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:

Combat systems are the backbone of many games:
RPGs, action games, shooters, platformers, MOBAs, and roguelikes.

This chapter explains how to implement real combat architecture in Lua:

1. Entity stats & modifiers
2. Damage pipeline
3. Hitboxes & hurtboxes
4. Buffs, debuffs, DOTs, HOTs
5. Cooldowns & cast times
6. Skill/ability system
7. Combat logs & replay
8. Network-sync-friendly updates

This is a complete combat architecture, not a toy example.

1. Entity Stats (Base + Modifiers)

Stats usually come from: