reported AI (still) detect contacts at extreme/unrealistic distances.

[Justin1Ntime]

Question, when I am playing single player I have a wing man and when we engage bandits he can seem to lock them up and shoot them way before I can with our AIM120s. By the time I lock them up with my radar his missiles are hitting or close to hitting the target. I see the bad guys on my radar via the datalink but it seems like as soon as the wing man is about 40 miles out he can fire and will get a hit. it seems like my radar cant lock them up  until I am about 20-30 miles away and my wing man seem like he can shoot them at twice that distance some times. Am I doing something wrong here? I am running 3 bars and even gone down to one bar with a focus on a single target pointed my plane right at the bad guy. 

[Pizzicato]

I've spent the afternoon running tests on how various factors affect the AI's behaviour (skill level, altitude, target type, target size, etc.). It turns out that the Hornet still detects and begins to engage large targets such as the IL-76 from 370 nm away. Given that the AI should be subject to the same constraints (i.e. a radar screen that only displays out to 160 nm), that's pretty problematic and immersion-breaking level of advantage over the player. It's also problematic from an AI fuel conservation standpoint, as the Hornet immediately goes to full afterburner in pursuit of its very distant prey.

Mission and screenshot attached. (The screen shot shows the moment at which the Hornet detects and starts to maneuver towards the IL-76.

Test CAP 01.miz

Edited November 6, 2022 by Pizzicato

[Exorcet]

While AI sensors are a significant issue that needs to be addressed, the engagement range and fuel conservation problems are more because you're using a general CAP task I assume rather than Search Then Engage, which places range limits on the AI. Any remotely realistic mission would need to use Search Then Engage type tasks. CAP/Fighter Sweep/etc are for simple missions where you just want the AI to shoot stuff ASAP.

[Pizzicato]

Yep, I know. Like most sane people, I typically delete the CAP task as the first step of any A2A group's setup.

This was more just about a raw exploration of what;s going on under the hood and how the AI behaves in its default state.

[Pizzicato]

On a related note, an Su-27 will happily spot and engage an F-15E at 166nm.

Edited November 7, 2022 by Pizzicato

[norman99]

I would have thought including a somewhat realistic, individual unit based "max detection range", especially for AI, would be a core fundamental concept in any modern warfare simulator?

Even if these aren't dynamic and/or situation dependant, something as simple as "F/A-18 Max Detection Range=80nm" etc, would prevent the ridiculous examples above.

Edited December 6, 2022 by norman99

[NineLine]

I'll have a look, thanks. 

[NineLine]

On 11/6/2022 at 4:20 PM, Pizzicato said:

On a related note, an Su-27 will happily spot and engage an F-15E at 166nm.

 

Can you send me a track or mission for this, I set up a F-15 and Su-27 orbiting at 140nm and they never engaged each other. So maybe I am missing something. 

[NineLine]

Actually no worries, I was able to reproduce with other aircraft and at greater distances. This is reported. Thanks.