@edderkop: Yes, I am doing something a bit like this.
if the actor sees the player it creates a node that sticks to the player…
the node is always the “look at” target
once the player is no longer in view the node drops in the last location the entity saw the player
the entity will just continue to move to the node and if it(the entity) sees the player it lerps the
node to the player again…it looks less jerky since the node is the view target(look at) and the entity seems
to walk “around” objects instead of sliding around them
I am using two more nodes parented to the entity that control staffing…and the player will also drop a jump node and door node…special nodes that allow more complex ai behavior…
after all is done each node has a lifetime based on distance to the player or time…whichever is less…
whenever my game is more polished I will probably share some examples with the community…
ATM I am still fumbling around learning the api and the engine in general…guess I started about a month ago, but with family and a day job my time in the engine is limited to a few hours on the weekends and maybe one or two hours in the evening.