AI navmesh and large landscapes

Hello,

In my game I have quite large landscape in which I’d like to have simple AI characters roam freely. I’m concerned about performance with having large navmeshes.

Is it a common approach to still use navmeshes for AI on large landscapes? I’m debating whether to not use them altogether and just right some basic obstacle handling code for navigating to the player pawn when they are sensed. Overkill and should I just “go nuts” dropping navmeshes? I figure segmenting several smaller meshes for different patrol areas is preferable to one large mesh.

Any specific rule of thumb when it comes to mesh size and/or number?

Thanks!

Look up dynamic navmeshing.