Fractal Softworks Forum

Starsector => General Discussion => Topic started by: vorpal+5 on June 03, 2019, 12:10:01 AM

Title: Is the AI smart enough for dedicated flak ships?
Post by: vorpal+5 on June 03, 2019, 12:10:01 AM
I have designed some Frigates with an anti-fighter role, exclusively. They have Vulcan cannons and LR PD Laser.

Now I wonder how they will engage the enemy without specific instructions. Will their weapons 'pull' them toward fighters concentrations or will they stupidly charge head on against large ships?

So far I have 2 of these frigates and although they did kill some fighters, I'm not too sure it they acted 'purposely' here or it was just 'in passing'.

Strange that you can't guide the ship AI by setting it a role when you refit, that would help, probably.
Title: Re: Is the AI smart enough for dedicated flak ships?
Post by: Schwartz on June 03, 2019, 01:25:34 AM
Supposedly it doesn't try to knife fight with its vulcans anymore in this version, but I can't be sure that it doesn't. ;) Try it out!

I will say that PD Lasers and Vulcans will also prioritize missiles and bombs over fighters and bombers a lot of the time. If you're trying to kill fighters and bombers, Tac Lasers, Railguns, IR Pulse Lasers and LAGs will do a better job. They will also target larger ships however. Ideally, you wouldn't use IPDAI, but you would use Turret Gyros for Lasers in particular.

No, the AI will not steer fully-PD ships towards fighters. They'll move about by the same logic as all other ships. Which is why long range such as Tac Lasers and cautious officers work the best here. They'll stay out of the enemy's hair, and most of the targets coming into range will be enemy fighters approaching your formations.
Title: Re: Is the AI smart enough for dedicated flak ships?
Post by: AxleMC131 on June 03, 2019, 01:35:40 AM
Expanding on that, if you really want a ship to be targeting fighters with priority, there are a couple of weapons which are tagged as anti-fighter - the two I can recall off the top of my head are the Swarmer SRM Launcher and the Burst PD Laser. As far as I know they prioritize targeting fighters over just about everything else.
Title: Re: Is the AI smart enough for dedicated flak ships?
Post by: vorpal+5 on June 03, 2019, 01:36:30 AM
Mmmh, and this also reply why would I want to use cautious officer! I found they were quite shy.

Not Timid officers, they seem to be cowards!

Thanks for the anti-fighter tags on weapons, I'll look into that.

I'm playing with some mods, I think there are some long range anti-fighter missiles around. Is there some in Vanilla?
Title: Re: Is the AI smart enough for dedicated flak ships?
Post by: Schwartz on June 03, 2019, 02:03:15 AM
Locust SRM and Swarmer SRM are the two dedicated anti-fighter missiles and AI will use them as such - though not exclusively. There was also a medium-sized anti-fighter MIRV in the Ship & Weapon Pack that had infinite reloads which I quite liked.
Title: Re: Is the AI smart enough for dedicated flak ships?
Post by: Megas on June 03, 2019, 05:55:15 AM
Locusts get spammed at everything at every opportunity like MIRVs.  At least Locusts have some ammo, though Expanded Missile Rack are needed for big fights if you want them to last long enough.