Npc metropolice
Entity Description
npc_metropolice is a prominent Combine enemy in Half-Life 2. They serve as the police force in City 17 and its surrounding areas, collectively known as "Civil Protection". In the beginning of the game, they are presented as a Gestapo-type thought police with brutal habits. They're the player's main opponent in the first few chapters, but they aren't seen again until the first few streetwar levels, after which they're mostly replaced with combine soldiers.
npc_metropolice is much weaker than npc_combine_s in strength, arsenal, and tactics, but its animations are (fittingly) much more natural and help to establish an effective authoritative atmosphere under the right circumstances.
npc_metropolice is effective at attacking in groups, advancing often when equpped with pistols. Other than this, however, default tactics are mostly limited to taking cover to reload and retreating when taking enough damage. Scripted events and behavior entities like ai_goal_standoff or ai_goal_assault, both of which npc_metropolice has unique lines for, can assist their AI.
If a npc_metropolice is armed with an SMG and the player is in the airboat, the NPC can "stitch" by shooting a meandering, closing path of bullets into the water in front of the vehicle. See the "Always stitch" and "No far stitching" spawnflags for more control over usage and range.
Optionally, a npc_metropolice can carry up to two manhacks on their right shoulder. Before it's deployed, the manhack is nothing more than a harmless bodygroup. This turns into a real manhack the moment it's taken off of the shoulder. To deploy a manhack, the npc_metropolice will take the manhack and throw it upward, causing it to defy gravity and deploy in midair. Determining when to deploy the manhack depends on whether they're in a squad with multiple manhack-wielding metropolice or not. If they're in no squad or the only npc_metropolice with a manhack, they will deploy it as soon as they see an enemy. If multiple npc_metropolice in the squad have manhacks, or if a single npc_metropolice has more than one manhack, only one will deploy and the other(s) will wait for the right opportunity. If a npc_metropolice dies with a manhack still on their shoulder, the manhack will remain a bodygroup and will be lost forever. If the npc_metropolice dies with the manhack in their hand, however, the npc_metropolice will let go of the manhack and it will deploy regardless.
Bug:If the enemy is too close to a npc_metropolice while they are deploying a manhack (within crowbar distance, for example), they may be interrupted and the manhack will be attached to their hand for the rest of the npc_metropolice's life. The manhack has no collision and cannot be harmed, but it doesn't get in the way of the npc_metropolice, which will act normally. If the npc_metropolice dies, the manhack will deploy as usual. This can be worked around with some trickery involving the "Prevent manhack toss" spawnflag and the "EnableManhackToss" input. [todo tested in ?]Pre-Criminal Behavior
The gordon_precriminal global state completely changes npc_metropolice's attitude towards the player. They will essentially treat them like a regular citizen. (albeit differently from npc_citizen) They will always watch the player when within a certain distance and have unique idle sentences that suggest a calm and secure atmosphere in contrast to their regular alert sentences. This is used throughout the chapter Point Insertion of Half-Life 2.
They will issue and remember warnings to the player when they do anything to make them angry. npc_metropolice can be angered by many things, including walking into them, interacting with them, and hitting them with an empty tin can. They can remember up to three warnings.
The most common agitator is getting too close to a npc_metropolice. If no warnings have been given, the npc_metropolice will push the player away and give them a warning. If the player has already been warned, the npc_metropolice will threateningly activate their stunstick before pushing them away again and warning them a second time. If the player has been warned three times, they will attack the player with their stunstick from that point forward with no additional consequences of pestering them further. The npc_metropolice will still react differently to the player's presence with the third warning, activating their baton as soon as the player gets within watching distance.
Another agitator is throwing a physics object at the npc_metropolice. This will instantly set the warnings to 3 and cause them to chase the player for 3-7 seconds. If they cannot respond to this (in a script or lacks the "Allowed to respond to thrown objects" spawnflag), the nearest npc_metropolice allowed to respond will chase the player instead.
The only other agitator is pressing +USE on them, which simply adds a warning to the number of warnings or, if the player has already been given 3 warnings, causes them or a nearby npc_metropolice to chase the player.
This behavior is almost completely absent if the npc_metropolice is wielding anything other than a weapon_stunstick. Their behavior will only consist of pushing.
npc_metropolice can also guard a specific area with the use of ai_goal_police, albeit with slightly different behavior.
Note:Some keyvalues, spawnflags, effect flags, inputs, or outputs might not affect an NPC, based on the functionality and coding of the NPC.Dedicated Console Variables
- sk_metropolice_health <int>
- A metrocop's spawn health.
- sk_metropolice_stitch_reaction <int>
- How close to the airboat should Metrocops begin stitching.
- sk_metropolice_stitch_at_hitcount <int>
- Number of times a stitching Metrocop can hit a nearby player.
- sk_metropolice_stitch_behind_hitcount <int>
- Number of times a stitching Metrocop can hit a player looking at it.
- sk_metropolice_stitch_tight_hitcount <int>
- Number of times a stitching Metrocop can hit a player from behind.
- sk_metropolice_stitch_along_hitcount <int>
- Number of times a stitching Metrocop can hit a player looking left/right.
Keyvalues
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CBaseCombatCharacter:
CAI_BaseNPC:
DamageFilter:
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- Waiting to Rappel? (waitingtorappel) <boolean>
- If yes, this NPC spawns suspended in air and awaits a
BeginRappelinput. It will then spawn a zipline and slide down. When it hits the ground, NPC will cut away the line and try to move forward a few feet to make room for the next NPC. The NPC will not attempt to clear its landing space if it cannot do so by taking a few steps forward.
- Weapons ([todo internal name (i)]) <choices>
- What weapon this Metrocop should spawn with. Choices are:
- Pistol
Tip:Cops have bad aim with the pistol, so they will periodically take a couple steps toward the player if they can path to him. - SMG1
- Stun Stick
- Shotgun Bug:The default model (
police.mdl) doesn't have proper animations for this weapon. [todo tested in ?] - Nothing
- Pistol
- Number of Manhacks ([todo internal name (i)]) <choices>
- Each Metrocop can carry and deploy up to two npc_manhacks.
- Pistol starts drawn ([todo internal name (i)]) <boolean>
- Whether or not the NPC's pistol should start holstered. The pistol cannot be unholstered with the UnholsterWeapon input and can only be unholstered when the NPC spots an enemy. Has no effect on other weapons.Note:When an officer's pistol starts undrawn, it actually starts invisible and becomes visible after they play the unholoster animation. They will still use pistol animations and they are susceptible to the bug below.
Flags
- Wait Till Seen : [1]
- Prevents this NPC from seeing (or being seen) until it enters a player's viewcone.
- Gag : [2]
- Won't make IDLE sounds until it's angry.
- Fall to ground (unchecked means teleport to ground) : [4]
- Drop Healthkit : [8]
- Causes this NPC to drop an item_healthvial upon dying.
- Efficient : [16]
- Don't acquire enemies or avoid obstacles
- Wait For Script : [128]
- Forces this NPC to "wait" in an idle state until it finishes playing a scripted_sequence.
- Long Visibility/Shoot : [256]
- By default, increases a NPC's sight range to
6,000units and allows it to attack from anywhere within that distance.
- Fade Corpse : [512]
- Think outside PVS : [1024]
- Allows this NPC to run its regular AI outside of any player's PVS.
- Template NPC : [2048]
- Marks this NPC as a template for entities like npc_template_maker. The NPC will not spawn on its own. This is not needed for point_template.
- Do Alternate collision for this NPC (player avoidance) : [4096]Note:This flag is disabled in
episodic for player companions, because the StartScriptinginput does this.
- Don't drop weapons : [8192]
- Ignore player push : [16384] (in all games since
) - Entity won't give way to player.
- 131072 : Simple cops : Lowers the NPC's health to 26 instead of 40 and uses more dramatic flinch animations for certain hit-boxes. Used in the early canal levels of the game.
- 524288 : Always stitch : This forces the stitching behavior to occur. If the metrocop is armed with an SMG and the player is beneath them, they will shoot a meandering, closing path of bullets.
- 1048576 : No chatter : Automatically gags the NPC and supposedly prevents some metrocop-specific speech that standard gagging doesn't. This is now believed to be non-functional.
- 2097152 : Arrest enemies : Causes the cop to "arrest" its opponents. Demonstration Video
- 4194304 : No far stitching : Stops stitching if the player is over 6000 units away.
- 8388608 : Prevent manhack toss : Prevents the cop from deploying their manhack(s). See the EnableManhackToss input.
- 16777216 : Allowed to respond to thrown objects : Only useful in pre-criminal mode. Allows the officer to chase players who have annoyed them. This does not override the settings of an
ai_goal_police. - 33554432 : Mid-range attacks (halfway between normal + long-range) : Extends the metrocop's preferred attack distance to 3500 units.
Inputs
- EnableManhackToss
- Enables manhack toss (which had been disabled by the spawnflag)
- SetPoliceGoal <targetname>
- Causes the NPC to police the area defined by an ai_goal_police.
- ActivateBaton
- Makes the NPC flick a held weapon_stunstick on.
- BeginRappel
- Start rappelling now.
CAI_BaseNPC:
- ActivateSpeedModifier !FGD
- DisableSpeedModifier !FGD
- Break
- Smash into pieces. If this is not possible, disappear.
- BecomeRagdoll (in all games since )
- Remove itself and instantly become a ragdoll with zero force (just go limp). OnDeath, etc. outputs will NOT be fired.
- ForceInteractionWithNPC <string> <string> (in all games since )
- Force the NPC to use a dynamic interaction with another NPC. Syntax is <targetname> <dynamic interaction>.
- ForgetEntity <targetname>
- Clears out the NPC's knowledge of a named entity.
- UpdateEnemyMemory (in all games since )
- Update (or create) this NPC's memory of of the given entity.
- GagEnable
- GagDisable
- Gagged NPCs won't speak (or moan, caw, etc.) unless made to be a choreographed scene.
- HolsterWeapon (in all games since )
- UnholsterWeapon (in all games since )
- Force the NPC to holster or unholster their weapon. Ignored if the NPC is scripting or if the NPC doesn't use weapons.
- HolsterAndDestroyWeapon (in all games since )
- Same as
HolsterWeapon, except the weapon is destroyed once it has been concealed.
- IgnoreDangerSounds <float>
- Ignore danger sounds for the specified number of seconds.
- InsideTransition !FGD
- OutsideTransition !FGD
- SetBodyGroup <integer>
- HACK: Sets this NPC's body group (from 0–n).
- SetEnemyFilter <string>
- SetHealth <integer>
- Set the NPC's health.
- SetMaxLookDistance <float> (only in
) - Sets the maximum look distance for the NPC. Defaults are 2048 and 6000 for long range NPCs.
- SetRelationship <string|targetname or classname> <string|disposition> <int|rank>
- Changes whether this NPC likes or dislikes certain others. Used like the ai_relationship entity, with this NPC as the subject.
- Values for
dispositionare:D_HT: HateD_FR: FearD_LI: LikeD_NU: Neutral
- SetSquad <string>
- Change the name of this NPC's squad. Leaving the parameter blank will remove the NPC from any existing squad.
- StartScripting
- StopScripting
- Enter/exit scripting state, where NPCs ignore a variety of stimulus that would make them break out of their scripts. They ignore danger sounds, ignore +Use, don't idle speak or respond to other NPCs' idle speech, and so on.
- Wake
- Wakes up the NPC if it is sleeping.
CBaseCombatCharacter:
- KilledNPC !FGD
- Tells the entity it killed something. Despite the name, this can include a player. This input will be automatically sent by the victim when they die.
- physdamagescale <float>
- Scales damage energy when this character is hit by a physics object. With a value of 0 the NPC will take no damage from physics.
DamageFilter:
Outputs
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- OnStunnedPlayer
- Fires when the player is hit by a stun stick by this NPC.
- OnCupCopped (in all games since )
- Fired when this NPC is hit by a prop with the targetname "cupcop_can".
- OnRappelTouchdown
- Fires when done rappelling.