Level of AI skill and aggressivity

[Sylosis]

Probably not a bug, but I scrolled through every page of the forum to try to find the appropriate place where to ask this.

I don't understand the AI, how aggressive it is. It seems to be drastically changing depending on the plane it flies. I'm trying missions where the AI is at "ACE". I fly the F-14, it has a selection of Su-23, Mig29A, Mig21, etc. It just doesn't engage. It will not try to fight me at all. It will barely try to even defend.

But, if I give them Mig29S or Su-27, oh my god. It does not even make sense how it behaves. Even on "intermediate" (which is the 2nd easiest setting I believe), it'll shoot missiles when it's at 60nm or more from me. 

So it's either I get nuked or it's just too easy. Any suggestions to make it somewhat interesting in PvE?

Edited May 28, 2021 by Sylosis

[dorianR666]

the default ai actions are so called enroute tasks. these are valid only until new one is executed or end of flight plan.

 

if you dont give them flight plan, they switch to rtb mode during which they are passive and barely defend themselves or not at all. maybe the modern planes see you from the beginning on radar/rwr and begin to engage you before this happens.

 

you need to post .trk files or at least the .miz files which you used for this. in my experience f-14 and mig-31 are the two most aggresive ai planes in the game, probably thanks to their missile range.

[Sylosis]

Well, you kinda answered my question. I could post a trk file, but I don't think it would help all that much, since what you explained is what I observe. To better explain:

 

- Friends and I are playing online together on a server my friend set up. He uses that campaign generator available online, not sure the name, but I think it's quite popular and it does work quite well.

- When going against a faction that has older aircrafts, we have to set them to Ace. But! As you point out, their CAP don't even come intercept us. They just fly their waypoints and then RTB. 

- If I try myself to go intercept them, it takes quite a while and by the time I reach them, they are already probably on their RTB leg, so they don't even bother my presence.
- I we select a faction with better airplanes (Russia for instance), they immediately move to intercept as soon as they take off.

Now, as you pointed out, it could be because of radar guidance. Modern planes see us on their radars, so they move to intercept. While old Mig21s can't see us on their radar at that distance.

If that is the problem, would it be solved by providing them with an AWAC? Like their AWAC would guide their MIG21s to intercept us?

Finally, it's kinda dumb that the AI on RTB will be that passive. I hope that "whenever" they fix the AI, this is going to be one of the improvements.

Thanks for your help.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by Sylosis

[dorianR666]

8 minutes ago, Sylosis said:

it takes quite a while and by the time I reach them, they are already probably on their RTB leg

this can be fixed by giving them Orbit task. its a task, not enroute task, which means the flightplan will not continue until this task is finished (and orbit is never finished unless you explicitely interrupt it). they will then orbit and if they detect a target, the enroute task takes over. once enroute task condition is no longer valid (no targets visible etc.), they return back to task (orbit).

 

basically just add an orbit task where you want them to be. alternatively, you can create some waypoints and then use Switch waypoint command to an earlier waypoint - this way they will fly a loop over the waypoints. just like with orbit, enroute task (CAP) will take over temporarily if targets are detected.

 

1 hour ago, Sylosis said:

Like their AWAC would guide their MIG21s to intercept us?

Yes, all AI units in a coalition work as a hivemind. Not only would they see what AWACS sees but they also see what ground radars see.