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[Thaago]

The AI will sometimes move from a safe distance to attack the enemy while at half full flux, rather than waiting for its own flux to dissipate. I noticed this on ships with the phase jump system, as the AI will use it to quickly close distance. (perhaps they would have low flux by engage time if they did not have this system?)

To reproduce, equip a wolf as follows (just what I noticed it on - it is a strange setup):
Front Hardpoint, Front Turret: AM blaster (alternating, same group)
Side Turrets: PD lasers (linked)

Unstable injector, 10 vents, 10 caps (4 with no tech, though I observed with 10)

Opponent: close support lasher, autopilot immediately

The issue happens about 4/5 battles (the others are a fast win: the AI behaves very well when it overloads the lasher).

Another smallish behavior that is evident: the Wolf will occasionally just 'hang out' in front of the lasher while its flux is too high to fire the AM's, but still out of pd laser range.

[Reshy]

Does this happen when it's an ally rather than an auto-pilot?  Their AI's are different according to Alex.

[Alex]

@Thaago:

Hmm. This is more of a general AI limitation - it's not going to get this right all the time. For example, trying to wait until flux is 0 could be troublesome if you're facing an opponent that can keep up with you, but determining what *that* is is non-trivial. It might be a faster ship, might be a ship with a movement-enhancing system, or, alternatively, a faster ship might not be able to keep up if it's otherwise engaged.

The AM blaster is particularly trouble-prone since the AI is handling something of a special-case weapon (especially on frigates, where the flux to fire it is such a huge chunk) on a generic basis.

Thanks for bringing it up, though. I'll definitely keep it (and other assorted things) in mind should I end up going back for an AI improvement pass.

Does this happen when it's an ally rather than an auto-pilot?  Their AI's are different according to Alex.

Huh? Mind quoting where I said that? I don't remember that, and I don't think the AIs are any different, expect perhaps in a trivial detail or two.

[Gothars]

determining what *that* is is non-trivial. It might be a faster ship, might be a ship with a movement-enhancing system, or, alternatively, a faster ship might not be able to keep up if it's otherwise engaged.

This has another side-effect, which is that capture assignments can get mixed up when ships temporarily increase their speed with a system. There are situations where ships veer from their course towards an objective, because some other ship activated some kind of speed boost and got the assignment for a moment, until it loses the boost and the assignment gets switched back.
It's not too bad or often, though.

[Alex]

It's actually aware of the average speed boost a ship system grants, when figuring out who to assign where. It really shouldn't be toggling based on activation of burn drive or some such, but I think there are some situations where it can be a bit indecisive about it anyway.