Combat AI determines the challenge, pacing, and tension of any action game.

Modern games use:

• State Machines (simple AI)
• Behavior Trees (modular, readable)
• Utility AI (dynamic decisions)
• Blackboards (shared memory)
• Squad AI (formations, flanking, roles)
• Boss AI (scripted phases + BT nodes)

Lua’s flexibility makes it ideal for building AI layers.

This chapter builds:

1. Enemy archetypes
2. Finite State Machine (FSM) combat AI
3. Behavior Tree engine
4. Utility-based decision system
5. Aggro & threat systems
6. Group tactics (flank, assist, swarm)
7. Boss scripting (phases, triggers, timelines)

1. Enemy Archetypes

Define enemies in data:

Game AI is one of Lua’s strongest domains.
Lua scripts drive NPCs in:

• World of Warcraft
• Don’t Starve
• CryEngine titles
• Roblox (Luau)
• Cocos2d-x Lua games
• Thousands of mobile/indie games

Game studios rely heavily on Lua due to:

• Ease of scripting
• Data-driven behavior
• Fast iteration
• Easy debugging and hot reload
• Coroutine-based timelines

This chapter covers all major AI paradigms used in modern games:

1. FSM (Finite State Machines)
2. Behavior Trees (BT)
3. Utility AI (Score-based decision AI)
4. GOAP (Goal-Oriented Action Planning)
5. Navigation patterns
6. Blackboard memory systems
7. Hybrid AI architecture for bosses
8. Performance tuning for large AI crowds

1. Finite State Machines (FSM)

FSMs are simple, predictable, and great for: