Crew AI (2024)

Crew AI are non-playable characters that can be enabled or disabled by the host of a lobby. They act as allies to the players and serve to aid players that for whatever reason cannot play with a full lobby or solo heisters that would otherwise be all alone.

PAYDAY: The Heist[]

The team AI in the first game is fairly bog-standard as far as bots go, capable of mimicking basic functionalities of a real player such as attacking enemies, notifying the player of special enemies (albeit not marking them) and reviving allies in bleedout. Other than that, their coding is relatively limited, as they cannot deploy consumables, control civilians or perform hostage trades.

Unlike players, bots being charged by a Cloaker will be cuffed instead of downed, and they don't suffer from reduced maximum health upon being revived.

PAYDAY 2[]

In PAYDAY 2, Crew AI have been made substantially more useful than in the first game, especially after the Henchmen update. While not differing that much from the first game by principle, there have been several major tweaks to their AI logic.

When initially entering a heist, the heist usually starts off in stealth. While stealth is active, the Crew AI will either stay idle at the starting point or walk to a position some distance away and stay idle there, in form of a smoke break, but also have dialouge if approched. While idle like this, the Crew AI cannot be detected by guards, cameras or civilians, even if they happen to be in restricted areas. The Crew AI will also not actively help the player in any way, but they will still bestow the passive benefits from Crew Boosts and Crew Abilities.

As soon as the heist goes loud, however, then Crew AI will put on their masks and draw their weapons and will make their way over to the player(s) and then stay near them and follow them around the map. In this state, the Crew AI will engage all enemies in sight and, if another heister is downed, the Crew AI will attempt to revive them. Players can use the follow command (F by default on PC) to call Crew AI to them or specifically focus which bot to revive you. Additionally, the Crew AI can be ordered to stand still with the stay command (Z by default on PC) which will make them stand still in their current position and engage enemies. They will, however, begin moving again if the player(s) moves too far from them or another heister is downed. In loud gameplay, Crew AI can use both passive and active Crew Boosts and Crew Abilities. Crew AI bots cannot pick up lootbags, but the player can throw a lootbag at them, which will make the Crew AI bot grab it and carry it. They will then carry their lootbags and defend them until the player either grabs it from them (which can be done by interacting with the bag), orders them to drop it (which can be done by using the follow command), or if a heister is downed (in which case the nearest Crew AI will drop their lootbag and attempt to revive the downed heister). Crew AI cannot secure lootbags by themselves, but it may be possible to maneuver them into the drop area on certain heists and order them to drop the bag. If a player enters a vehicle, nearby Crew AI will also attempt to enter said vehicle and will disembark when the driver does so.

Unlike the first game, special enemies are marked by bots when they shout at them. Their spotting range appears to be greater than that of a human player.

In the game's original state, only two crew bots will accompany a solo player into any given heist instead of the previous title's three, though the Henchmen Update's release has bumped this number up by one, to three Crew AI for a solo heister. Crew AI bots have moderately high health pools that scale according to the difficulty of the mission, clocking in at 2,000 health points on Normal and Hard, 3,000 on Very Hard, 4,000 on Overkill and Mayhem, and 8,000 on Death Wish and above. If left undamaged for a short amount of time, a Crew AI bot will quickly regenerate health. This means that Crew AI bots are durable to the point that they usually will not go down unless they get into a fight with something extremely damaging like a SWAT Van Turret, a Minigun Dozer, or a huge horde of enemies, especially if they had been ordered to stay. The damage that Crew AI Bots inflict, however, is identical on all difficulties due to bugs, using Overkill set values. Before the Henchmen update, most bots used a CAR-4 with the same modifications as law enforcers, while some used an AK as their primary weapon, while Wolf as bot used a Compact 5. Nowadays, Crew AI bots will initially use the AMCAR as their default starting weapon just like the player, but can be customised to use any primary weapon that the player owns.

Bots have upsides and downsides. While they cannot use cable ties on civilians, they can still shout them down and will keep them down if within range. Due their high health, they can easily fight off waves of regular enemies and almost always go for headshots (and they can also be given the ability to shoot through shields) but can be downed if they are attacked by too many enemies at once or enemies that inflict very high damage. They also cannot use melee attacks and are very vulnerable to Tasers and Cloakers, especially the latter, as they can't sprint out of the way when charged, and if a heister is downed by a Cloaker too close to an ally, then the Crew AI often switches back and forth between reviving nearby downed players and shooting the Cloaker, succeeding in doing neither and often resulting in getting themselves kicked (That being said, Crew AI can shoot and kill Cloakers just fine as long as nobody is downed too close to them, as that causes their AI to become confused). Unlike players, they cannot jump, but they can rappel down from and climb up ledges and slide under doors like law enforcers to catch up with them. They also cannot drive vehicles or use their weapons while in vehicles.

Updates[]

Since Update #107 players can also issue the stay command (default "Z"), which can be very useful, especially in defending chokepoints or objectives. The AI's capacity to follow this order is rather limited, however, as the bots will attempt to path to the player should they move a certain distance away from them.

Additionally, since Update #130 they possess the ability to carry lootbags (by tossing a bag at one) and can drop them on command. They will still be subject to the same movement speed restrictions as the player when carrying bags. If another heister is downed, Crew AI will drop their lootbags and prioritise reviving the downed heister.

Previously, this was hampered by bots often dropping bags seemingly at random, though Update #151.2 rectified this. This means bots carrying loot will now defend their cargo with their lives until demanded to stop, or until they are taken into custody, whereupon the loot will "snap" to the nearest player who's not currently driving, ziplining or being tased. If no valid players are around the bags will simply remain still or be moved to the nearest retrievable location.

Customization[]

On day 8 of The Search for Kento Event, Crew AI were given a significant boost in functionality with The Henchman update. Hosts were given the ability to equip Crew AI with customized weapons and masks in the Crew Management interface.

Additionally, Crew AIs can be imbued with unique buffs in the form of Crew Boosts and Crew Abilities, which are special perks that significantly alter the capabilities of both the AIs and the players. Each AI can equip one preferred character, one mask, one weapon, one Crew Ability, and one Crew Boost, although Crew Abilities and Boosts must be unlocked with Continental coins before they can be equipped, and a single Crew Ability/Boost may not be equipped on more than one Crew AI at a time. Crew Abilities cost 6 each to unlock, while Crew Boosts cost 2 each.

Lastly, the player can specify up to three heisters which will accompany them as Crew AI bots, referred to by the interface as "Loadouts" when playing alone. Any "owned" heister can be selected with the exception of the one the player is currently playing as. In the event another player joins a running game, they will replace these "Loadout" bots starting from the bottom up (e.g. if a bot group contains Sydney, Bonnie and Clover as its first, second and third member, respectively, then any players that join an ongoing game will replace Clover first, then Bonnie and finally Sydney) and remove whatever benefit(s) that the Crew AI bot that was replaced was granting the lobby.

Crew Weapons[]

When it comes to weapons, the three crew AIs can each be assigned any primary weapon from the player's stockpile that they own, with some exceptions: Crew AIs cannot use any Akimbo weapons, and they cannot be equipped with Special weapons like flamethrowers or saws or launchers. Lastly, they are also unable to use any secondary weapons, which, in combination with the aforementioned Akimbo restriction, rules out Pistols and SMGs completely. This effectively restricts the Crew AI to being able to use Assault Rifles, Shotguns, Sniper Rifles and Light Machine Guns.

If the assigned weapon(s) have skins or other modifications applied, they will be visible during gameplay, but they will not affect the stats of the weapon and will only be aesthetic. These bot weapons use a different and unique set of statistics different from the values given to the players arsenal, and unique capabilities like shield piercing of snipers will not be present (Though the piercing ability in particular can be restored with the "Piercing" Crew Ability).

Crew Abilities & Boosts[]

• Abilities

• Boosts

Quick

Quick		Cost: 6
Players interact 25% faster. This bonus is increased by +25% for every other AI present.
Note(s):	Pager response is not affected by this boost.

Inspiring

Inspiring		Cost: 6
Your team AI can now use Inspire once every six minutes. Reduced by 2 minutes for every other AI present.
Note(s):	AI will not use this skill to revive other AI.

Sharpeyed

Sharpeyed		Cost: 6
Players pickup(sic) 20% more ammunition. This bonus is increased by +20% for every other AI present.

Piercing

Piercing		Cost: 6
Your team AI will now use armor piercing rounds. This enables them to shoot through shields and armor.

See Also

10 Fastest Ways To Level Up In Payday 2Stoic's Hip FlaskLeech AmpuleRisk Level

Reinforcer

Reinforcer		Cost: 2
Players' health is increased by 60.

Protector

Protector		Cost: 2
Players' armor is increased by 30.

Distractor

Distractor		Cost: 2
Players' dodge is increased by 5.

Invigorator

Invigorator		Cost: 2
Players have 50 more stamina and the armor speed penalty is reduced by 50%.

Healer

Healer		Cost: 2
Players heal 5 health every 5 seconds.

Concealer

Concealer		Cost: 2
Players gain 3 more concealment.

Stockpiler

Stockpiler		Cost: 2
Players are granted an extra throwable for every 35 kills.

Accelerator

Accelerator		Cost: 2
Players reload 50% faster and swap weapons 50% faster.

See Also

Skills and Skill Trees - PayDay 2 Guide - IGN

Tips[]

• When it comes to Crew AI weapons, the best option in terms of efficiency is to equip them with LMGs like the KSP or KSP 58. The reason for this is that Crew AI bots appear to shoot these weapons with a lot more vigour than they do other weapon types, are not as seriously affected by the lack of steel sights and appear to have a rather long engagement range, which makes them all the more capable to engaging and defeating enemies in combat.
  • By comparison; Assault Rifles, while still reasonably effective, are inferior to LMGs, as Crew AI appear to have a shorter engagement distance while wielding them and they do not shoot and sustain fire with assault rifles as aggressively as they do with LMGs. Everything that Crew AI can do with Assault Rifles, they can also do just as well with LMGs.
  • Shotguns, while they can be very deadly up close and quite effective for dealing with weaker enemies (especially in cramped indoor areas), their restricted effective range and the Crew AI's shorter engagement distance with this weapon class can pose problems in more open areas and when dealing with more faraway enemies, especially Snipers.
  • Sniper Rifles are very ineffective, as they lose their ability to shoot through Shields (though that can be restored with a Crew Ability) and their slow rate of fire coupled with the Crew AIs' somewhat slow aim speed and inability to use secondary weapons or melee attacks means that they are not very effective due to the often-large number of enemies present. A Crew AI bot with a sniper rifle can counter-snipe enemy snipers reasonably effectively, but they tend to struggle with effectively handling anything else.
• The "Quick" Crew Ability is highly useful in both stealth and loud gameplay, as it significantly speeds up nearly all interactions, and remains active even when the Crew AI are idle in stealth. The faster one can get things done, the less time there is for things to go wrong or for complications to arise.
  • The "Accelerator" Crew Boost is similar, albeit more useful in loud gameplay, as it increases reload speed and weapon swap speed, granting better reactivity and reducing downtime from reloads. Weapons with small magazine sizes or lengthy reload times derive the greatest benefit from it.
• The "Piercing" Crew Ability is also quite useful in loud gameplay, as it allows Crew AI to shoot through Shields without trouble, making them far less likely to become stuck shooting fruitlessly at them. This also makes them significantly more effective at engaging Maximum Force Responders (Tan Units) and Captain Winters.
• The "Inspiring" Crew Ability allows Crew AI to use Inspire every so often, which can be quite a valuable asset on higher difficulties, though the time limit between uses and the fact that it cannot be used to revive other Crew AIs limits its usefulness.
• The "Sharpeyed" Crew Ability increases the player's ammo pickup rate, which potentially allow weapons that normally struggle with limited ammo (like Launchers) to become more sustainable, opening up more options and new strategies for completing heists in loud.
  • The "Stockpiler" Crew Boost is similar, in that it replenishes a throwable every 35 kills, which can make said weapon class more sustainable and helps to save on Ammo bags. It does not, however, affect any throwable item obtained from Perk Decks.
• The "Invigorator" Crew Boost is useful if the player(s) relies on a strategy with heavy armor, such as using ICTV armor in conjunction with Stoic or Anarchist, as it halves the movement speed penalty from heavier armors and increases stamina, allowing for the otherwise rather lumbering heavy armor types to become noticeably more maneuverable. It is somewhat less useful on strategies that rely on light armor and Dodge, as movement speed is usually not an issue in that case, though the stamina increase can still be nice to have.

External Links[]

• Announcement Page
• The Search for Kento