- Joined
- Jul 30, 2017
- Messages
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- Reaction score
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It's generally accepted that the ship Ai needs to be a lot more flexible and therefore more useful, so here's some suggestions for behaviors that can be toggled - either on the Bobby AI module itself for individual ships, or in the fleet settings for fleets (having both is not particularly necessary).
Please suggest any more simple but useful additions that you can think of, as well.
These would all be toggleable settings of which you could choose one from each section.
-Preferred Combat Distance-
[]75% weapons range (max AI engage range)
[]50% weapons range (medium range)
[]25% weapons range (close range)
-Preferred Movement-
[]Circle Target at engage range (present behavior)
[]Attack Pass - approach target at max speed and fly past it within 10-25% of weapons range, then continue on path until at 125% weapons range. Then turn around and repeat.
[]Evasive Maneuvers - Thrust in random direction at max power, changing direction every 1-3 seconds. Try to maintain engage range while doing so, but this doesn't need to be all that strictly enforced.
[]Retreat Fire - Move to engage range, fire all available weapons, and then reverse back toward 125% weapons range until all weapons are reloaded, then repeat.
-Preferred Facing-
[]Front to Target - keep nose pointed at target (present behavior)
[]Broadside Target - similar to above, but turn the closest side toward the target at 90 degrees
[]Movement Vector - Face in direction of the ship's movement, like an airplane
[]Thrust Vector - Face in the direction that thrust is being applied, like a rocket
[]Random Spin - Keep turning in random directions
-Retreat Conditions-
[]Immediately - Flee combat as soon as it begins (either as soon as the ship's own weapons fire or its shields go below 100%, unless the mere presence of an enemy can trigger this)
[]Shields Down - Flee combat when shields are depleted
[]Reactor [__]% Damaged - Flee when RHP has taken a chosen amount of damage
[]No retreat - Fight until destroyed (current behavior)
[]Whole Fleet Retreats with [___] Ships Retreating - Whenever at least the specified number of ships in the fleet have fled battle, the rest of the fleet follows. Without this set all ships retreat individually, possibly putting the last ones to run in the worst danger
-Chamber Settings-
[]Use Jump in Combat - Ships can use their jump drives for tactical movement to enter or escape combat or maintain range, if doing so is faster
[]Use Jump for Travel - Will use jump drive to travel to waypoints when not in combat
[]Use Inhibitor In Combat - Ships with inhibitors equipped will turn them on during combat. (Maybe not a good combo with combat jumping, but you might have ships that can overpower their own inhibitors.)
[]Use Stealth in Combat - Stealth drive activated while ships are in combat
[]Use Stealth Always - Ships keep their stealth drives on all the time, and jam even when unloaded so they're not visible on the map except to their own faction
[]Scan in Combat - Ships use recon chamber scanners in combat, repeating scans as soon as either the previous one expires or the chamber recharges, or perhaps on some kind of timer. Ships with continuous scan can just turn it on and leave it on until combat ends.
[]Scan Always - As above, but ships with this enabled will repetitively scan all the time, combat or no, as long as they're loaded.
-Misc. Settings-
[]Use Friendly Warpgates - Route to travel through friendly warpgates if it reduces travel time, even if the physical distance is longer
[]Use Neutral Warpgates - Implies the above, plus warpgates owned by neutrals as well
[]Use Wormholes - Route to travel through wormholes if it reduces travel time, even if the distance is longer
[]Avoid Star Heatzones - Ships will route around the heatzones of stars and will not enter them under any circumstances
[]Auto-Salvage Wreckage - Ships with salvage beams and free cargo space will automatically salvage overheated ships nearby, even when unloaded. Stops when cargo is full.
Please suggest any more simple but useful additions that you can think of, as well.
These would all be toggleable settings of which you could choose one from each section.
-Preferred Combat Distance-
[]75% weapons range (max AI engage range)
[]50% weapons range (medium range)
[]25% weapons range (close range)
-Preferred Movement-
[]Circle Target at engage range (present behavior)
[]Attack Pass - approach target at max speed and fly past it within 10-25% of weapons range, then continue on path until at 125% weapons range. Then turn around and repeat.
[]Evasive Maneuvers - Thrust in random direction at max power, changing direction every 1-3 seconds. Try to maintain engage range while doing so, but this doesn't need to be all that strictly enforced.
[]Retreat Fire - Move to engage range, fire all available weapons, and then reverse back toward 125% weapons range until all weapons are reloaded, then repeat.
-Preferred Facing-
[]Front to Target - keep nose pointed at target (present behavior)
[]Broadside Target - similar to above, but turn the closest side toward the target at 90 degrees
[]Movement Vector - Face in direction of the ship's movement, like an airplane
[]Thrust Vector - Face in the direction that thrust is being applied, like a rocket
[]Random Spin - Keep turning in random directions
-Retreat Conditions-
[]Immediately - Flee combat as soon as it begins (either as soon as the ship's own weapons fire or its shields go below 100%, unless the mere presence of an enemy can trigger this)
[]Shields Down - Flee combat when shields are depleted
[]Reactor [__]% Damaged - Flee when RHP has taken a chosen amount of damage
[]No retreat - Fight until destroyed (current behavior)
[]Whole Fleet Retreats with [___] Ships Retreating - Whenever at least the specified number of ships in the fleet have fled battle, the rest of the fleet follows. Without this set all ships retreat individually, possibly putting the last ones to run in the worst danger
-Chamber Settings-
[]Use Jump in Combat - Ships can use their jump drives for tactical movement to enter or escape combat or maintain range, if doing so is faster
[]Use Jump for Travel - Will use jump drive to travel to waypoints when not in combat
[]Use Inhibitor In Combat - Ships with inhibitors equipped will turn them on during combat. (Maybe not a good combo with combat jumping, but you might have ships that can overpower their own inhibitors.)
[]Use Stealth in Combat - Stealth drive activated while ships are in combat
[]Use Stealth Always - Ships keep their stealth drives on all the time, and jam even when unloaded so they're not visible on the map except to their own faction
[]Scan in Combat - Ships use recon chamber scanners in combat, repeating scans as soon as either the previous one expires or the chamber recharges, or perhaps on some kind of timer. Ships with continuous scan can just turn it on and leave it on until combat ends.
[]Scan Always - As above, but ships with this enabled will repetitively scan all the time, combat or no, as long as they're loaded.
-Misc. Settings-
[]Use Friendly Warpgates - Route to travel through friendly warpgates if it reduces travel time, even if the physical distance is longer
[]Use Neutral Warpgates - Implies the above, plus warpgates owned by neutrals as well
[]Use Wormholes - Route to travel through wormholes if it reduces travel time, even if the distance is longer
[]Avoid Star Heatzones - Ships will route around the heatzones of stars and will not enter them under any circumstances
[]Auto-Salvage Wreckage - Ships with salvage beams and free cargo space will automatically salvage overheated ships nearby, even when unloaded. Stops when cargo is full.
