Dungeon Master Forum

I just played good old DM again (the Amiga version) and remembered something which already confused me during the old times when DM was new.
Unlike other monsters, the swamp slimes act somehow... cowardly.
You as the player can "lure" almost any monster to any place you want. If you allow the monster to follow you and then retreat for one square, the monster usually follows even over long distances.
Not the swamp slimes. They will also follow for some squares, but then retreat again and give up the chase. Do they have other AI code than the rest of the creatures?

There is nothing specific for Swamp Slimes in the AI source code. Any difference must be explained by the values in the creature descriptor, see http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/1363

So maybe it is the combination of sight range 2, detect range 1 and Spell casting range 3?
If I understand correctly, this makes the Swamp slime very bad at noticing the party. And if it does, it will rather cast a spell instead of advancing the party?

Yes that is probably correct.

That is what happens Leslie. I created an example of that with a Knight. I didn't see much use for that function in the swamp slimmer other than to seem more random. If you want I can show you some AI that takes advantage of what Chris was saying, monsters operate completely on their own and not so easy to predict their movement or how they'll attack if they attack.