Q: Is this compatible with _____?
A: This should be compatible with most other addons as long as they don't do anything particularly specific to existing NPCs. For example, Improved Combine will work with this mod because it uses its own NPCs and applies its improvements immediately and directly, but iNPC applies its improvements in a similar way to this mod (modifying existing NPCs, basically), so it could potentially overwrite or be overwritten by some of this mod's components. Incompatibility is usually limited to a few features, so iNPC should still be compatible with things like aircraft NPCs or Dog playing fetch. Just don't expect it to work right with squad mixing or tactical variation.

Q: Will this lag my game?
A: It depends. Most of this mod just uses existing HL2 stuff, so it doesn't have as much Lua overhead as something like iNPC. Regardless, the helicopter NPCs and the strider navigation can probably get computationally expensive under some circumstances, so be wise.

Q: What are aircraft NPCs?
A: Gunships, dropships, and hunter-choppers. I may also call them "helicopter NPCs".

Q: What maps support aircraft NPCs?
A: Here's a list of maps that this mod adds support to:

• gm_construct
  
• gm_flatgrass
  
• gm_bigcity
  
• gm_bigcity_improved
  
• gm_genesis
  
• gm_blackmesa_sigma
  
• gm_blackmesa_sigma_night
  
• gm_fork
  
• rp_bigcity
  
• gm_construct_15
  
• cityruins2 (New!)
  
• gm_excess_construct_13 (New!)
  
• gm_bigcity_d (New!)
  
• gm_bigcity_winter (New!)

Please note that they all follow very specific paths and I have not consulted any of these maps' creators on this. More may be added in the future, but please don't bombard me with requests.

A few of these also have "maps" to help find each track:
https://imgur.com/a/YI5LOD2
The arrows at each track are supposed to indicate that track's direction. A track's direction is mostly only useful for hunter-chopper bombing behavior, as they only drop bombs when their enemy is moving forwards. You can reverse tracks with the "Reverse Tracks" button in the mod's settings. The direction of a track will not interfere with gunships, dropships, or hunter-choppers without bombing behavior.

Q: Doesn't gm_construct already support these NPCs?
A: Yes, but not in a way that allows the rest of the aircraft behavior (bombing, chasing, etc.) to work. The original support still functions if you disable these features.

Q: Will you make dropships drop soldiers?
A: No, but there is a mod called Working Combine Dropship NPCs that you could use. It's not affiliated with Enhanced Sandbox NPCs in any way.

Q: How do the aircraft NPCs move?
A: When the first aircraft NPC is spawned, a bunch of path_tracks are placed throughout the level. Once this happens, all helicopter NPCs spawned from that moment on will move to the nearest track. Some maps have...er...maps[imgur.com] to help you find these tracks. These tracks will stay there until the map is cleaned up or reloaded, after which the process will repeat itself with the next aircraft NPC. Depending on the map, there could be a lot of points on these tracks--gm_bigcity has over 100--but it shouldn't be too much of a problem...

Q: My aircraft NPCs keep going to the wrong track!
A: Some tracks are really close together. Try spawning them in another part of the track. You could also check the console to see which path they go to.

Q: My aircraft NPCs keep getting stuck in each other!
A: Because most tracks follow a very specific path, aircraft NPCs on the same track will almost certainly collide. Try to use only one aircraft NPC per track if this becomes a problem.

Q: My helicopters won't bomb me!
A: In most bombing behaviors, hunter-choppers will only bomb the player if they are in a vehicle that's moving forwards in their track. See these[imgur.com] to figure out the direction of the tracks in some of the supported maps. If the map you're playing on doesn't have a picture in that link or you can't figure out which track you're on, just try to turn around and drive the opposite way.

Q: Can you add support for other NPCs like striders on maps that don't support them?
A: Unfortunately, no. Unlike other NPCs, helicopter NPCs exclusively use path_tracks instead of info_nodes, which all of the other NPCs use. However, there are a bunch of nodegraph mods on the Workshop, and all of them should be compatible with this.

Q: What is a reskin?
A: "Reskin" is just what I call any NPC addon that uses a custom model on a default NPC. Take Futurama Zoidberg by Flagg, for example. When you spawn it as an NPC, it's just a friendly lobster that looks around. If you give it a weapon, it might even attack your enemies. Whenever it kills something or gets killed, it is credited as "Citizen". It has no special behavior like VJ NPCs or Combine Units Plus. In reality, Zoidberg is just a regular citizen with a Zoidberg model. These are the kinds of NPCs I'm talking about.

Q: My striders won't move!
A: Make sure the map you're playing on has strider nodes. Most maps on the workshop state whether they have strider nodes, but you could often test it by just seeing if they move when you get out of their sight. You should be spawning your strider where these nodes are available. Also make sure the strider movement setting is enabled. (See Utilities > Enhanced Sandbox NPCs > Settings) You can also try cleaning up or reloading the map. If the strider was moving before but stopped moving, it might have gotten stuck on something and canceled everything. Replace the strider or try typing "ent_fire !picker settargetpath esboxnpcs_striderpath1" in the console while looking at it.

Q: My striders won't attack me!
A: Striders with hunter escorts are not allowed to attack the player. If striders aren't attacking you, this is most likely because you spawned hunters with them while they are allowed to follow striders. You can turn off hunter follow behavior in the mod's settings menu, although hunters that have already spawned will not stop following their strider.

Q: How does the strider cannon AI work?
A: It's complicated if you're not one for details. Long story short, they'll only use it if they're either in danger or they think it's a good opportunity.
Here's the long story. Each strider is given an "AI" that checks on it every 9-14 seconds. This AI checks for the right conditions and then orders it to fire the cannon. There are three conditions in which a strider may use its cannon:

• The strider is at 300 health (85%, attained by one player rocket hit) or below
  
• The enemy's health is greater than 175
  
• The enemy is standing on a prop_physics (basically any given prop)

Only one of these conditions must be satisfied for the strider to be able to use its cannon. The cannon initially targets the enemy's current position, but it also tests whether the strider can see it. If part of the map itself is in the way (like a wall that can't be destroyed) then it will try to fire its cannon a few units above its target in case it's in a window or something. However, if an actual entity is in the way, like a prop or a breakable wall, then it will instead fire at whatever is blocking their target. This makes it easier for striders to fire at targets in things like breakable dupe fortresses.
After firing its cannon, the strider will not fire again for (strider's health divided by 12) seconds. This means a strider will use its cannon more and more as its health decreases. The delay is cut in half if the cannon was triggered by the enemy standing on a prop_physics.

Q: What squads are combine soldiers mixed into?
A: Up to five squads, each with an equal chance:

• overwatch
  
• novaprospekt
  
• overwatch2
  
• overwatch3
  
• <none>

<none> just makes the soldier squadless. I know that's technically not a squad, but whatever. The ability to add and remove squads to this list may be added in the future.

Q: What are the drawbacks of mixing up the squads?
A: There are a few:

• Soldiers will only share their enemy's location with others in the same squad. This means soldiers not in their squad will not be notified of their enemy, which could amount to 80% of the soldiers in some circumstances. You can remedy this with scanners or cameras while the "Scanners & Cameras Notify All Combine NPCs" setting is enabled, which causes flashes from scanners and cameras to notify all soldiers in the map.
  
• Soldiers may accidentally hit each other if they get in each other's way while they're shooting at their target.
  
• Since grenade delays are mostly handled via squads, soldiers can be extremely grenade-happy. They may blow each other up by accident, or send each other's grenades flying to unpredictable places.
  
• Soldiers will talk a lot.

A lot of these are either not very noticable or just add to the chaos, so depending on what you're planning on using this for, some of these might not even be drawbacks. Just keep them in mind.

Q: My soldiers keep killing each other by accident!
A: This is a consequence of splitting up the squads, unfortunately. Turn it off in the mod's settings if it annoys you too much.

Q: Will you ever update this mod again?
A: I consider this mod "finished" and I've already moved on to other projects, so unless a huge bug pops up or something don't expect anything new...

Q: How does this work in multiplayer?
A: Settings are unique to each client, meaning each NPC spawned is adjusted to the settings of the player that spawned them. One player could have squad mixing enabled, having their soldiers mix into different squads, while another player might not, having their soldiers stay in their original squad. There are a few other admin-related settings to disable certain features, although there are admittedly not many of them. It's probably not a big deal if you're letting this mod onto your server anyway.