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Author Topic: Tech Levels and why officer personalities need an overhaul  (Read 1027 times)

Delta_of_Isaire

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Tech Levels and why officer personalities need an overhaul
« on: March 20, 2022, 07:52:59 AM »

Despite individual differences, most ships of each of the three tech levels (Low Tech, Midline, High Tech) exhibit a similar and unique design philosophy, with certain strengths, weaknesses, and resulting tactical implications. Which is very good game design. Here I explore what these design philosophies are with a focus on tactical implications, argue why the current AI personalities are inadequate to achieve these tactics, and propose new AI personalities that should work much better.


Low Tech ships are designed for brawling, which means they are meant to be superior in direct combat with a comparable opponent. When a Low Tech fleet clashes with another fleet, that other fleet is forced to give away ground (well, space) or face annihilation. To balance this out, Low Tech has two drawbacks. The first is terrible speed and maneuverability, which means that enemies which want to retreat generally can. Although Burn Drive partially counters that. At least, most other ships can decide when and where to clash with Low Tech ships. Low Tech does not usually have the initiative. The other drawback is weak shielding and consequent reliance on non-repairable armor and hull. This means Low Tech ships can be worn down over time. They will easily win a single clash, but a determined and numerically superior ((by DP) enemy force can attack again and again to eventually secure the win.

The above description ignores one aspect, which is the flux war. While Low Tech ships can (with the right piloting) win clashes, they usually lose the flux war. Low Tech ships are generally the first to drop shields and take armor damage. The crucial difference - and the strength of Low Tech - is that they have so much armor and hull that losing the flux war does not impede their ability to continue fighting and flux out their opponents as well. Therefore, for a Low Tech ship, fluxing out should not constitute a reason for retreat.

And yet, every AI regardless of personality is hard-wired to start retreating at high hard flux. In fact that is the single best reason to use Shield Shunt: without shields there is no hard flux buildup, and so the AI is much less inclined to retreat. One could argue that Reckless AI mostly solves this problem. The trouble with Reckless though is such AIs are prone to overextending against superior enemy forces, and consequently getting themselves killed. True, Low Tech ships can afford to overextend much more than other ships, but not that much more. Besides this there is another reason Reckless AI underperforms: it builds up far too much (hard) flux, which can soft-lock flux-hungry weapons like Heavy Needlers, and much more importantly it interferes with effective shield usage. Shields should be used to absorb the most dangerous anti-armor attacks that bypass or overwhelm PD. But if your flux bar is already full then shields cannot do anything, besides triggering an overload. Ideally, Low Tech ships (at least the ones with shields) never build up more than 50-70% flux by default, to leave that shield buffer in case of emergency.

Thus I propose Brave AI personality. Brave pilots are characterized by their reluctance to retreat, often preferring to push on to within range of their shortest-range weapons, including PD. This is primarily because fluxing out (which means reaching 70% hard flux!) does not make them retreat, but also because these pilots care less about being flanked. Additionally, Brave pilots are more likely to vent within range of enemy weapons (of course excepting dangerous HE weapons like Reapers).



The quintessential High Tech ship is blindingly fast and uses Energy weapons with rather underwhelming range. Deploying those short-range weapons effectively requires a dash to close range, and fortunely the High Tech ship has powerful shields to absorb damage while closing in. Then once the range is closed, those same shields can endure a punishment while the High Tech ship lets loose with its Energy weapons powered by high flux dissipation. Against a similarly-sized opponent, the combination of shields and DPS is often enough to win the flux war, forcing the opponent to drop shields first and take non-renewable damage. However, the High Tech ship's shields won't last forever and its armor is paper-thin, so it is destined to lose the brawl and forced to retreat. This then defines the tactics of High Tech ships: dash in, do some damage, retreat to vent, and repeat.

The high speed of High Tech ships allows them to pick their battles, and a fleet of such fast ships can use maneuver tactics to spread out the enemy forces and then swarm on isolated enemies with locally superior numbers. That is defeat in detail and High Tech excels at it. Or alternatively, a single large High Tech ship often has enough speed to catch an isolated enemy ship of one size smaller, and defeat it with superior strength. That's the only type of 1-on-1 brawl High Tech can expect to win.

It would seem like the Aggressive AI personality is suitable for fast High Tech ships. But it has some shortcomings during the closing-in stage and the retreat stage of the High Tech battle style. While closing in, Aggressive officers sometimes aren't quite aggressive enough, particularly against stronger or more numerous opponents. Their desire to avoid being flanked or overextended wins out a little too often. By contrast, during a retreat the Aggressive AI is far too reluctant to commit to a retreat, and too eager to get back into the fight. The result is a ship dipping in and out of weapon range to rather little effect, mostly wasting time.

What Fast High Tech ships need instead is an Opportunistic AI personality that adheres closely to the attack-and-retreat cycle. While its (hard) flux is low, this AI should aggressively close into minimum range of its weapons, including PD. But then when its (hard) flux reaches the critical threshold of 80% (ish) its behavior should flip around into a full retreat to outside of enemy weapon range. Crucially, this retreat should be maintained even if through flux disipation its (hard) flux dips back below 80%. Only once the ship has fully vented should it go back to aggressive attack behavior. Additionally, Opportunistic AI should have one other unique trait: when friendly ships are nearby, it should be less wary of being flanked or outnumbered, and more likely to go for an attack run.



Midline ships are traditionally described as falling "in-between" Low Tech and High Tech, with more average performance in terms of speed, flux, armor and shields. There is, however something else that only Midline ships have that sets them apart from other ships. That is the ability to combine Ballistic and Energy weapons. Most notably, Midline ships specialize in long-range weapon loadouts, combining long-range Ballistics, Energy Beams, and missiles. Consequently Midline suffers none of the range issues associated with High Tech, while still having a significant mobility advantage over Low Tech.

The way this manifests on the battlefield depends on the enemy fleet. Up against slow Low Tech ships, a Midline fleet stands no chance in a direct brawl, but has the mobility advantage to kite the enemy, adopting a less extreme variation of the High Tech hit-and-run doctrine. On the flip side, against a High Tech enemy the speed advantage is reversed and Midline ships can no longer dictate range. But in that situation Midline ships do have the advantage in weapons range and armor strength, allowing them to brawl effectively and hold off the High Tech opponents. Thus, Midline can adapt its tactics to the situation.

Notably though, that does not mean Midline ships are jack-of-all-trades ships that require similarly generalistic AI piloting. Most Midline ships are specialized to favor either hit-and-run or brawling tactics. Or the third option of long-range support/kiting, but we'll get to that in a moment. Hit-and-run ships such as the Falcon and Hammerhead are good candidates for the Opportunistic AI. So is the Monitor, albeit in a more passive-aggressive way. On the other hand, more brawling-oriented ships like the Eagle and Champion are not, in my opinion, going to be happy with a Brave Officer at the helm. Brave pilots would not maintain range properly against Low Tech opponents. Instead, these Midline ships would ideally have behavior like the current Aggressive personality, but without the tendency to close into PD weapon range, instead determining distance using the shortest range non-PD weapon. That will allow these Midline ships to aggressively brawl with High Tech opponents, while maintaining range with Low Tech adversaries. Let's call this type of AI personality Steady because its a good name, and arguably the current Steady personality should be like this anyway.

Remember I mentioned kiting earlier? There are Midline ships specialized in long-range damage delivery, such as Beams + Advanced Optics Sunder or Gauss Cannon Conquest, for which neither the Opportunistic nor new Steady personality is adequate. These ships want to stay at long range - the range of their longest-range non-missile weapon, like the current Cautious AI. But ideally without any of the cowardness currently associated with Cautious Officers. More like the current Steady personality, but more focused on maintaining range. Where the current Steady AI picks its initial range based on its shortest-range non-PD weapon, and closes in further once it gains a flux advantage, this new AI behavior should initially use only its longest-range non-PD weapons, then close in to range of its shorter non-PD weapons when the enemy has picked up hard flux. So Steady behavior with more emphasis on keeping range. Sounds like a Calm kind of Officer to me.



Now I have introduced four new AI personalities to replace existing ones. The game currently has five, but I think we can keep Reckless around as well, as it has appropriate use-cases for some ships, or at least for Pathers and Remnants. Unlike Timid AI, which no player or serious enemy ever uses. Thus the new Officer personality spectrum would become Calm / Steady / Opportunistic / Brave / Reckless. That looks like a good and useful mix of Officers to me.

In case you're wondering if I think all Low Tech ships should have a Brave pilot, and all High Tech should be Opportunistic - no! Of course I realize some ships deviate from the standard expectation. The Paragon for instance is a good candidate for Steady or even Calm (with a beam loadout); Eradicators could do with being opportunistic, Legion battlecarriers with Gauss Cannons will appreciate a Calm or Steady Officer. On the whole, I think all ships will find suitable Officer personalities within the new spectrum.
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Megas

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Re: Tech Levels and why officer personalities need an overhaul
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2022, 09:13:36 AM »

Steady is okay for unarmed carriers (with bombers) and kiters that do not want to use PD weapons as assault weapons.

I like Aggressive for all-purpose behavior for warships and battlecarriers.  Good for ships that want to use PD weapons as assault weapons.

High-tech ships that get caught in a retreat loop is kind of lame.  Terrible with Steady AI, and I do not know if Aggressive is good enough.
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Salter

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Re: Tech Levels and why officer personalities need an overhaul
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2022, 02:15:46 PM »

Steady is okay for unarmed carriers (with bombers) and kiters that do not want to use PD weapons as assault weapons.

I like Aggressive for all-purpose behavior for warships and battlecarriers.  Good for ships that want to use PD weapons as assault weapons.

High-tech ships that get caught in a retreat loop is kind of lame.  Terrible with Steady AI, and I do not know if Aggressive is good enough.

Aggressive works for most high-tech. Ive found the solution for the retreat loop is numbers. Generally speaking its alot easier for a ship to run away if it has buddies to back it up and the AI tends to back off if a ship already has multiple allies chasing it giving it time to recover, or at least have to catch up allowing for them to vent somewhat with aggressive officers. High-tech does have the most frigates so might as well make use of them. Steady can work better though if you consistently win local superiority but for bigger ships like the Astral, I would mostly stick to steady & cautious.

You really need to get your vents & capacitors right and always load them with hardened shields & solar shielding if possible. Generally even if they do take hits, it wont be as severe or dangerous and allows you to encircle ships easier.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2022, 02:18:54 PM by Salter »
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