Erratic AI behaviour or me?

[Mud]

I'm in the process of building a campaign and I'm running into some very odd stuff in my starting mission.

 

- AI flights don't follow their waypoints properly. Some of the will fly NOE while their waypoint altitudes are set to +15k feet.

 

- They once started flying North. I thought that perhaps they hit bingo fuel, but the passed their take-off base and just kept heading North.

 

- The tankers did not stick to their flight plan whatsoever.

 

- The Mission Score items I have set don't seem to do anything.

 

- See screenshot. The one time I tested the mission and most AI flights did make it to Batumi, they started doing the polonaise on the runway.

 

Mission: 01 - Campaign Start.miz

 

Screenshot:

[Speed]

Once you start depending on AI to behave certain ways, mission building becomes test, tweak, test, tweak, test, tweak, test, tweak... after a very long while you will finally get the AI to do what you want, and if not, and say they block the runway for example, then you will learn to deactivate them. There's ways around most problems.

 

The NOE problem is one everyone always has huge problems with. I think it may be that AI aircraft, when told to perform a task, will try to perform that task at the altitude it was originally assigned to them at. That may be what's going on, and that would be my first guess. So give aircraft NO tasking under waypoint actions, not even at waypoint zero, until they are well airborne and at crusing altitude. You would leave the overall flight task to be SEAD or SWEEP or whatever, but you just delete any task you see in the waypoint actions.

 

But yea, welcome to the fun world of mission building. If AI always acted the way they were supposed to, I could build missions in 1/2 the time...

 

For the tankers, just give them a giant square or pentagon or hexagon of waypoints, and use the "Switch Waypoint" waypoint action to make them loop that path over and over again.

Edited July 27, 2011 by Speed

[EvilBivol-1]

In your mission, the AI hit the deck after the initial climb to avoid the SAM site in Novorossyisk. Try watching the mission in the F10 view with Detection zones enabled. This behavior can be controlled by adding a Reaction to Thread action in the advanced actions and setting it to EVADE FIRE or NO REACTION. By default, the AI is allowed a vertical evasive manuever and that's what you are seeing in the mission.

 

The AWACS and tankers flew out of left field, because you had incorrectly set their orbit actions. When setting a race-track orbit, you need a subsequent waypoint to determine the leg length of the race-track pattern. However you had set the race-track orbit on the last waypoint. Also I'm not sure why you had a switch waypoint action for the heavies. Check the GUI manual section on Task Planning for AI Groups.

 

I'm still checking what's going on with Batumi. Will attach a fixed version of the mission once that's sorted.

Edited July 27, 2011 by EvilBivol-1

[Mud]

Bed time for me here atm, but I just wanted to say I really appreciate the replies. I'll go on tomorrow correcting.

[EvilBivol-1]

The AI was avoiding Batumi due to the weather settings. You had them landing with a 30 knot tail wind, which the AI will not do. I reduced the wind at sea level to 10 m/s (still a lot) and they all went for Batumi just fine. I set a couple of groups to land at Kobuleti, just to make sure Batumi is not overcrowded, but I think you can reset these to Batumi and it will be fine. I also set the MiG group ROE to Return Fire so that they will not engage the Blue aircraft. I'm assuming that is what you had wanted, but you can change it if not.

 

I did not look at the mission scoring issues.

 

Edited MIZ attached.

 

P.S. Overall mission vision looks quite promising! Good luck with the rest of the missions!

01 - Campaign Start-EB.miz

Edited July 27, 2011 by EvilBivol-1

[Speed]

Holy crap EB! I had no idea that that is what causes the AI to go defensive like that.

Thanks for the info!

 

Probably not the most logical choice though to go turning and burning like that without a missile launch. At least they're trying and there's a way to turn that off.

[EvilBivol-1]

In this case, all that was happening is that the AI dove to low altitude with no turning or burning involved. That's the specific point of the Evasive Vertical Manuever ROE action. It only allows the AI to change altitude along the route when threats are detected. I suppose there was some gas wasted on the return climb after the threat is passed.

Edited July 27, 2011 by EvilBivol-1

[Speed]

In this case, all that was happening is that the AI dove to low altitude with no turning or burning involved. That's the specific point of the Evasive Vertical Manuever ROE action. It only allows the AI to change altitude along the route when threats are detected. I suppose there was some gas wasted on the return climb after the threat is passed.

 

Huh... well, I was speaking from the experiences I had in 1107 and 1106 with AI that, when spawned at low altitude but in flight already, would immediately, upon engaging in their SEAD task, dive to NOE altitude. When I would spawn them at 8000 meters, however, they would stay at 8000 meters. It was odd. But.... that was a long time ago. I wish I had the time to get back into mission building so I can see how they are behaving now, and I really wanna play with these new crew-served mortars you guys gave us... been wanting them for a LONG time :thumbup:

[rockyalexander]

...I really wanna play with these new crew-served mortars you guys gave us... been wanting them for a LONG time :thumbup:

 

They're a great addition to the sim, for sure!

[Speed]

They're a great addition to the sim, for sure!

 

Yea, I can't wait till I can have some guys on the ground that run out into a clearing, the mortar activates beside them, they start firing, and you get coordinates over the "radio" that there is incoming firing coming in from a set of coordinates. If you don't find em in time, then the mortar gets deactivated, and the guys run back into the trees. Good luck find them after that. :thumbup:

 

A lot of cool insurgency-type missions are possible now :)

[Grimes]

just to make sure Batumi is not overcrowded, but I think you can reset these to Batumi and it will be fine.

 

 

AI will disappear automatically if an airbase becomes "full". Batumi "holds" only 10 airframes.

 

As for mission goals, they look like they should work, but I have a few thoughts:

You might want to switch the refueling trigger to a "ONCE"

The landing mission goal might have been broken due to your weather settings.

 

You should also know that mission goals govern whether or not a campaign can advance to the next stage. When the score is 0-49 its considered a failure. 50 its neutral. 51-100 its a success.

[Mud]

Valuable information here, thanks folks!

 

I've made quite a lot of changes which I'll try to test tonight. I diverted some fighters to Kobuleti because it doesn't make a lot of sense to send 18 birds to Batumi if it can only hold 10.

 

I love spending time in the ME, but damn, time flies when you're there and testing. The missions / campaign I'm building are based on the Kosovo conflict. Completely fictional, but quite some ideas gotten from the "A-10's over Kosovo" book. Still a lot of work to do though.

[Mud]

Lovely! All flights are staying at their designated flight levels now. The landing phase I haven't tested yet because my wingman collided with a thirsty F-117 while I was refueling.

 

I still need to iron out some minor issues, but the info here has really put me on the right path.