Single Player Temporary AI Handover

[PhantomHans]

Wish:

A feature to temporarily hand over controls to the AI while in single player missions, using the radio comms menu.

 

When told to "rejoin precontact" by a tanker, a menu option to allow the existing AI to take control of pitch, roll, yaw, and throttle to fly the jet to precontact position, contact position when cleared to do so, and to hold the jet at contact position until the player resumes control through the radio menu by selecting "Abort AI Control".

 

When given directions to marshall on a radial by the supercarrier module, a menu option to allow the AI to take control of pitch, roll, yaw, and throttle to fly the jet to the marshall point, and orbit there, until player takes back control by selecting "Abort AI Control".

 

When given directions by ATC to enter the pattern or fly a vector, a menu option to let the existing AI take control of pitch, roll, yaw, and throttle, fly the jet into the pattern, and even execute the landing and taxi to parking unless aborted by the player.

These functions are already existing functions that the AI performs.

This request is for an option in single player only, thus rendering no competitive advantage in multiplayer, and no impact on those who do not wish for this feature in their own game.

 

The intent of this feature is to make the various campaigns available for purchase, many of which require holding at marshall points, flying the pattern, landing, refueling, and so on, more accessible to players with less frustration.  DCS is a computer game and accommodation to facilitate enjoyment is an expected feature of computer games.

Edited February 28 by PhantomHans

[Tom P]

Soo you want the game to take control because you don't want to in certain circumstances?

[PhantomHans]

1 hour ago, Tom P said:

Soo you want the game to take control because you don't want to in certain circumstances?

Yup!  That seems to be exactly the request!

There are assorted reasons for doing this at assorted times.

[draconus]

5 hours ago, PhantomHans said:

A feature to temporarily hand over controls to the AI while in single player missions, using the radio comms menu.

When told to "rejoin precontact" by a tanker, a menu option to allow the existing AI to take control...

It never ends well - after pages of flame wars ED says "no plans":

[MAXsenna]

7 hours ago, draconus said:

It never ends well - after pages of flame wars ED says "no plans":

Well, I've gotta hand it to OP. Pretty sneaky way to yet start a new thread about automatic AAR.  

Not sure if it will get traction as @Tom P has already solved it it seems. 

Have a great weekend!

[Exorcet]

Using the comms menu for this doesn't sound great. We have a plane jump command that lets you easily swap out your plane with an AI one. Not exactly the same, but it's a lot smoother than jumping through comms menus. And speaking of jump it's been neglected for a while. It's useful for many things and should get a bit of maintenance. It's not only great for having the AI do portions of flight for you, but it allows for the use of wingmen through human control to get around their AI limitations.

[Tom P]

Just fly the aircraft and get out of your comfort zone. Stuff is easy

[PhantomHans]

12 hours ago, Exorcet said:

Using the comms menu for this doesn't sound great. We have a plane jump command that lets you easily swap out your plane with an AI one. Not exactly the same, but it's a lot smoother than jumping through comms menus. And speaking of jump it's been neglected for a while. It's useful for many things and should get a bit of maintenance. It's not only great for having the AI do portions of flight for you, but it allows for the use of wingmen through human control to get around their AI limitations.

I'm not familiar with this one.

Although this isn't my ideal solution, it sounds like close to what I am looking for.

Unlike some DCS users, I'm into this for something called "entertainment".

That does mean that at some points in time I do want to go "I'm not in the mood for this right now." and be able to tell the AI to "fill it up at the tanker and I will take control again when the tanks are full" or "fly the pattern and I will take it back over on final".

What I'm looking for basically is an "AI Assist" option for non-combat activities that can be enabled or disabled as a difficulty option, and then activated by the player at the appropriate time, ideally while staying in the cockpit view.

 

There are other ways to do this that are aimed at helping players gradually improve skills, but these options are more complicated, require more coding, and are equally hated by the community.

Edited March 1 by PhantomHans

[cfrag]

On 2/28/2025 at 4:32 AM, PhantomHans said:

When given directions by ATC to enter the pattern or fly a vector, a menu option to let the existing AI take control of pitch, roll, yaw, and throttle, fly the jet into the pattern, and even execute the landing and taxi to parking unless aborted by the player.

Since AI needs to be able to do these tasks, I think it's a good feature (and since this is a wish list, it's perfectly placed): switch in AI and stay in the cockpit to see how AI does it - an instructor driving your plane, so to speak. It could also be the precursor to "buddy control", where another player takes control of your aircraft, and you watch to see how they do it. I envision a "Handoff to AI" menu that has sub-menus with "Continue straight and level", "Land on nearest friendly airfield/FARP/Carrier", "Fly to next waypoint", "Resume Control" (yeah, I omitted the obvious "Approach Tanker" and "Refuel" points for being less contentious). 

The downside for this of course is that right now, IMHO DCS's AI is nowhere near where it can do that - all AI approaches seem to be on rails, with stark disregard of procedures (especially radiotelephony), speeds and how physics should work, so it could take a while for this to materialize. But handing off to a selective AI whilst remaining in the seat would be a great didactic and convenience tool 

10 hours ago, Tom P said:

Just fly the aircraft and get out of your comfort zone. Stuff is easy

Why troll on such a beautiful day? Methinks "Git gud" is a toxic, juvenile comment, and our community is better than that.

I personally wouldn't use such a feature often (except the 'fly me to waypoint' bit, which usually Otto can do fine except in helos) because most I do in DCS is landings, but that is my silly preference and entirely beside the point. Such a feature could be a godsend to many players. 

Edited March 1 by cfrag

[MAXsenna]

2 hours ago, cfrag said:

Why troll on such a beautiful day? Methinks "Git gud" is a toxic, juvenile comment, and our community is better than that.

I don't think it was @Tom P 's intention at all. Even you write this:

2 hours ago, cfrag said:

The downside for this of course is that right now, IMHO DCS's AI is nowhere near where it can do that

I think Tom only meant that it is probably easier to take the time and learn it, than waiting for such a feature that ED always responds with a hard "No" to, like @draconus hinted at.  

This is the wishlist though, and this wish is more clever than the former ones, as this could potentially, or rather actually drive AI development from the behaviour we see today, to something that's believable. Still waiting for the GFM, maybe they can fulfil, somewhat of @PhantomHans's wish with it.  

[PhantomHans]

4 hours ago, cfrag said:

Since AI needs to be able to do these tasks, I think it's a good feature (and since this is a wish list, it's perfectly placed): switch in AI and stay in the cockpit to see how AI does it - an instructor driving your plane, so to speak.

Something like this would be my preference for this, instead of the current "on rails" behavior of the AI...

 

However given the limited time available for development, the difficulty in implementing various degrees of assistance that can be slowly rolled back, for example like slowly raising and then eventually removing training wheels on a bicycle, I would be perfectly happy to accept the current "on rails" behavior of the AI.

 

My premise here is essentially that, at least in Single Player where by the very definition of the mode only a single person's entertainment is on the line, it should be common sense for DCS to have some accommodation to help through certain tricky maneuvers.

 

Note for example that the AJS-37 Red Flag campaign suggests enabling labels or immortality at the beginning of Mission 3.  These are not forced upon the player.  The player is given the option to go onwards with full realism, or to accept some help to make the experience more enjoyable.

[Exorcet]

9 hours ago, PhantomHans said:

I'm not familiar with this one.

It is, or was, a great feature for many things. However ED seems to have forgotten it. I mainly used it to control wingmen when they AI couldn't figure out how to do a task properly. The key to this was that the feature used to make your plane follow assigned waypoints when you jumped out of it. At somepoint either intentionally or due to a bug this changed to fly straight back to the point where you took off. Now if you try to manually control your wingmen to make up for AI limitations, your plane will light burners and fly back to base wasting your fuel and putting your plane who knows where.

 

I filed a report here:

But it has been quiet.

I've never used it to refuel but, assuming your plane doesn't RTB, I think it could be used for that if there was a refueling waypoint in your route.