[REQ] AI Throttle Lag

[Capt Jack Harkness]

Ever fire a steam torpedo at a destroyer only for him to spot it and speed away at the last instant? Wouldn't it be lovely if there was a somewhat random delay between the AI spotting it and being able to maneuver away?

To make it more realistic, there should be at least a couple seconds between the AI spotting something and their engines responding (deck watch reports a torpedo, officer on deck telegraphs for full ahead, engine room responds) and their engines should gradually pick up speed instead of instantly (maybe 10 seconds from stop to flank?), I mean come on, steam turbines don't get up and go like your daddy's camaro!

[Sailor Steve]

To make it more realistic, there should be at least a couple seconds between the AI spotting something and their engines responding (deck watch reports a torpedo, officer on deck telegraphs for full ahead, engine room responds) and their engines should gradually pick up speed instead of instantly (maybe 10 seconds from stop to flank
Oh, it's much worse than that. Lookout spots torpedo, OOD orders full speed, lee helmsman double-rings the telegraph and puts it to Ahead Full. In the boiler room the senior boilerman on duty orders full steam and when the senior engineman sees the indicators increase he then opens the throttles. The whole process doesn't take long, and destroyers can accelerate fairly rapidly, something on the order of 15 knots the first minute, which averages to one knot every three seconds, which isn't all that fast when a torpedo is coming in. Also that's what happens under test conditions.

So you're right. A sitting destroyer might get lucky enough to avoid a torpedo that way, but no other ship ever will. They're just too slow.

[CaptainMattJ.]

yes, but the watch should have a pretty nice delay, as should the bridge to decide what the best course of action is. i mean ordering full ahead when the torpedo is speeding towards your bow is pretty stupid when its close. also maybe turning helps, so they must figure the best course of action, which isnt instant.

also, what ive come to see is the retarted idea that if you aim at a target and fire without locking, the TDC picks the course FOR you, which often times screws up the shot immensely. plenty of times have i fired at say the midship when im not too far away without locking, and the torpedo takes what it THINKS the best course is and just misses entirely. that could be one reason you miss.

[Capt Jack Harkness]

Well I rarely use manual targeting, partly because I've lost the required skill, partly because of the somewhat broken stock targeting system. I just happen to find that destroyers instantly jump to full ahead and manage to scoot ahead of the torpedo before impact, especially if the torpedo is set to medium or slow speed.

[Nisgeis]

That's a good idea.

[Capt Jack Harkness]

Does anyone know what it would take to implement these changes? :06:

[Nisgeis]

Does anyone know what it would take to implement these changes? :06:

A text editor and a few seconds to modify the script.

[Capt Jack Harkness]

Really??? Which file is it in? And I assume that these values will have to be changed for every class of ship?

[THE_MASK]

TheDarkWraith said he could make the ships do anything . Ask .

[Capt Jack Harkness]

Ah yes, I remember that post...

[Arclight]

The timers are broken/not implemented yet, as far as I know.

There's already a delay in the scripts, but always commented out.


Might be a workaround or I might be misinterpreting though. :hmmm:

[Capt Jack Harkness]

Hmm, so there might be a fix...