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SoW Reddog
Sep-23-2014, 08:01
I'm just pootling around in the FMB, and trying to get some AI fighters to escort some bombers. Any tricks known? What sort of speed should they be on? Do the fighters need to have their escort "target" set to the waypoint the bombers are flying TO, or the first fighter waypoint escorts the first bomber waypoint (airstarts both?) What's the best skill settings for AI fighters, so they don't just constantly do barrel rolls?

What's the best way to get AI to engage each other? Attack bombers for the RAF, and escort for the LW?

bolox
Sep-23-2014, 15:11
Everything I know is based on SP mission building, and is the result of empirical testing, any theories as to how and why are speculative.
CoD's AI is often 'subtle' with other factors intruding and thus can be infuriating:-P

For fighter escort the fighters will attempt to escort once they have 'seen' the target group when waypoint (task) setting is escort(high visibility setting are helpful here enabling seeing the group at longer distances. It would appear that just one plane having a high visibility setting will see the group and 'communicate' this to the fighter group- this also applies to enemy AC). Once they have seen the target group they will attempt to fly a pattern ~1000-1500m above the target group and will attempt to keep this up until other circumstances intervene- eg spotting enemy AC. Having a higher speed set than target group can help. Remember speeds set are IAS so be aware of what this means at high alts- also that speeds will be different at different heights.
There does appear to be means of changing AI 'tasking' in scripting at various waypoints - but I haven't played with this:ind:
Once combat has ceased (ie all enemy AC destroyed/run away , if the 'courage' level - see bravery below) is sufficient they will continue on the mission- if they can still see the escort target bomber group (highly unlikely as I think I've seen it once) they will continue to escort
It is quite possible to have both groups take off and meet up and escort. This requires some timing to get the groups within visibility distance so airstarts might be easier.
It is also possible for fighter groups to escort other fighter groups- so you can set up a fighter group escorting bombers with a further fighter group escorting the fighters as 'top cover'- or Big Wings


Barrel rolls- drop advanced flying to ~veteran setting helps-this is somewhat plane dependant, Hurris can be very barrel rolly whereas 109's tend to 'twitch' more.

One basic problem in CoD as I see it is the fact AI once they have seen a target they are fixated on it and ignore other targets, so a squad of Hurries set to attack a cetain bomber group will attack an escorting fighter group if they see it before the bombers, even if bombers appear seconds after, this often leads to a fighter furball with the bombers passing by unattacked. Timing differences of seconds can alter the situation and there does seem to be a slight random/other factors involved so combats do not always go identically.

Other skill settings are important, and are interdependant-
Bravery- if bravery is low and sees a large group of enemy they may not attack. Fuel situation also seems to play a part here as does the time spent under enemy 'attack'- when a pilots bravery is depleted by these factors he will reach a point of switching to RTB mode and will then dumbly fly back to base and basically have no further control possible.
Discipline- higher means plane attempts to stick in formation/reform/obey orders more(the internal group commands not menu driven commands) but can be limited by other skill settings
if advanced flying/tactics is above basic flying the plane can get into situations that it can't cope with and cause individual crashes/pull ups. Increased tactics tends to cause more vertical elements (ie B&Z) The anti lawndart part of TF can cause break ups of groups if they fly too fast- AI and fm's are intimately entwinned

♣_Spiritus_♣
Sep-23-2014, 16:47
Good stuff here, definitely doing the old copy and paste.




One basic problem in CoD as I see it is the fact AI once they have seen a target they are fixated on it and ignore other targets, so a squad of Hurries set to attack a cetain bomber group will attack an escorting fighter group if they see it before the bombers, even if bombers appear seconds after, this often leads to a fighter furball with the bombers passing by unattacked. Timing differences of seconds can alter the situation and there does seem to be a slight random/other factors involved so combats do not always go identically.

+1!

Always wondered if I was doing something wrong when this happens.

No601_Swallow
Sep-23-2014, 19:48
It's often more tempting to just dismiss the AI as irredeemably porked in some respects. The gyrations mission builders have to go through to get AI to do what it should do... Even if by chance the AI does what you were hoping, it seems to be by chance.

For my squadron, the target fixation thing is probably the biggest annoyance. It feels as if the AI attacks whichever player aircraft has spawned in first (or possibly whichever aircraft happens to be in front when the AI spots players' flights. So the poor flight leader ends up playing a private game of follow-the-leader with half a dozen AI while we all look on trying to be sympathetic...

Even getting bombers to attack specific targets (as opposed to area bombing) is hit and miss (in more ways than one, ho ho...)

In the end, for AI escorts, I end up either plotting the "escorts" on a parallel course with the bombers with the waypoints on "free hunt" or "attack fighters" with the Vision and Situational Awareness maxed out. Either that or have a flight spawn in once a small percentage of bombers go down (but for this you have to be sure of where the bombers will encounter opposition). All annoyingly makeshift.