Ships on Neutral stance...
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2022 9:34 am
I do have some issues with how ships behave on neutral stance, especially ships with several different types of weapons. In one example I had some small slots with missiles and medium slots filled with beam weapons, the missiles had a slight advantage in range.
On Neutral stance the ship always try to stay at the edge of their missile range... I find this very odd, especially when the beam weapons still have some really strong offensive power on the ships. I had to constantly manually move the ships just a tad closer, the AI sometimes even tried to drop back again. If this was cautious settings I would understand, but in Neutral the ship really should try to get ALL of their weapons into range, especially if they are nor fired on or their shields and armour are very high.
In my opinion ships on Neutral stance should not only reflect on the opponent but how much they are fired upon as well. A ship that take very little fire or none at all should become a bit more bold and move closer to their object, especially on neutral... even on cautious they could do this... these settings should not be so arbitrary. Ships should still reflect in incoming fire and react to that.
If ships acted in a more dynamic way it would also help the AI too, right now it is just an advantage to the player that can direct their ships in battle when they act in a stupid way.
In terms of taking fire ships should react, there should not be just a value of when they flee. Ships perhaps should have different stances for offensive and defensive behaviours. If aggressive defensive behaviour it will accept more incoming fire for finding a good firing position. Aggressive offensive posturing means the ship will try to get into point blank range, but if also set to cautious defensive stance will only do so if their shields and armour can absorb incoming fire to an acceptable degree.
In my opinion ships need to react to what is actually happening more, not just arbitrary values, such at sitting at max range only having some weapons engage even if NO ONE is even firing on them, that makes very little sense. Ships that get most of the barrage should eventually try to increase the range so other ships can take the fire instead, not just escape when down to the escape level. A ship that suddenly get focused on should start to evade directly on neutral and cautious stance, not wait until their shield is depleted, this will diminish the opponents firepower in increase your as your ships get closer to the enemy.
In the current AI behaviour it definitely favour larger ships as they seem to care little on their own health unless they are down to their escape level. Smaller, faster ships don't really use their speed and manoeuvrability to their advantage good enough.
The stances should be more of a guiding principle, the ships need to act on the battle they are in, not only adhering to their stances as something set in stone. They also need to consider how much fire is actually concentrated on them, based on the fire they can withstand. How fast are their shields being depleted and how they should react to this, based on their stance.
The AI also need to use less suicidal settings for their ships, it is too easy to destroy AI ships when you overwhelm them, the AI almost always stay way too long instead of retreating. This make fighting the AI too easy... you flee when they are strong and obliterate large portion of their fleets when you are strong.
On Neutral stance the ship always try to stay at the edge of their missile range... I find this very odd, especially when the beam weapons still have some really strong offensive power on the ships. I had to constantly manually move the ships just a tad closer, the AI sometimes even tried to drop back again. If this was cautious settings I would understand, but in Neutral the ship really should try to get ALL of their weapons into range, especially if they are nor fired on or their shields and armour are very high.
In my opinion ships on Neutral stance should not only reflect on the opponent but how much they are fired upon as well. A ship that take very little fire or none at all should become a bit more bold and move closer to their object, especially on neutral... even on cautious they could do this... these settings should not be so arbitrary. Ships should still reflect in incoming fire and react to that.
If ships acted in a more dynamic way it would also help the AI too, right now it is just an advantage to the player that can direct their ships in battle when they act in a stupid way.
In terms of taking fire ships should react, there should not be just a value of when they flee. Ships perhaps should have different stances for offensive and defensive behaviours. If aggressive defensive behaviour it will accept more incoming fire for finding a good firing position. Aggressive offensive posturing means the ship will try to get into point blank range, but if also set to cautious defensive stance will only do so if their shields and armour can absorb incoming fire to an acceptable degree.
In my opinion ships need to react to what is actually happening more, not just arbitrary values, such at sitting at max range only having some weapons engage even if NO ONE is even firing on them, that makes very little sense. Ships that get most of the barrage should eventually try to increase the range so other ships can take the fire instead, not just escape when down to the escape level. A ship that suddenly get focused on should start to evade directly on neutral and cautious stance, not wait until their shield is depleted, this will diminish the opponents firepower in increase your as your ships get closer to the enemy.
In the current AI behaviour it definitely favour larger ships as they seem to care little on their own health unless they are down to their escape level. Smaller, faster ships don't really use their speed and manoeuvrability to their advantage good enough.
The stances should be more of a guiding principle, the ships need to act on the battle they are in, not only adhering to their stances as something set in stone. They also need to consider how much fire is actually concentrated on them, based on the fire they can withstand. How fast are their shields being depleted and how they should react to this, based on their stance.
The AI also need to use less suicidal settings for their ships, it is too easy to destroy AI ships when you overwhelm them, the AI almost always stay way too long instead of retreating. This make fighting the AI too easy... you flee when they are strong and obliterate large portion of their fleets when you are strong.
