Adaptive Europa — Evolving Creature AI

Adaptive Europa

The creatures of Europa learn from every fight with your submarine and remember it between rounds. The longer the campaign runs, the better they know your habits.

Server-side mod. Requires Lua For Barotrauma. Clients don't need to install anything.

Evolution you can see

Type ae_report in the host console (F3) for a plain-language summary: each species' evolution stage, what it has learned, and which crew member the pack considers its main enemy.

Tactical AI

• Creatures fall back under fire, circle the submarine and attack from below.
• They form groups, set ambushes and run diversions.
• If one group member dies, the rest carry on with the maneuver.
• Supported: crawler, mudraptor, tiger thresher, spineling, hammerhead and moloch.

Evolution memory

• A species remembers which side of the submarine is dangerous and which one let it get close or break inside.
• It remembers which approaches worked: direct pressure, flanking, retreat, group attack.
• Memory is kept per campaign and is not wiped by mod updates.
• Experience fades slowly, and an experienced species changes in smaller steps, so one bad round doesn't undo everything.

Confidence and fear

• Successful attacks make a species bolder; losses make it more careful.
• When a pack member is killed nearby, a confident species rushes the killer while a frightened one backs off.

Main enemy of the pack

Creatures remember which crew member kills them most often and act more cautiously under that player's fire. Only an anonymous hash is stored on disk: no names or Steam IDs.

They stop getting distracted

• Scavengers that kept dying while feeding on a corpse learn to leave it for a living target.
• Same with decoys: if they keep dying on them, the species stops falling for them.
• If the distraction goes unpunished, the habit comes back.

Damage memory and resistance

• A species recognises the damage type that kills it most often and becomes more cautious.
• After a streak of kills with one damage type, creatures gain resistance to it. The cap is hard: never more than 15%.
• Part of that record carries over to the next round.

Crew hunting

Creatures notice divers outside the submarine and may briefly switch to them, while keeping their distance from a dangerous shooter.

Fair by design

• Every learned effect is bounded: creatures get smarter, not unkillable.
• The mod does not change creature speed, health or damage.
• Adaptation is gradual: the first shifts show after several fights.
• On any error the mod switches its tactics off and vanilla AI takes over.

Configuration

• Difficulty presets in config.lua: soft, normal, hard.
• Each behaviour can be turned off separately.
• Host console commands: ae_report, ae_memory, ae_players, ae_selftest.

Compatibility

• Does not modify vanilla files or campaign saves.
• Works only with the vanilla species listed above; modded creatures and bosses are untouched.
• Updates do not break accumulated memory.