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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

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Author Topic: AI and Missiles  (Read 11342 times)

Reshy

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AI and Missiles
« on: March 04, 2012, 03:09:19 PM »

I don't know if anyone else has had this issue, but it doesn't seem like the AI properly uses missiles.  More often than not I kill the enemy ships before they fire off a single missile off their rack,  this happens with friendly ships also and the auto-pilot.  I don't know if this is accurate, but it seems the AI is saving them for a destroyer/cruiser/capital ship even if none are on the field or in reserve nor if they're being mobbed by frigates and nearly dead.  This kind of makes torpedo fighters a non-threat because if you attack them with frigate they will never ever use their reaper torpedos and instead shoot at you with their wimpy PD laser.  Same goes for many ships that are mostly missile based.
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arwan

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2012, 03:16:36 PM »

i believe i remember Alex saying at some point that the AI will try to not use missiles that have low ammo I.E. not hurricane or Pilum, unless you have expanded missile racks. or are low on your other weapons ammo.
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Alex
You won't be able to refit fighters and bombers at all. They're designed/balanced around having a particular set of weapons and would be very broken if you could change it. Which ones you pick for your fleet -out of quite a few that are available- is the choice here, not how they're outfitted.

Dreyven

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2012, 03:41:22 PM »

if i remember correctly some fix for that was coming in the next patch... not sure though

but yes, they don't use them very often... but sometimes, when it is incredibly annoying
lashers will sometimes release 10 harpoons when they are about to die... screwing you over
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Psygnosis

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2012, 03:42:05 PM »

Never had a pilum or the emp missile problem, the AI love them.

On the other hand the Harpoon MRM (thats utter death against unshielded craft) the AI almost never uses. ive taken down capitals with two lashers and harpoons. (of course i had to use another ship to take down its shields.
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DM818

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2012, 03:47:17 PM »

On the other side of the coin I feel like most ships AI do not properly react against many missiles specifically the Hurricane MIRV's which confuse the ships because they don't understand that the missile will split and hit in a larger area.
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Reshy

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2012, 04:27:16 PM »

On the other side of the coin I feel like most ships AI do not properly react against many missiles specifically the Hurricane MIRV's which confuse the ships because they don't understand that the missile will split and hit in a larger area.


Rarely a problem at least for my frigates as they generally arm the forward shield and charge ahead leaving the rest to fly behind.



And Pilums and MIRV I don't see a problem with, it's Torpedos, MRMs, Rockets, and SRMs.



Also this is just silly. 


but yes, they don't use them very often... but sometimes, when it is incredibly annoying
lashers will sometimes release 10 harpoons when they are about to die... screwing you over

Well if they're losing and desperate why not use their missiles?  It makes sense if anything.
« Last Edit: March 04, 2012, 05:32:24 PM by JamesRaynor »
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Grendel

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2012, 10:02:02 PM »





Also this is just silly. 




That frigate is thrusting laterally to the incoming. If it's got zero flux, I'd bet money that not one of those missiles actually hits, as it's moving faster than Pilums could chase even in a straight line.

Actually, you're right, it IS silly how ineffective anything that's not a swarm is against anything (non-fighter) small. This might have something to do with some frigates being faster than most fighters ;)
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Reshy

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2012, 10:37:09 PM »

What's silly is how ineffective missiles in general, they have hilariously limited ammo and no accuracy of any description.
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Icelom

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2012, 11:00:28 PM »

What's silly is how ineffective missiles in general, they have hilariously limited ammo and no accuracy of any description.

While i dont agree with this statemnt ^^

However I do agree with jamesraynor's initial post, the AI is not that great at using its missiles, more so in smaller fights they often hold onto missiles in 1 on 1 engagments for reasons i cant comprehend.

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Reshy

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2012, 11:07:28 PM »

What's silly is how ineffective missiles in general, they have hilariously limited ammo and no accuracy of any description.

i dont agree with this statemnt


What if missiles were weaker but generally more accurate?
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MidnightSun

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2012, 11:46:13 PM »

What if missiles were weaker but generally more accurate?

Then I'd stop trying to avoid them or even block them in anything larger than a destroyer and focus only on the ships actually shooting at me... thus negating the whole point of Pilums, Salamanders, etc. I see no problem with missile accuracy against any craft larger than frigates (and several frigates are receiving movement speed reductions in the latest patch, making it harder to outrun missiles).
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Andy H.K.

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #11 on: March 05, 2012, 12:13:57 AM »

What's silly is how ineffective missiles in general, they have hilariously limited ammo and no accuracy of any description.

i dont agree with this statemnt


What if missiles were weaker but generally more accurate?
I don't think it's a problem with the accuracy of the missile, rather it's simply because the AIs are so good at dodging them/blocking them with shield at just the right moment.
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Nori

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #12 on: March 05, 2012, 06:19:08 AM »

Yeah the AI sucks at launching missiles... But they are awesome at dodging, or raising a shield. Much better than me actually... I wonder if we'll be able to have the omni shield point in a direction other than where my cursor is? Maybe hold a button and the shield stays where it is. Might make it easier for me to evade missile damage.
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Reshy

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #13 on: March 05, 2012, 07:10:12 AM »

What's silly is how ineffective missiles in general, they have hilariously limited ammo and no accuracy of any description.

i dont agree with this statemnt


What if missiles were weaker but generally more accurate?
I don't think it's a problem with the accuracy of the missile, rather it's simply because the AIs are so good at dodging them/blocking them with shield at just the right moment.


Not really, most are too slow or have bad tracking, the only ones I see hit at a reasonable rate are Sabots (Secondary faster movement speed), MIRV (splits into several faster missiles), and the Atropos Torpedoes (Also have a secondary booster), other than that they're tracking is pretty negligible.  I mainly use them as a sting weapon, fly in close and launch them at short enough range that they cannot be dodged.
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Kahabut

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Re: AI and Missiles
« Reply #14 on: March 05, 2012, 04:28:59 PM »

I tend to think the LRMs and Hurricanes are right where they should be.  They suck against frigs, but they tear unshielded larger ships to pieces.  They don't track well, true, but they don't need to.  Most of the cap ships can't dodge, and the cruisers aren't much better generally speaking. 

I feel like the MRMs could use a speed increase, or just generally better tracking for fast targets (better/longer predictive lead).  The harpoon especially is too slow.  It's built as a finisher, which is great, but more often than not if you force your opponent to vent or overload, by the time you switch to, and fire your Harpoons... the missiles are too slow to close the gap before the shields come back on.  Now, I realize this is an issue of timing, but I would like to see the Harpoons be a tad quicker in a straight line (they track just fine IMO)

I also imagine (for no real reason) that missile range/speed/guidance should be affected by the player character skills and officer skills.  So maybe that will help close the gap between what we have now and what we can expect later. 
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