Using other games like Vermintide as an example, AI bots make the game playable and fun regardless of whether the host can find 3 other players or not. It allows players to open and start a game. The bots were for the most part competent and on par with 50% of the playerbase. That way players can have a fun little round whether they can find enough players or not. It also makes players suddenly leaving a game less of a death sentence.
The assurance you’ll get to enjoy the game with a full team in turn drives more players to play more often and in turn drives more people to open up more to the greater community.
There’s going to be some who just want to host a private game and enjoy it with 3 other bots…and that’s a good thing as it lets them play at their own pace and they can join co-op if they ever felt like it. Not to mention, it’s not like you’re losing any players to co-op with if they aren’t joining other players to begin with.
With Solo Play still missing and the placeholder state of the bots, I’m pretty sure AI coders have been struggling hard to adapt the base code of Vermintide 2 into Darktide - and improving bots is probably hanging out at the bottom of their to-do list.
The equation in DT is far more complex with all the shooting action happening but even within the same parameters (melee), the bots fail to handle crushers, ragers, and other threats, consistently.
And of course bots can’t pickup any items and when a player drops-off/leaves, the goodies stay on the ground. Damaging the survivability of the group.
Coding AI is no walk in the park, but I reckon even some basic improvements like configurable bots with different classes and loadouts, along with basic orders, would make a world of difference.
Sure, there are some solo mods out there, but they’re limited by what’s available (which isn’t much) and they’re not officially supported in lobbies.
As you say, BOT coding is likely hugely difficult. But not impossible.
And for many players, they wouldn’t care if they ‘cheated’ a bit by avoiding a % of damage, just to make them resilient enough to play alongside.