[WIP] U-Boat Killer AI Mod

[PL_Andrev]

Originally Posted by Nisgeis

New version is up, old version link removed. New link is in the first post.

Thanks, but your solution (info about new version in #XX post) is not good info - is not readable. Could you put at 1st post in this subject info about new version (is it 1.1? which version I dowloaded?) and put a small changelog?

But thanks for fast development!

[thruster]

Nisgeiswrote: Hi Thruster,

I haven't noticed any effect by bottoming the boat.

New version is up, old version link removed. New link is in the first post.

I have added in spiralling searches, but I'm not 100% convinced that the AI is able to switch roles properly between search and destroy when it has found you...

This has been driving me mad for the past couple of days.

thanks for your reply. keep up the great work! be aggressive!

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by Antar

Thanks, but your solution (info about new version in #XX post) is not good info - is not readable. Could you put at 1st post in this subject info about new version (is it 1.1? which version I dowloaded?) and put a small changelog?

I'm not sure what you mean about it not being readable? The new [WIP] is v 1.01, which is in the first post and also on the download page and it's also on the mod name. Changelog isn't really necessary as it's not been released yet , but a small synopsis is on the first page.

[PL_Andrev]

I mean list with all versions.
Now it is, thanks.

[AOTD_Rhonen]

does the mod works in MP-mode?

[PL_Andrev]

Good question.
All modes (single and multi) based on this same game engine, but the correct question is:

What will AI do, if contact is lost and find another one?

My proposal:
1) Looking for lost contact by 10-15 minutes,
2) Listen uboat sound (no speed) by 2-3 minutes
3) Attack new, closest contact.

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by AOTD_Rhonen

does the mod works in MP-mode?

I don't know, I've never got an MP game running, but I would imagine so. The one thing I am wary of is testing in a single player missions, as historically with SH, single missions and campaign missions play differently.

Originally Posted by Antar

What will AI do, if contact is lost and find another one?

My proposal:
1) Looking for lost contact by 10-15 minutes,
2) Listen uboat sound (no speed) by 2-3 minutes
3) Attack new, closest contact.

In this mod, AI will start looking for a lost contact after about 10 minutes. If it finds a new contact, it will concentrate on the new contact. I think I'm right in saying that each ship can only deal with one contact at a time. From looking at the sensors, there is hardly any difference between slow moving and stationary as far as sonar detection goes, so slow and moving is better. The only reason for an AI to stop is if it wants to disappear from the U-Boats sonar.

There seem to be a few problems with the way the AI is implemeneted. One is that there doesn't seem to be a way to communicate that a new contact has been found, so the commander of a convoy will only know how long its been since the first sighting happened, not how the individual destroyers on the scene are doing, so it's a bit hard getting the commander to make informed decisions, as he doesn't know anything. This affects role assignment, as the commander can't tell a DD to go to attack mode, as the commander has no idea if the DD has re-acquired the target again. Annoying.

[piri_reis]

Originally Posted by Nisgeis

This affects role assignment, as the commander can't tell a DD to go to attack mode, as the commander has no idea if the DD has re-acquired the target again. Annoying.

Just thinking outloud here. Can you define some global variables which the DD's at the scene can set, like made contact again, lost contact, searching.. And then have the commander script read into these variables to make more intelligent decisions.

[wamphyri]

Found an interesting side effect. I was traveling through the dover straight and was just about past all the DD's when my periscope got spotted. I don't recall if the planes had been in the area already but they joined in on the attack. There was around 6-8 planes total and 5 DD's total. Sure I wasn't anywhere near the spot they were attacking but interesting all the same.

I need to work on the plane AI because they will just attack where a sub was last spotted until they run out of fuel.

edit - also DD's will come if their close enough when you get spotted by a plane.. this mod really makes the straights of dover as dangerous as it should be

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by piri_reis

Can you define some global variables which the DD's at the scene can set, like made contact again, lost contact, searching.. And then have the commander script read into these variables to make more intelligent decisions.

I'll have a look, it should in theory be possible, but it depends how the game reads the scripts and parses them.

[NoLine]

I had a look at these scripts and noticed some mistakes which might mean the scripts dont run at all

example : in airplane.aix it says :

 action
 {
  Plane:FireTorpedoes()
 }

but (i think) it needs to be :

 action
 {
  Plane:FireTorpedoes();
 }

there seem to be more of these, ill see what happens if i remove them

cheers
Noline

[Heretic]

In my experience, syntax errors produce immediate CTD, so I wouldn't think that's a problem. Certainly worth experimenting with though.

[robbo180265]

Ok I'm using this mod and it's a massive difference to the "out of the box" AI.

I stalked a convoy whilst in shallow waters. The DD did come look for me after all sinkings but couldn't find me. I was running at slow speed, not silent and at periscope depth.

So it seems that although they now spend considerable time looking, they can't actually find you still.

I did briefly surface and the DD steamed straight towards the area that it spotted me. I was still able to get away whilst at periscope depth and running at slow speed.

So definatly on the right track but I'm guessing that the sensors need tweaking too.

Good work though - things are really looking up

[Coldcall]

ya please keep developing this mod, so far works well for initial reactions by the warships, but they remain very poor at triangulating a search.

I keep restarting my campaigns so farthest Ive gone is happy times. I'm wondering if the stock AI gets better later on, then this tweak to the reactions may compliment that.

I've heard many people say the AI gets better as the years roll by but is that tested and apparent in the code, or just a myth?

[Nisgeis]

Thanks for the feedback. The enemy AI won't get better, but the sensors they use will (I think), which will make their searches more effective. When they get radar they will get much harder. There's also no way to see what the date is, so you can't implement strategies as they became used historically, but what you could do is to restrict certain strategies to elite or very good AI and then modify the levels of escorts in the campaign by date. I'm not sure if changing their level changes how effective their sensors are though (on a non scripting level). I don't think they should be very good at finding you early war, especially if you are on the surface at night.

Originally Posted by NoLine

I had a look at these scripts and noticed some mistakes which might mean the scripts dont run at all

Hi NoLine, thanks for the suggestion. I tried what you suggested and it made no difference. I think the problem is that the aircraft we are seeing eraly on simply don't have bombs or torpedoes.

I can't get airplanes to attack with cannon. I can get them to circle you, make dummy bomb runs on you and other things, but they will only fire if they are flying directly at you. This will work with aircraft that have nose turrets, but not things like spitfires or swordfish, which have fixed guns. So that was a bit of a waste of time. I think the main problem is that the planes in SH4 didn't attack without bombs either - they'd attack and just fly off when they had no more bombs, so planes never strafed there either. There's no scripting to make strafing with cannon work. The scripting for aircraft seems to be very limitted, unless I'm missing something.