I have got this big outdoors section on my level taking place inside what is essentially a big basin with a building structure on the center. There are enemies lining up the rock walls of the basin and along bridges that connect it to the main building. The idea is to make this a stealth level of sorts where you can take out each enemy one by one from afar or from point-blank range.
I have tried to sort of isolate each enemy from each and from the player by not giving them a common squad name, and having them turn their backs to the player. However, the problem I am encountering is that whenever the player kills a given enemy or is spotted by one of them and that enemy starts firing back, the rest of them -- which are pretty far away on other bridges, rocks, etc -- hear it, immediately turn towards the player and next thing you know, there is a dozen enemies shooting at the player all at the same time.
So what I want to do is to sort of isolate them into their own world if you will. I can control their visual perception by tweaking their orientation towards the world but I haven't been able to block them from each other.
I also want any them to be available at all times for the player to shoot at, and that they can also respond accordingly. So it's not like I can just put them in a dormant state until a player-activated trigger wakes them up.
I have been researching and testing all day to find a workable solution to this scenario but to no avail. So my question is, do you know if there is any way -- without actually having to go dirty and actually programming a custom NPC -- of shutting off their hearing sense, or blocking them from any action until they have been directly damaged?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
