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- Nov 14, 2013
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I've noticed that, while the new AI has a simple collision avoidance method that will usually make it go around something once it has nearly collided with it, the resulting behaviour is really silly-looking and often wastes time while the AI repeatedly retries its current path.
What if, when ship AI identifies a target or a destination to move to - be that a docking area, a point within weapons range of an enemy ship, or an a random point in space where it's been ordered to go - it shoots a ray (an invisible 'beam') at that point in space, using the same tech that is currently used for damage beams, salvage beams, and so on.
If the ray reaches the target (or, in the case of an empty point in space, if it doesn't hit anything), the AI ship flies to the target as normal. If not, it tries to plot a course that leaves a decent amount of space between itself and whatever object obstructed the beam, or alternatively, it simply circles around the target at its current distance and keeps on casting its ray until it can find a clear path, then flies to its target destination.
Would this have performance costs that outweigh the benefit of the AI not looking stupid? Would there be some other unforeseen issue? Is there a better way to do this that wouldn't be more complicated and performance-heavy? Or is this a viable improvement to the AI?
I'm not really sure if this even goes onto the Suggestions board, or if it goes into General, but I get the sense that I'd be the most likely to get a council/Schine response here.
What if, when ship AI identifies a target or a destination to move to - be that a docking area, a point within weapons range of an enemy ship, or an a random point in space where it's been ordered to go - it shoots a ray (an invisible 'beam') at that point in space, using the same tech that is currently used for damage beams, salvage beams, and so on.
If the ray reaches the target (or, in the case of an empty point in space, if it doesn't hit anything), the AI ship flies to the target as normal. If not, it tries to plot a course that leaves a decent amount of space between itself and whatever object obstructed the beam, or alternatively, it simply circles around the target at its current distance and keeps on casting its ray until it can find a clear path, then flies to its target destination.
Would this have performance costs that outweigh the benefit of the AI not looking stupid? Would there be some other unforeseen issue? Is there a better way to do this that wouldn't be more complicated and performance-heavy? Or is this a viable improvement to the AI?
I'm not really sure if this even goes onto the Suggestions board, or if it goes into General, but I get the sense that I'd be the most likely to get a council/Schine response here.
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