Forums » Suggestions
Border Defense AI
Hey all, I love defending the border in Deneb but there are some little things that kind of make me wat when I'm doing so, most of it relating to the AI.
The first of the things that I feel should be changed a bit is when the cap ships decide to fire on the fighters. I can't even count how many times I've been 'sploded by my own capships because they're trying to hit the fighter I'm attacking. Maybe a way to prevent this is to check if the enemy fighter is currently perusing a player AND if the player has caused damage to the fighter in the last 15 seconds (or some other time). This obviously means that the AI and the Human fighters are fighting, so the capship shouldn't try to fire on it in fear of killing it's own person.
Next is for the missiles. The Warthogs and Valkuries (I think) are equipped with missiles, and often when I attack enemy fighters (human or AI) our AI fighters feel the need to help out. Great, awesome, but when they launch their missiles at the enemy they end up damaging me in the process. We could do a check similar to the one above, minus the "has the player shot them in the last 15 seconds" deal. In other words, if the enemy AI fighter is targeting a friendly human, the friendly AI fighter won't launch missiles. They can still try to shoot them with their energy weapons, that's obviously fine.
Anyway I think thats about it *cough*shields*/cough*.
The first of the things that I feel should be changed a bit is when the cap ships decide to fire on the fighters. I can't even count how many times I've been 'sploded by my own capships because they're trying to hit the fighter I'm attacking. Maybe a way to prevent this is to check if the enemy fighter is currently perusing a player AND if the player has caused damage to the fighter in the last 15 seconds (or some other time). This obviously means that the AI and the Human fighters are fighting, so the capship shouldn't try to fire on it in fear of killing it's own person.
Next is for the missiles. The Warthogs and Valkuries (I think) are equipped with missiles, and often when I attack enemy fighters (human or AI) our AI fighters feel the need to help out. Great, awesome, but when they launch their missiles at the enemy they end up damaging me in the process. We could do a check similar to the one above, minus the "has the player shot them in the last 15 seconds" deal. In other words, if the enemy AI fighter is targeting a friendly human, the friendly AI fighter won't launch missiles. They can still try to shoot them with their energy weapons, that's obviously fine.
Anyway I think thats about it *cough*shields*/cough*.
I think friendly fire from the capital ships and NPC fighters adds a bit of challenge, since you have to be aware of what else is around you instead of just focusing on one NPC fighter. They don't gang up on you either, so if it wasn't for the freindly fire, you'd effectively be fighting alone. Never mind that capital ship guns have like a 2000m range, Odds are you weren't in the way when the shot was fired.
It can be avoided, you just have to pay attention to where you're fighting, like not placing yourself in between the capital ship and your target, and not getting too close to an enemy fighter that rocket splash damage would hit you.
The NPCs do need a bit more smarts though, Especially the capital ships. They'll often go nose-to-nose and chase eachother all around the sector when most of their firepower is on their side turrets.
The auto-mark-hostile thing when you get damaged should probably be suspended for border skirmish NPCs, I've seen newbies get kicked out of the skirmish a few times because they killed friendlies who damaged them with rocket splash simply because they pressed 'x' to select the nearest hostile target.
It can be avoided, you just have to pay attention to where you're fighting, like not placing yourself in between the capital ship and your target, and not getting too close to an enemy fighter that rocket splash damage would hit you.
The NPCs do need a bit more smarts though, Especially the capital ships. They'll often go nose-to-nose and chase eachother all around the sector when most of their firepower is on their side turrets.
The auto-mark-hostile thing when you get damaged should probably be suspended for border skirmish NPCs, I've seen newbies get kicked out of the skirmish a few times because they killed friendlies who damaged them with rocket splash simply because they pressed 'x' to select the nearest hostile target.
Indeed this is true. It's not uncommon to see a cappie try to ram a tarra, weather it's intentional or not lol. The missile thing still remains an issue, though. It's hard to dodge a missile that's aimed at a fighter that's chasing you (or you're chasing). Also, the large ships should focus on the other large ships attacking them. I see a lot of the shots from the cappies heading towards fighters when there's a tara right next to them. I think the targeting for the cap ships should prioritize the large ships unless they're surrounded by like 10 fighters.
I wasn't going to comment just to correct you, but you keep doing it and it's driving me crazy. In VO, the unguided "missiles" are called rockets or flares. Only the guided ones are called "missiles". This makes it easy to distinguish which one people are talking about, without them having to throw in an extra word to specify.
kthnxbai
kthnxbai
I like when the capships ram, if i am alone or only have 1 wingmate it presents an opportunity to unshield something that would usually be impossible without 2-3 guys like the HAC or Connie
What I don't like is the nose to nose standoff of the connie and terra, that is bad, but the other ships behave in a way that at least creates room for a strategy
What I would like to see changed is the connie and hac when fighting another capital ship is straffe in sideways and broadside the fuck out of them, the connie has a respectable broadside and the HAC could strip the shields off anything from the side.
I would also like to see the idiot bomber rags attack in groups of 3 or 4 so they may actually put a mild dent in some shields.
What I don't like is the nose to nose standoff of the connie and terra, that is bad, but the other ships behave in a way that at least creates room for a strategy
What I would like to see changed is the connie and hac when fighting another capital ship is straffe in sideways and broadside the fuck out of them, the connie has a respectable broadside and the HAC could strip the shields off anything from the side.
I would also like to see the idiot bomber rags attack in groups of 3 or 4 so they may actually put a mild dent in some shields.
The idiot bomber rags might do a better job if they had jackhammers instead of screamers, or maybe if we brought back avalons so they could launch torpedos. (HINT)
As of right now they never fire all their ammo because their neutron blaster drains their battery and they don't have the sense to let it recharge enough to fire the screamers...
As of right now they never fire all their ammo because their neutron blaster drains their battery and they don't have the sense to let it recharge enough to fire the screamers...