One really should differentiate behavior AI from pathfinding AI. The issues with the walrusses that get reported time and again, are almost all pathfinding-related.
You implied that my referring to Skyrim followers and SBP tanks acting smart, and "intelligent". Well, the movement of the enemy - is completely scripted by the mission designer, paths and triggers. Sop is the behavior of units in my formation who adapt to my own tank'S movement when I am the leader, or who follow the lead tank if it'S AI has a path-and-trigger script to follow. The followers in Skyrim only know how to not launch a fight if the enemy is not aware of their presence, or to go for it if an enemy is within reach (internal triggers that can be accessed via some mods, originally this was not open to the player). Skyrims followers are only very competent in pathfinding. It is remarkable how they find a way around even a whole mountain, to catch up with the player, with you sitting on the peak and watching them. Trees, stairs, cliffs - usually no problem, they zig-zag home to mama and usually in the shortest possible way.
If there is something like a real set of AI for autonomously engaging in , disengaging from and manouvering during combat, then it seems to me that you find it in dogfighting simulations.
The problem with CC is not that people expect walrusses and mantas to be smart like humans, but that their pathfinding has serious issues. But in a single player game where you control several units simultaneously, a pathfinding AI for mastering even the basics, is a must. You give a string of waypoints, and then you should be able to expect that they follow these waypoints, not being stopped by a single tree or a rock in their way, or not landing on the beach. When instead a walrus slams into a rock and spends the rest opf the mission with spinning around it, or when it meets a bridge and simply falls down from it or ignores its presence, then you have indications for a seriously broken pathfinding AI. When Mantas fly and the ground elevates and climbs into a mountain peak and they do not climb and do not fly around, but slam right into it, then there is some stuff seriously broken. I do not expect them to be smart like humans, nor have I ever read in a forum post that somebody else does. What I expect is that when you leave the AI with an order to move from here to there, it just does that and is able to use bridges, avoid mountains, and can turn around small obstacles like trees and rocks and can climb a small step or a shallow hill by itself. I do not complain that they get shot into pieces if I am dumb enough to give them a path that exposes them to enemy fire. I do not expect them to fight for me and conquer the base for me all by themselves. I only want them to work reliably with getting from A to C via B, and that they return fire or engage when they take fire or somebody enters their firing range.
BTW, the old classical CC had the ability to have one unit move on by itself. You saw it in a separate small window when having teleported back to the carrier, and you could equip it with a range extender for the remote control signals from the carrier. You could jump into the cockpit any time you wanted. Mostly this was used with Mantas, since walrusses were so slow even back then. There were also fuel tanker kits available, to refuel units that had run out of fuel. Pretty innovative for that time. And very difficult - I never defeated the enemy carrier when I met it.
Anyhow, here is hope that with delay they still get their homework done. If they get their acts together and heal the thing, then all will be forgiven and forgotten sooner or later.
Until then, my money stays with me.
