[TEC] Some aircraft AI tests/questions

[LesBaker]

Hi Kapuhy,


Have you tried changing the hight for level bombing runs, for instance 250m insteated of 500?


Les

[kapuhy]

Originally Posted by LesBaker

Hi Kapuhy,


Have you tried changing the hight for level bombing runs, for instance 250m insteated of 500?


Les

Yes (50m), and it didn't seem to affect accuracy as much as I expected.

[gap]

1. Aircraft vs flank speed

Setting dive bombers as level bombers will lead to unrealistic attack tactics. What if we fit them with some fast-aiming but short-ranged dummy gun, whose muzzle flash effect will spawn a bomb?

2. MAD ideas

Have you checked that visual sensor's detection angle does not prevent if from "seeing" directly below the plane?

3. Sinking torpedoes

Have you tried testing with Swordfish planes (and, indeed, with IRAI installed, no other mod overwriting its files)?

IF they use torpedoes affectively, I would try messing with various parameters (aircraft max speed, position of the torpedo bone, drag coefficients, min height, ect) until I find the one(s) which break their ability to use torpedoes in a prope manner.

[kapuhy]

Originally Posted by gap

Setting dive bombers as level bombers will lead to unrealistic attack tactics.

That's true, on the other hand "strafe & perform acrobatic stunts" is not a tactic I've heard of as well

Besides, looking at this movie for example:



is for planes like Liberator (maybe Catalina as well) attack profile used looks more like fast, low level horizontal approach (of course, these might be just shots staged for propaganda purposes and actual approach might have been more vertical).

Originally Posted by gap

What if we fit them with some fast-aiming but short-ranged dummy gun, whose muzzle flash effect will spawn a bomb?

I thought of this and it could be a viable solution (was experimenting with creating a retro-rocket launcher for MAD armed planes, and sure enough you can set a "gun" like this).

2. MAD ideas

Originally Posted by gap

Have you checked that visual sensor's detection angle does not prevent if from "seeing" directly below the plane?

Yes. But I have another suspect as to why it didn't work:

Originally Posted by gap

Have you tried testing with Swordfish planes (and, indeed, with IRAI installed, no other mod overwriting its files)?

Speaking of IRAI files - in Airplane.aix, there's this fragment:

strategy PlaneNavigate(Plane)
{
precond
{
(Plane:HasTorpedoes() or Plane:HasBombs() or Plane:HasCannons()) and Ship:GetContactDepth() > -8.5
}
strategies
{
BombCourse,
TorpedoCourse,
CannonCourse,
AirToAirCombat
}
}

If I understand correctly, it sets conditions for a plane that must be met in order for it to navigate (fly towards?) detected target:

a) plane must have means to attack (bombs, torpedoes, guns)
b) contact must be at no more than 8.5 meters depth

I wonder what would happen if we set this to 20.0 for example... but to test this, I would have to know how to make edits to .aix file affect the game (just changing it doesn't seem to do anything - maybe it is overwritten by something or requires rerunning file patcher to work?)

[Jeff-Groves]

There are 3 instances of -8.5 in that file.
You might try changing them all.


Found 3 occurrences of '-8.5'.
Line 335 4h " Ship:GetContactDepth() > -8.5 and (Plane:HasTorpedoes() or Plane:HasBombs() or Plane:HasCannons())"
Line 409 4h " (Plane:HasTorpedoes() or Plane:HasBombs() or Plane:HasCannons()) and Ship:GetContactDepth() > -8.5"
Line 766 4h " !Plane:HasCommander() and Plane:HasWaypoints() and ( ( !Ship:ContactPresenceIs(PRESENCE_SENSORS, 0) or ( Ship:ContactPresenceIs(PRESENCE_SENSORS, 0) and Ship:GetContactDepth() <= -8.5 ) ) or ( !Plane:HasBombs() and !Plane:HasTorpedoes() and !Plane:HasCannons() ) )"



010 is excellent for finding this stuff.

[kapuhy]

Originally Posted by Jeff-Groves

There are 3 instances of -8.5 in that file.
You might try changing them all.

Thanks Jeff! I got so fixated on my find that I forgot to check rest of the file...

Ok, after a quick test: changing all instances solves issue Tonci87 was writing about in TWoS thread - Catalina now continues its attack and drops bombs at a place where U-Boat has disappeared under water. I'll recheck the MAD sensor later and report.

[Jeff-Groves]

Pretty smart for a Village Idiot ain't I?

[gap]

Originally Posted by kapuhy

That's true, on the other hand "strafe & perform acrobatic stunts" is not a tactic I've heard of as well

Just lol

The Ubi guys must have drawn their virtual pilots from the Orlik Aerobatic Team

Originally Posted by kapuhy

Besides, looking at this movie for example:

[...]

is for planes like Liberator (maybe Catalina as well) attack profile used looks more like fast, low level horizontal approach (of course, these might be just shots staged for propaganda purposes and actual approach might have been more vertical).

In my previous post I was talking in general but I don't think aircraft of the size and structure of a Liberator or a Catalina could safely perform a dive bombing attack. Looking at this list I would say that, with very few exceptions, all the dedicated dive bombers of WWII were more similar to a fighter or heavy fighter than to a medium or heavy bomber

Originally Posted by kapuhy

I thought of this and it could be a viable solution (was experimenting with creating a retro-rocket launcher for MAD armed planes, and sure enough you can set a "gun" like this).

Oh, cool we had the same idea! By the way we already have retro bomb models in game. If you look at historic pictures, they were very similar or identical to Squid projectiles.

Originally Posted by kapuhy

Speaking of IRAI files - in Airplane.aix, there's this fragment:

strategy PlaneNavigate(Plane)
{
precond
{
(Plane:HasTorpedoes() or Plane:HasBombs() or Plane:HasCannons()) and Ship:GetContactDepth() > -8.5
}
strategies
{
BombCourse,
TorpedoCourse,
CannonCourse,
AirToAirCombat
}
}

If I understand correctly, it sets conditions for a plane that must be met in order for it to navigate (fly towards?) detected target:

a) plane must have means to attack (bombs, torpedoes, guns)
b) contact must be at no more than 8.5 meters depth

I wonder what would happen if we set this to 20.0 for example... but to test this, I would have to know how to make edits to .aix file affect the game (just changing it doesn't seem to do anything - maybe it is overwritten by something or requires rerunning file patcher to work?)

I don't think so. Aix files are plain ascii files, not hardcoded patch is required to "enable" their tweaks (IRAI itself is a proof of that). As sar as I can say, the code they contain is Python or a Python-like language. It is possible that some other script overrides the line that you are editing, but any tweak you do should immediately take effect (after reloading the game indeed).

[Jeff-Groves]

That file is the only one that contains -8.5 in the scripts folder of IRAI