AI cannot be trusted with damaged ship

[mrchuck]

Anyone else noticed that when you detach a ship due to damage, the AI seems to do everything possible to make sure it DOESN'T get home?
--speed to squadron max, regardless of flooding
--wandering around the battle area in every direction EXCEPT towards port and safety?
--heading towards the nearest coast and getting stuck there?

and so on...

It would be nice if in some future release, the AI would:
--reduce speed to no more than 9 kts if there is flooding; decrease speed automatically if a bulkhead fails or flotation damage > 50%
--head AWAY from the sound of the guns and towards the nearest friendly base
--do something a little less obtuse near coasts (but this applies to the AI in general...)

I cannot recall any instance of the AI managing a damaged ship safely. The heuristics for this are pretty clear, and even a very simple 'brain' to do it right should be possible.

on reflection, the subject line here should perhaps be 'AI cannot be trusted' ...

[thedoctorking]

This is why we play on Captain's mode.

[WLRoo]

The problem is, no-one - devs or players - manages to really notice when the AI does this until the ship winds up sinking, by which point (AFAIK) it's too late.

But they need saves when this is happening so they can check if the AI is following the rules laid down, and if those rules need to be adjusted.

For example, one of the first rules that the damaged vessel has to follow is basically 'clear the battle area'. Slowing down in the battle area is not a good idea, makes you an easier target and it seems the AI is programmed to go after damaged vessels if it can identify them.

My hypothesis is that the flag to indicate that the vessel is clear of the battle area doesn't trigger correctly on a consistent basis, leading to this effect but...I'm just as bad at noticing when my damaged ships are detached and running at full speed after they should have slowed down.

[mrchuck]

Clearing the battle area won't do you much good if you sink the ship in the process.

There is a matrix of considerations to take into account which humans are pretty good at, and the game AI isn't. Certainly get clear, but also take into account flooding levels and current flotation damage. There is an optimum retirement speed, or even less than optimum but the best that can be managed given everything else. Many will have noticed that if you slow down below 8 kts, you can sometimes get better flood control, to the point where flooding is controlled altogether. Doesn't always work, but always worth trying. If this means 5 or even 4 kts, as long as the ship survives, I'm happy. But you may have quite a few lame ducks in the battle area as a result.

Another thing I've noticed is that the computer player will very often abandon damaged ships to their fate, but as a matter of both personal preference and policy, I will always try to cover retreating ships if:
1. There is a good possibility they'd survive if they don't take much additional damage (judgement call again) and
2. It won't get the rest of the fleet sunk in the process.

Sometimes offering up the sacrificial lamb is the only way to escape. More often, you can get even very heavily damaged ships away to safety by showing a bit of fight against an enemy who is as badly knocked around as you are, or hopefully worse.

The AI does not seem to do this so much.

[WLRoo]

This seems to be the historical approach - the first priority of the commander of a ship was to withdraw and avoid further damage, then attempt temporary repairs, then steam to a shipyard for patching or full repairs.

Which means that will be how the AI is programmed.