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Author Topic: The AI and their missiles.  (Read 5395 times)

BillyRueben

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The AI and their missiles.
« on: April 15, 2017, 12:36:55 PM »

Have any adjustments (or any planned adjustments) been made to the AI in regards to their use of missile weapons? I've fought against plenty of baddie enforcers that are lined with reaper torps, but they never seem like they want to fire them. Even times when I've been in a flameout situation, they never seem like they want to finish me off. They will just let me recover and blow them up. Even small ships with hammers never seem like they want to use them.
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orost

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2017, 12:49:05 PM »

Were you flying a frigate? I remember something about the AI being hardwired to not use heavy torpedoes on frigates. (unless the ship's commander has the most aggressive personality?)
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Alex

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2017, 12:59:11 PM »

It's better about it, but how much better is hard to quantify. Torpedoes are just hard to aim - so oftentimes, it'll *want* to fire one, but won't because it hasn't lined up a good enough shot. IIRC I've made some improvements to how it moves to line up shots more often.

It also *will* use torpedoes vs frigates occasionally now - was on the receiving end of that recently. "Oh, it's just a Kite, I'll just facehug it and it'll go down <eats Hammer torpedo>" :)

Also got torpedoed while testing the revamped fleet command tutorial, that was kind of rude surprise too. But those tend to stick in your mind, right? It's hard to compare the times it does land nice shots with the times that it might've had an opportunity to but didn't.
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Schwartz

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2017, 01:56:03 PM »

Huh, I found the AI quite nasty with their use of missiles when you're close to overload or it senses you have to back off. They might hold back, but they also pile them on or line up the occasional nice torpedo snipe. They tend to play conservatively in situations where you could handle them easily. Pretty decent overall?

If anything - and I think this has been confirmed and possibly looked at already - the problem is that AI doesn't always calculate ship inertia correctly into torpedo trajectories. Bombers like to miss in 0.7.2.
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Alex

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2017, 02:00:25 PM »

Missiles vs torpedoes is a pretty big difference here.
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BillyRueben

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2017, 02:58:33 PM »

Well, not sure if this is "just a player" thing, but I recently loaded up a Venture with as many Harpoons as it could carry (hilarious by the way). With all the missile damage boosting skills at 10, one click and any frigate I had targeted was dead. Put that same ship in the hands of the AI, with all of the same skills, and it didn't seem to want to fire them ever.
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Alex

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2017, 04:46:55 PM »

Yeah, that one is more of the AI assuming missiles are not ridiculously OP, an assumption that failed to hold with max skills etc.

Although - the Venture seems pretty reliable in firing off those Harpoons, and they're super dangerous because of them. They just won't use them to open up on a ship with shields and low flux. Depends on the specific build/opponents, maybe?
« Last Edit: April 15, 2017, 04:52:16 PM by Alex »
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Deshara

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2017, 04:49:47 PM »

I've never been torp sniped, which is a shame cause torp sniping is my favorite thing
« Last Edit: April 16, 2017, 05:30:27 PM by Deshara »
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Doom101

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2017, 11:59:37 AM »

The last time I was torpedoed by an ai was an accident, one of my AI hunter frigates ( Wolf loaded with big weapons for hunting escaping ships) fired a torpedo at a cruiser, which missed, and hit me instead. This was quite some time ago though. i will say i've never had quite that level of surprise again. Being hit by a "friendly" reaper in a tempest is not something you forget. I've also personally seen my AI ships use torpedos quite readily, although I may be putting them in situations to do so, because I usually only give them to ships designed to hunt down bigger ships in packs.
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Immahnoob

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #9 on: April 19, 2017, 08:31:27 AM »

No one uses bigger ships here, huh? I've been getting hails of rockets and torpedos thrown at me a lot. It's usually when I lose concentration and my Onslaught gets too much flux.
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Abradolf Lincler

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #10 on: April 19, 2017, 03:52:57 PM »

No one uses bigger ships here, huh? I've been getting hails of rockets and torpedos thrown at me a lot. It's usually when I lose concentration and my Onslaught gets too much flux.

I pilot an Apogee and I get Torps and missiles thrown at me all the time.
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Megas

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #11 on: April 20, 2017, 05:07:51 AM »

AI is a bit too conservative with Reapers.  Most torpedoes I see get launched by the AI are from Dagger wings.  Torpedoes are generally a playership only weapon.  AI does much better with Annihilators or homing weapons.  Well, not always... AI wastes MIRVs like in the old days, and it is best to stall until they use max minus one missiles.
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Thaago

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #12 on: April 20, 2017, 11:10:57 AM »

I find that the AI launches Reapers similarly to how it launches Harpoons - at an overloaded enemy. And due to tracking, they often won't fire unless they can line up the shot real well, so the enemy usually has its engines blown out. Imo they should be more aggressive with them, as 2000 shield damage is nothing to sneeze at.
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BillyRueben

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #13 on: April 20, 2017, 11:40:09 AM »

That's exactly why I started the thread. I'd go up against an Enforcer with 4 Reapers, and I would just lay in to him thinking "He would kill me if he hit the fire button on those".
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Deshara

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Re: The AI and their missiles.
« Reply #14 on: April 22, 2017, 11:04:18 AM »

It's better about it, but how much better is hard to quantify. Torpedoes are just hard to aim - so oftentimes, it'll *want* to fire one, but won't because it hasn't lined up a good enough shot. IIRC I've made some improvements to how it moves to line up shots more often.

It also *will* use torpedoes vs frigates occasionally now - was on the receiving end of that recently. "Oh, it's just a Kite, I'll just facehug it and it'll go down <eats Hammer torpedo>" :)

Also got torpedoed while testing the revamped fleet command tutorial, that was kind of rude surprise too. But those tend to stick in your mind, right? It's hard to compare the times it does land nice shots with the times that it might've had an opportunity to but didn't.

While we're on the subject, I run a octect of hammers-wielding wingman to smash shieldless frigates in the teeth when I get outnumbered. Is this a mistake? I get trying not to waste them on a duel with a hound, but I think escort frigates should maybe get judicious with hammers if their escort target is drastically outnumbered by shieldless vessels, especially when said frigates are focusing so much on a pincer strike that they leave themselves open to a hammer up the tailpipe from a sneaky kite
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Quote from: Deshara
I cant be blamed for what I said 5 minutes ago. I was a different person back then