's stand-down rule) can strand the familiar. `StandsDownOnCommand => false` so the ML rule never mutes it.

**Visibility** mirrors the caster from the familiar's own state (a step reveals a hidden NPC in `Mobile.OnMove`; the old cache compared the caster's previous state), `RevealingAction` is suppressed while the caster is hidden, and becoming hidden drops Warmode so no swing gives the caster away.

**Speed** is a flat 0.1 (`ReduceSpeedWithDamage => false`).

### Engine-side (all `Projects/UOContent`)

- `ApproachTarget` records which exit it took in `BaseAI.LastApproach` (`ApproachOutcome`: Arrived / Waiting / DirectProgress / Routing / Blocked / GaveUp / InvalidGoal). Callers' booleans are unchanged; keep-up reads this instead of running a second scheduler. `MoveTo`'s arrival return now also clears the move intent, as `ApproachTarget`'s own arrival does.
- `MoveToPoint(goal, range = 1)`; `CheckHerding` passes 0. **Fixes a main regression from #2591:** herding stopped one tile short, never cleared `TargetLocation`, and left the creature pinned to the herding pace — affects the shepherd's crook and the Dark Tides scroll fetch for every herded creature, not just familiars.
- `ChangeAIType` reads `ForcedAI` once. It read it twice, and each `BaseAI` ctor activates its timer for a non-sector-gated creature, so a `ForcedAI` creature with `PlayerRangeSensitive => false` got an orphan AI ticking it.

## Tests

`FamiliarAITests` are timer-wheel driven (the real `AITimer` thinks and moves; `PetPacingTests` style) against live Trammel statics, gated on client map data: follow without backtracking, the five-way assist theory, leash, retaliation, aggressor fallback (caster's own `Combatant` expired; caster's pet in the fight), target dropped when it stops fighting, keep-up on open ground / not while routing / after give-up, hidden mirror across steps, herding priority with a visible fighting caster, stand-down when left behind, no stale move intent. `ApproachOutcomeTests`, `HerdingTests` (fails on main), `ForcedAITests` (fails on main) cover the engine-side pieces.

Against `origin/main` with the familiar tests dropped in: 16/16 fail, including the reported backtracking. On this branch: `UOContent.Tests` 1082 passed / 2 skipped, `Server.Tests` 891/891, solution builds with 0 warnings.
2026-09-14 23:14:30 -07:00
..
claude-skills fix: pets freeze, forget their orders, obey the wrong players, and fight when told not to (#2614) 2026-09-10 19:28:13 -07:00
runuo-migration-docs perf: keep damage entries in an inline intrusive list (#2605) 2026-09-01 23:25:14 -07:00
code-standards.md feat: Add zero-alloc interpolation handler to ValueStringBuilder, replace all StringBuilder usage (#2387) 2026-03-22 14:23:44 -07:00
commands-targeting.md fix: TextDefinition was uneditable in the props gump, and where parsed constants its own way (#2624) 2026-09-10 19:36:30 -07:00
configuration.md fix: Fixes Argon2 verify correctness and the password upgrade lockout (#2562) 2026-08-08 00:24:59 -07:00
content-patterns.md fix(ai): FamiliarAI owns familiar movement and combat; herding reaches its tile; ForcedAI read once (#2644) 2026-09-14 23:14:30 -07:00
debugging-event-loop.md fix: stop the idle-sleep backoff tripping on healthy hosts (#2572) 2026-08-13 19:58:03 -07:00
era-expansion.md chore: Adds AI instructions and SKILLs for ModernUO codebase (#2347) 2026-03-01 11:42:19 -08:00
event-scheduler.md chore: Adds AI instructions and SKILLs for ModernUO codebase (#2347) 2026-03-01 11:42:19 -08:00
events.md feat(skills): SkillEvents.SkillUsed for cross-assembly subscribers; InternalsVisibleTo ModernSpawner.Tests (#2636) 2026-09-11 22:58:44 -07:00
generic-commands.md fix: TextDefinition was uneditable in the props gump, and where parsed constants its own way (#2624) 2026-09-10 19:36:30 -07:00
gump-system.md docs(messages): document interpolation anti-patterns and :L format spec (#2441) 2026-05-03 18:23:50 -07:00
ip-bans-and-allowlists.md feat: make the blocklist and manual allowlist opt-in; cut the ban subsystem's on-loop cost (#2577) 2026-08-13 23:22:35 -07:00
networking-packets.md feat: make the blocklist and manual allowlist opt-in; cut the ban subsystem's on-loop cost (#2577) 2026-08-13 23:22:35 -07:00
pathfinding.md fix(ai): FamiliarAI owns familiar movement and combat; herding reaches its tile; ForcedAI read once (#2644) 2026-09-14 23:14:30 -07:00
platform-prerequisites.md fix: Require only runtime packages on Linux, and check ICU and tzdata the way the runtime does (#2561) 2026-08-07 15:03:08 -07:00
property-lists.md fix(opl): refuse property list invalidation raised from inside GetProperties (#2555) 2026-07-28 21:29:03 -07:00
regions.md chore: Adds AI instructions and SKILLs for ModernUO codebase (#2347) 2026-03-01 11:42:19 -08:00
serialization.md docs: update serialization docs and skills for generator v4 (#2588) 2026-08-22 18:29:27 -07:00
server-lifecycle.md refactor(server): unify first-boot prompts into the ConfigurePrompts phase (#2477) 2026-06-08 05:18:46 -07:00
server-requirements.md feat(network): grow the send buffer on demand instead of disconnecting (#2639) 2026-09-12 16:35:06 -07:00
string-handling.md docs(messages): document interpolation anti-patterns and :L format spec (#2441) 2026-05-03 18:23:50 -07:00
t2a-crafting.md feat: Pre-Publish 14 Crafting (supersedes #2181, #2381) (#2476) 2026-06-07 20:27:22 -07:00
threading-model.md perf(login): run password hashing on a parked worker thread (#2566) 2026-08-09 00:13:34 -07:00
tick-counts.md perf: Sleep the event loop when idle. Fixes networking micro-stalls. Adds event loop instrumentation. (#2559) 2026-08-09 13:24:59 -07:00
timers.md docs: update serialization docs and skills for generator v4 (#2588) 2026-08-22 18:29:27 -07:00