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Author Topic: AI weird behavior on overload  (Read 555 times)

Sutopia

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AI weird behavior on overload
« on: July 17, 2021, 08:20:52 PM »

So I was once again testing variants in variant editor

I used this variant against two onslaughts:

Weee
{
    "displayName": "Standard",
    "fluxCapacitors": 47,
    "fluxVents": 50,
    "hullId": "guardian",
    "hullMods": [
        "missleracks",
        "hardenedshieldemitter",
        "hardened_subsystems",
        "heavyarmor",
        "stabilizedshieldemitter",
        "fluxdistributor",
        "fluxbreakers"
    ],
    "permaMods": [],
    "sMods": [],
    "variantId": "guardian_Standard",
    "weaponGroups": [
        {
            "autofire": false,
            "mode": "LINKED",
            "weapons": {
                "WS 006": "hammerrack",
                "WS 007": "plasma",
                "WS 008": "multineedler",
                "WS 009": "hammerrack",
                "WS 010": "sabot",
                "WS 011": "sabot"
            }
        },
        {
            "autofire": true,
            "mode": "LINKED",
            "weapons": {"WS 020": "mjolnir"}
        },
        {
            "autofire": true,
            "mode": "LINKED",
            "weapons": {
                "WS 000": "flak",
                "WS 001": "flak",
                "WS 002": "flak",
                "WS 003": "flak",
                "WS 004": "flak",
                "WS 005": "flak"
            }
        }
    ]
}
[close]
I assigned eliminate on one of the onslaught. As soon as it overloads, Guardian stops attacking completely.
It just stops. Stares at its onslaught for no particular reason. All weapons are online and well in range but it simply doesn't attack, at, all.
Worth mentioning I also have assigned reckless officer to the guardian in the variant editor sim.
I think this is a critical flaw in AI.
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Alex

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Re: AI weird behavior on overload
« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2021, 09:04:43 PM »

Thank you for the report! And for pasting the variant, I really appreciate it - makes is really easy to give this a quick go on my end.

What I did is go to Edit Variants, 1) click "reckless" button after clicking on the portrait, 2) check "Player max skills" (otherwise it had some trouble facing down two Onslaughts - some changes on my end both to burn drive and to their loadouts etc...), and 3) fight two Onslaughts, assigning an Eliminate on one of them.

I'm not seeing anything related to overloads. I did however notice it being very reluctant to fire its main mixed group at the remaining Onslaught once the first one goes down, regardless of if it's overloaded or not. One of the factors for the Guardian is that the missile hardpoints are so far apart it doesn't think it can land hits with both and so it might think its aim is not good (the AI has no conception of the spread of the Hammer Barrage). Auto-assigning weapon groups eliminates the problem; it'll always fire something and sprinkles in more Hammer shots, too, since they're on alternating and it can fire whichever one it thinks will hit. Or: just removing one of the Hammer Barrages and leaving the group as-is aside from that seems to fix it, too. (I haven't tried it, but I suspect replacing one of them with a Locust - or anything else that doesn't need to aim - might do it, too.)

All in all, this feels like it's an issue with the weapon groupings in this variant. I mean, you're trying to more or less cheese the AI into doing something it doesn't normally do, and if that doesn't work exactly to plan every time - that's kind of a "live by the sword, die by the sword" situation.

Edit: to be clear, I'm not seeing what you're seeing - nothing related to overloads - so what I've said about is regarding the odd behavior that I *did* see. If there is indeed something overload-related, then that does sound like it could be an issue that needs addressing. But, again, didn't see that at all.
« Last Edit: July 17, 2021, 09:06:27 PM by Alex »
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Sutopia

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Re: AI weird behavior on overload
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2021, 09:41:59 PM »

Was the test conducted on the 0.95a RC15?
Maybe some change in dev accidentally fixed the behavior.

I am still able to reproduce it after removing the majority of the mods leaving only underworld active.



I did assign eliminate on the guardian to finish off the second onslaught but at overload it just decides to cease fire
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Yunru

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Re: AI weird behavior on overload
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2021, 03:55:03 AM »

This sounds very similar to what I previously brought up (except I wasn't using non-standard weapon groupings): It's like the AI just dismisses it as a threat - both in terms of "can it hurt me" and "should I kill it" rather than just the former.

Alex

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Re: AI weird behavior on overload
« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2021, 12:32:15 PM »

Was the test conducted on the 0.95a RC15?
Maybe some change in dev accidentally fixed the behavior.

I am still able to reproduce it after removing the majority of the mods leaving only underworld active.

...

I did assign eliminate on the guardian to finish off the second onslaught but at overload it just decides to cease fire

This is with the current dev version. More interested in whether something is an issue with the latest, you know?

I don't think it's overload related. I mean, I can reproduce the same sort of situation as in your screenshot but the overload is incidental and it can happen with or without it. The root cause is the two Hammer Barrages being in that same group and linked so it doesn't think it has a good bead on the target.

This sounds very similar to what I previously brought up (except I wasn't using non-standard weapon groupings): It's like the AI just dismisses it as a threat - both in terms of "can it hurt me" and "should I kill it" rather than just the former.

In your case it was also due to the Hammer Barrages, IIRC. Nothing to do with the overloads at least that I could see.
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Alex

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Re: AI weird behavior on overload
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2021, 03:44:26 PM »

Ahh, ok! Thought you meant the Guardian AI thread from a bit back.

Not sure what's going on with that one - there could well be an issue, but it's not something I've been able to reproduce at all, let alone reliably.
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