This time on Grand Theft Game Design, our on-going article series fleshing out the more technical bits of GTA 5, we'll be tackling the game's AI. In the past we've looked at static and dynamic objects, answering why the trees are indestructible, as well as instancing and interiors, looking at how multiple players can own the same property but have their own apartments. Today, you'll learn why the relatively well crafted and intelligent AI in the game's singleplayer goes retarded when switching to Online.

First of all, it's important to understand that GTA 5 is primarily CPU intensive. Different games are built and optimized differently, and while some will hog your GPU, others will mostly rely on your CPU and RAM. GTA 5 falls into the latter category, which is why a system with a top end graphics card and a mid-range CPU won't run the game at a steady 60 FPS on higher settings. The game's reliance on RAM is also why using SSD's doesn't decrease loading times.

When playing GTA 5's story mode, you might have made note of relatively intelligent AI when fighting enemies, especially police. These small tidbits usually show up in longer, drawn-out firefights, but you'll see unharmed opponents dragging wounded allies behind cover, call out your location to one another, try to flank you and more. They'll generally stick to cover and use some semblance of tactics even, though nothing particularly hard to outwit.

I mean, in the end, they're still just video game enemies with a pretty limited range of intelligence so don't expect masterful strategy and the like, but you'll see that the devs put effort into the AI scripting. However, the moment you go Online, all of that flies right out the window.

Police will just come at you with nary a care for their own bodily well-being and they sure as shit won't be dragging downed comrades out of harm's way. They'll make use of the cover system, but not much else. The reason for this is also why you won't be seeing any animals in Online.

Thanks to the server structure of GTA Online and the mere fact that this is a multiplayer game we're talking about, the CPU draw is significantly increased compared to playing single player. To keep system requirements consistent between the story mode and Online, Rockstar had to cut corners with CPU intensive features in Online, which meant axing the AI first and foremost.

So why wipe out the animals? They too possess fairly advanced AIs for the time and were pretty taxing on the system. Since they didn't much impact the gameplay of Online, they were cut. Since the game more or less wants you to do PvP combat unless in specific missions, enemy NPC AI was downgraded.