Suggestion: tactical maneuvering AI for self-protection and others

[exsonic01]

This has been this discussed in fb.asp?m=4710022 and plus other posts before, just for gathering up purpose.

1. Dismount infantry behavior
- 1) Make them automatically find the best cover / concealment tile within 2~3 tiles of dismount tile and automatically set defend.
- 2) Let players able to set waypoints for embarked infantry before disembark them (CM series option)

2. Self-preservation/protection instinct.
- 1) One option is, reduce delay amount for "rotate" command. (but I'm not sure if that is good idea)
- 2) Other option is, let AI units change direction by themselves, based on distance from contact and 'level of threat'. For 'level of threat', vehicles should choose AP round penetration value as a criteria, and infantry should be DPS for criteria of changing watching direction.
- 3) CM series style "firing arc" or "watching arc" might be a good option too.

3. Always front enemy
Sometimes tanks and vehicles expose their rear armor when repositioning due to formation change. Sometimes this looks very dangerous and ridiculous. As far as I know, tankers are trained to always face the front as much as possible (correct me if I'm wrong armor unit veterans). If the unit is under combat condition or if enemy is observed within specific range, I think there should be a good algorithm to make tanks or other vehicles to maneuver following V-shaped trajectory by reversing and forwarding to new position, instead of choosing the direct course which could expose rear or side armor.

4. Rotational wing reaction against incoming AA fire.
- 1) Currently helicopters do not move at all if any AA units fire towards them. This gives a wrong impression of "tanking" helicopter, which looks ridiculous. In reality, any close AA fire or other projectiles would induce helicopter pilots to immediately evade from hovering position.
- 2) As a solution, increase BP size, and let helicopter AI freely reposition inside the increased BP region if AA units fire towards them. New position inside BP should keep LoS on TRP or area close to TRP.
- 3) Let helicopter randomly move inside increased BP to find better position, if the helicopter didn't engaged for specific amount of time. This repositioning logic can be made by simple RNG based algorithm I guess.
- 4) "Counting LoS tile" algorithm would be useful for automated maneuvering of helicopter, which I also mentioned in other post: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4718276 "Counting LoS" algorithm will decide "least visible" and "most visible" tile.
- 5) With such "LoS-analysis" algorithm, inside BP, let gunship and helicopter knows which one is 'aggressive' tile (more LoS) and which one is 'defensive' tile (less LoS). It would be good to introduce ranking algorithm for 'aggressive' and 'defensive/evasive' tiles inside BP. I guess such "counting tile" algorithm and "ranking" algorithm should not be terribly difficult for this game... I guess [;)]
- 6) With such information, something like this can be tried:
-- a) Let helicopter AI analyze tiles inside BP, as which tile have more LoS and which tile have less LoS.
-- b) Initially, helicopter AI choose the center of BP as "watching" position.
-- c) If contacts not been made for specific amount of time (maybe this can be a user input value, possible to set from air strike box), then initiate "repositioning inside BP algorithm" for gunship to move to random tiles among top 3 "aggressive" positions.
-- d) If fired by AA fire, let the helicopter immediately move to "defensive / evasive" tile inside BP. Then, by logic #c, gunship or helicopter will return to "aggressive" tile in the future after some time has passed.
-- e) If the helicopter being targeted by AA or other units 3 times in a row after 2 times of reposition, then let it move to next BP. But it might be good to set "n times of being fired by AA or other units" as user input value, which can be set from air strike box.
-- f) If the helicopter couldn't find the target and repositioned to 'aggressive' positions 3 times in a row, then let it move to next BP. This way, 'patrol' maneuver of helicopters can be automated. But it might be good to set "n times of reposition" as user input value, which can be set from air strike box.
-- h) If all tiles in BP has the same LoS count values, then just use full random RNG to decide reposition tile.
-- i) Let helicopters automatically move among BPs and reposition until they run out of ammo.
-- j) If HQ CAS request is given, then corresponding helicopter should follow the algorithm for HQ CAS.

5. Something similar with #4-6) Algorithm (repositioning based on LoS count) for tanks and ATGM vehicles as well to represent 'shoot-and-scoot' maneuvering of individual vehicles.
- 1) Let's introduce one more waypoint maneuver option of "mobile defense" or "shoot and scoot"
- 2) If such "mobile defense" or "shoot and scoot" waypoint is activated, then let the unit search and rank for highest/lowest concealment / cover / relief / LoS-tile-number inside 3~5 tiles. The number-of-tile limit for searching tiles could be set as user input value from option, maybe this could be introduced in game setting screen.
-- 2a) I'm not sure which tile property would be the best criteria for "shoot and scoot" maneuver, I guess real armor unit veterans could suggest for this option. My guess is cover value or relief value for hull-down position, but I never served in armor units, so I'm not sure about that.
- 3) For "mobile defense" or "shoot and scoot" command, watching direction and distance should be clearly designated.
- 4) Let tanks automatically move inside 3~5 tile zones, if units are not engage enemy for specific amount of time. Target tile should be random but should follow the ranking of highest concealment / cover / relief / LoS-number. Of course, there should be no overlap. To prevent overlap, it might be good to introduce "large spacing" condition for "shoot and scoot" waypoint.
- 5) Of course this maneuvering should choose V-shaped trajectory, mix of reversing and forwarding according to watching direction, which I introduced in #3.
- 6) If units are being engaged, then engage for several shots, then let the unit move to next best position using V-shaped trajectory maneuver, inside the 3~5 tile zone.
- 7) If artillery falls, then activate current evasive maneuvering algorithm.
- 8) If unit received heavy damage, then cancel "shoot and scoot" waypoint and reverse outside of 3~5 tile zone to best cover value tile.

I will continue later if I can think more.

[Veitikka]

The 'rotate' order command delay will be halved in the next build, similar to the 'reverse' order.

[Veitikka]

Another self-protection improvement is that the engagement range settings are reset automatically when under fire.