no bug Helicopter Attack Group Task Broken

[WirtsLegs]

So Helicopters (or atleast the Huey AI) seem to sometimes break pretty badly depending on the exact location of the waypoint where they are told to attack a group/unit, seems elevation differences maybe a factor

I'm attaching a few samples, just open them up and watch the hueys do their thing.

1)HeliAttack_earlyShot.mizThis one they just toss rockets over the mountain which seems unreasonable

2) HeliAttack_flyHigh.miz In this one they seem to want to go to space then eventually orbit back down to attack

3) HeliAttack_crater.miz Here is the most amusing one, they go for a pop-to-dive I guess? anyway they dive way too steeply, smashing into the ground without ever firing any weapons. See below for gif of this behaviour

 

Edited August 19, 2023 by WirtsLegs
adding gif

[NineLine]

On 8/19/2023 at 11:57 AM, WirtsLegs said:

1)HeliAttack_earlyShot.mizThis one they just toss rockets over the mountain which seems unreasonable

This one I believe is just based on the mission set up. You ask the helo to attack the group at WP1, so what you see is the AI trying to do as it's told. It flies over the tall hills towards the group.

Instead, I made some quick and dirty edits, and I think I get a better result. Give it a try or play with it a little more on your own. HeliAttack_earlyShot9LEdit.miz

I changed the route to be able to fly in a little lower and more protected, I chose a more direct attack route to add my attack group command from. 

I will look at the other 2 tonight or tomorrow. Thanks. 

[NineLine]

On 8/19/2023 at 11:57 AM, WirtsLegs said:

2) HeliAttack_flyHigh.miz In this one they seem to want to go to space then eventually orbit back down to attack

Just noticed number 2 is the same mission, I believe it is flying high because you put it in a situation it needed to climb over the hills then it comes across a threat that it is trying to avoid, again the mission above covers that again. 

[NineLine]

Mission 3 is a similar case, you gave them an approach to the enemy unit that was quite steep, just adjusting the approach a little to make more sense makes it work much better. 

Also choosing the WPs for your attack better helps, too early can confuse things or force them to attack when it is not ideal. 

Vs my quick and dirty edits. HeliAttack_crater9LEdit.miz

Hope this helps!

[WirtsLegs]

On 8/21/2023 at 7:11 PM, NineLine said:

This one I believe is just based on the mission set up. You ask the helo to attack the group at WP1, so what you see is the AI trying to do as it's told. It flies over the tall hills towards the group.

 

So partially right, I noticed the dive into the ground behaviour in a mission setup, then went and fiddled to try and recreate it and sus out the cause, I found that the location of the waypoint where they get the task produces very different results even when they still have say a mountain between them and the target in all instances. I have since re-arranged things in the actual mission I am working on to make them behave (there is a specific reason for them coming from the angle they do in the real mission), but thank you for spending the time on it you did to offer alternatives, it is very much appreciated!

Anyway in this particular case I would expect them to go over the hills but not continue to climb afterwards (behaviour that occurred did so despite an alt set in the attack task, and despite reaction to threat set to none), so I am not sure what is causing them to freak out and do things like lob rockets from behind the hill with no hope of hitting, or climb as high as they do to then either orbit around or dive to their deaths. As I said the behaviour didn't change regardless of reaction to threat setting so its not a case of a threat causing it (unless the issue is in reaction to threat?).

So I do feel like there is a bug here though I really am not sure if it would be in the logic for how the helis run their attacks, or maybe the reaction to threat settings have issues, hard to say, but any situation where they will commit to a unrecoverable dive as part of their attack clearly has something going weird. at least they can be convinced to behave with some fiddling

Edited August 24, 2023 by WirtsLegs