Over on steam, there’s been persistent grumbling about robots teleporting into houses and barns and things. It’s been going on long enough I’ve put together some clips as evidence and strongly encourage anyone who can upload videos to also make a report at https://support.generationzero.com/hc/en-us/requests/new using the template given at https://support.generationzero.com/hc/en-us/articles/360016041773-How-to-report-a-game-bug- . It’s pretty easy, and I’m hoping that the more reports and noise is made, the greater the chance this will be acknowledged as a bug, and might even get a fix.
At the end of this post, I’m noting what we know about the issue. If you know more about it or have a better understanding, please contribute.
To reproduce, aggro a hunter or runner. Hide out of sight in a house or a barn, and face the wall somewhere so you can’t see where the robot will teleport to. Wait.
It seems necessary for the robot to be trying to move to the player, so they need to be either aggro’d / red or alerted / yellow. It’s easier to reproduce the bug where the hunter can detect the player through walls, or is accompanied by a seeker with that ability that can keep the hunter aggro’d.
Evidence
Below I’ve listed the clips demonstrating robots teleporting into a range of structures. If you’re desperate to see the raw files I can try to upload them somewhere, but they’re typically 20 mins of watching a hunter pounce, or hiding while I stare at a wall. Hunters are the easiest robot to demonstrate the issue, but they’re not the only robot to do it. The class of robot does not matter. As long as the robot stays in combat with the player the teleport can be triggered, and to that end, the FNIX hunters are the most reliable culprits as they have OPV or a long aggro cooldown, or both. Robots do not need to lose their ranged weapons to trigger the teleport, but it helps for ease of testing. If you’re in a confined space and a hunter suddenly appears behind you with the machine gun blazing, you tend to die and it makes it hard to follow what’s going on.
Hunter in a House
There’s plenty of pouncing from the hunter before this video and while the model clips through the wall and its AoE damage leaks through, pouncing never let the hunter move through the wall at all. The teleport is not an artifact of the pouncing attack.
In the clip, I’m at Länntorp, by Saltholmen. I’ve aggro’d a prototype hunter and been trying to trigger the teleport. I’ve sniped the ranged weapon off to limit its choices to CQC. Reinforcements have arrived, including two rival prototype hunters. This is helpful since they have names and are easy to track. Time stamps are as follows.
00:00 - We’re in combat. The house is clear of robots.
00:40 - I turn around and find the rival “Tyrant of Vesslan” is inside the house in the living room.
01:30 - The hunter tries to pounce but does not free itself. It’s stuck. It can move around a bit, but not leave the house.
02:20 - I leave the house and get wrecked by the robots.
02:50 - The hunter is still in the house, putting the Don Pedro on the stove and heating up some pytt. It leaves combat but is alert.
03:25 - I aggro the hunter again, and let is pounce for a while. It cannot escape the house.
05:00 - I hide in the garage and wait. The hunter is still in the house.
05:20 - I hear the hunter wandering around, I leave the garage to meet it.
06:30 - I return to the house, and discover that it’s clear of robots.
Hunter and a Runner in a Two Storey Barn
Over at Lilla Hagbo, at the southern tip there’s a two storey barn. I met two prototype hunters, a seeker and a military runner. Hunters have been disarmed again. Later another prototype hunter appeared with a gas cannon. I didn’t know that was a thing now. Time stamps for this clip follow.
00:00 - Robots are aggro’d. I enter the barn and find it clear of robots. The doors are all closed.
01:10 - A military runner is discovered inside the barn.
01:50 - I discover a hunter upstairs. I suspect it had been there a while. It pounces but cannot leave the upper floor.
02:45 - Upper floor is clear, the hunter has teleported away.
03:15 - A hunter is discovered on the ground floor in a tight corridor. More pouncing, but the hunter cannot escape.
05:10 - The seeker is retired, to test if its presence is required for robots to teleport.
05:15 - A hunter is discovered in the larger area on the ground floor. It seems to be the one from 03:15 that’s moved.
06:15 - The hunter with the gas cannon is eliminated. There are now only two prototype hunters in the scenario.
06:35 - One of those hunters is discovered back in the downstairs corridor. It’s shut inside again.
07:05 - Both hunters are now outside. The indoor one has teleported again. The seeker was not required to be present.
07:15 - A quick tour shows the barn interior is clear of robots.
Two Runners in a Single Storey Barn
I found two FNIX runners at Stenmyra in the far North. They were disarmed before I started recording. They are both outside as I’m closing myself in the empty barn. Time stamps for this clip follow.
00:00 - Right off the bat, I leave the barn, and as I turn, I see one runner has already teleported inside.
00:25 - Three more runners appear. I decided to kill them, and test the teleporting with the first two.
00:50 - There are two disarmed runners outside, suggesting that the one I locked in the barn has escaped already.
01:05 - I’m back in an empty barn.
01:30 - A runner has appeared behind me again inside the closed barn.
01:45 - That runner is trapped inside the barn.
02:00 - The same runner teleports through the back wall of the barn and escapes outside.
Seeker in the House
At Salthamn, I picked up a pair of prototype seekers at Salthamn IP and retreated to a house. The video is just over a minute long so I won’t timestamp it. In the clip we see the two seekers outside. I tour the house and find it empty, and while upstairs there’s a sudden change in the seeker noise. I discover one of the seekers floating downstairs. Yes, some of the wallpaper is upside down.
Military Hunter in a House
This video isn’t mine, it’s two guys called Pontus and Mat live streaming Generation Zero on 8 Jan 2020. They’re wandering around Norrmyra, near FOA2. Skip to 28:09. You can see the hunter as Pontus is going down the stairs. (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1689&v=cXIt456e-t0)
Miscellaneous Info
Robots known to be able teleport into a closed area:
- Seeker
- Runner
- Hunter
Ticks are small enough to fit indoors but don’t have the life span for the suspected anti-stuck to kick in. Harvesters and tanks are too large to fit. I’ve seen a tank in a warehouse before but that was pre-combat and I believe it was a spawn glitch. I haven’t been able to reproduce it.
Robots seem to teleport into houses, barns and warehouses. I haven’t seen robots teleport into safehouses, the small weapon stores, kiosks and the green military huts. I’ve seen seekers and hunters stuck under shelters, and seekers under the overwater walkways, and I suspect that’s the result of teleporting as well.
Robots will teleport when actively trying to move to a player but cannot make a route. The need to be red or yellow and actively seeking for this to happen.
To avoid robots teleporting around, the player can make themselves available as a target. If taking shelter in a structure, periodically leaving it to run around seems to pacify the robots and give them an opportunity to feel able to complete their attack.
Ironically, there’s a mission involving a hunter trapped in a barn. How did the farmers manage to keep it in there?
