"Search then engage" aircrat type restriction not respected

[Nealius]

With "search then engage" set to bombers only (all other aircraft/vehicle types deselected), AI fighters will still engage fighters. Track attached. (If you take control before I activate AI via F10 menu the AI won't spawn).

AI.trk

Edited January 6, 2023 by Nealius

[Grimes]

Many of the AI groups still have the "Fighter Sweep" main task enabled. Delete it. 

 https://wiki.hoggitworld.com/view/DCS_editor_FAQ#Why_do_AI_aircraft_keep_attacking_before_I_want_them_to.3F

[Nealius]

1 hour ago, Grimes said:

Many of the AI groups still have the "Fighter Sweep" main task enabled. Delete it. 

The two fighter groups in question do not. They are set to CAP with CAP disabled, search then engage bombers only, yet they also engage fighters. 

The fighter sweep groups are for different tasking and unrelated to the current issue. They (REDFOR fighter sweep) aren't even spawned in the attached track....

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by Nealius

[Grimes]

I had only opened it up in the mission editor to have a look around since it is often enough to look at assigned AI tasks to get an idea of what to expect or find problems there. 

 

Edit. Ok track didn't have anything spawn. Most likely you had spawned into an aircraft I don't have installed and things don't work from there. But anyway with the added description of checking for a group with the CAP task I was able to find the AI in question and just have them spawn normally to test it. Which is the ideal way to show an AI problem. 

Looks like the AI are getting into a defensive behavior and self defense is taking priority over attacking the B-17s. Also the timing/positioning of the group when the task gets assigned doesn't leave much room for them to decide to attack the B-17s. Meanwhile the escorts have already broken off and begun to engage because their task has been assigned from the start. You might get better results moving the search then engage bombers task to the initial waypoint. 

Edited January 9, 2023 by Grimes

[Nealius]

Ah ok. If the initial waypoint is too far away, will they orbit on their own or will they divert to the nearest airbase?

I also thought about setting them to engage specific group, but with large bomber formations comprising multiple groups I'm not sure how best to set that up. List all groups with sequential priority I guess?

[Grimes]

It wasn't that the initial waypoint was to far away, its where they got assigned the task was to close to the B-17s when the task was assigned. Think of it in modern aircraft terms like an F-14 armed with phoenixes. They wouldn't have been allowed to attack the bombers until they were within 10km, thus negating the advantage of using that missile and also giving little time to react and prepare to attack. 

Adding an orbit would help because if they found nothing or lose track of targets they will just RTB. 

Whenever you have a search then engage group/unit there is still a priority based on the order they were assigned in the tasking. Leaving it as search then engage bombers should work about the same. In either case the AI will get focused on a given target. Using the group/unit task would be beneficial when dealing with multiple flights and you want them to target as many targets as possible. Essentially AI communicates within their own group who they are attacking but not with any other group, thus it is common for multiple flights to attack the same target if allowed. For example if you had 2 groups of 6 vehicles in the same area and wanted 2 A-10s armed with 6 Mavericks each to attack. If both a-10s were both in the same group then they'd split up the targets equally. If each a-10 was in their own group were able to attack at the same time, there is a really good chance that they would end up sending missiles to the same targets at the same time. If you used search then engage group and reversed the priority they'd each attack their own group. 

 

[Nealius]

I'm still not getting them to focus on the bombers. I tried what used to work in 2.7, telling them to engage the bomber groups specifically, and moved the waypoint through trial and error to the point where they engage rather than RTB. They do one pass on the bombers then completely ignore the bombers and get embroiled with the escort fighters. Is the new AI BFM logic overriding the attack group command?

[Grimes]

16 hours ago, Nealius said:

Is the new AI BFM logic overriding the attack group command?

Possibly. I think there is a self defense aspect to it where they do prioritize attacking the bombers, but then become under threat, or at least decide they are under threat, and effectively give up on attacking the bombers. Though I'm not the best authority on WW2 AI behavior as I've only done light testing on the subject and almost all of my plane AI testing involves modern aircraft.