Hello everyone, I was wondering one thing about the ai ships, I have read a lot that ai has infinite ammo, however, since SJA (praise her and her army of deadly minions (soon deadlier)) is so focused on making them on par with players, are they limited in their ammo ? So many times have I seen big ships firing their frag cannons several minutes after joining the fight whiel firing them continuously. While suspicious, I'd rather not jump to conclusions.
Yet another AI question: ammo ?
- Thread starter Poy
- Start date
AI with overheating their railguns and losing them
I am not sure but it seems then run out of chaff. At least it feels like, but I might be wrong.
Now honestly: are we supposed to let AI have time to run out of ammo?
Now honestly: are we supposed to let AI have time to run out of ammo?
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I am not sure but it seems then run out of chaff. At least it feels like, but I might be wrong.
Now honestly: are we supposed to let AI have time to run out of ammo?
You try destroying a Python with 2 class 1 fixed lasers in record time!
So be it, may she descend upon this thread with information regarding the current topic. If she does not on this day, then this thread has my permission to die...
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Honestly, I think that realistic ammunition consumption would make the whole AI programming overly complicated and the resulting game-play value wouldn't be worth the effort.
Usually, the ammunition lasts for more than one single fight and this is single fight is all that does matter for the player. Who cares, that this or that Anaconda did fight for hours in a combat zone? All that interestes me is: how does it perform when I engage in the fighting? At the end of this figth, either I destroyed the enemy ship or I have to flee/am destroyed myself. Either way, I don't care about the left over ammunition of my previous target.
So, why introducing the overhead of keeping track of the ammunition and poteintially limit the AI in its fighting capabilities in doing so? Increasing the fighting abilities themselve is time better spent, imo.
Usually, the ammunition lasts for more than one single fight and this is single fight is all that does matter for the player. Who cares, that this or that Anaconda did fight for hours in a combat zone? All that interestes me is: how does it perform when I engage in the fighting? At the end of this figth, either I destroyed the enemy ship or I have to flee/am destroyed myself. Either way, I don't care about the left over ammunition of my previous target.
So, why introducing the overhead of keeping track of the ammunition and poteintially limit the AI in its fighting capabilities in doing so? Increasing the fighting abilities themselve is time better spent, imo.
I think it does matter. Emergent gameplay depends upon players being able to make assumptions about NPCs and act on them with effects consistent with what players know about ships etc. From the dev diaries I expect FD's approach to future proofing the game and adding richness they will at some point implement ammo for AI's.
It doesn't matter in arena arcade mode but imagine a long chase where conserving ammo is a consideration. As a player I want to have the confidence to engage my imagination in this game like I did in the original. The kind of dev approach that is happy with Infinite ammo for AI's would crush that kind of play.....
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Sarah Jane Avory
Retro Queen
Huh? Wha-? Who? Where? (shakes head) What the <bleep> just happened..? ;-)
Oh, an answer! Well, yes, AI does has infinite projectile ammo (by Design), but they do run out of chaff, missiles etc.
Oh, and I'm sorry (nah, not really) to add that due to a bug (yeah, I know, another one...) you've all been fighting against AI ships that defensively think they're all Harmless... So... expect a lot more AI use of counter-measures in the near future (like lots and lots).
AI chaff usage is now a favorite of mine. Oh, and missiles against unshielded ships! Yummy! 
Well that sounds ridiculously unfair. I can't see this revelation going down well.
Oh cripes, things are going to get interesting. Could you stick to telling us nice, unthreatening things about time vs space tradeoffs in the DC algorithms instead of all these AI bugs you're fixing and improvements you're making, or I may not survive the wait until all this makes it into a release...?
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Ok, now I get how that npc eagle was able to shoot that many rails at me (with a ridiculous delay between shots I might add) without having to worry about how much it will cost him to reload.
Not really. AI are, by design, only meant to last for a single encounter. In that single encounter, one of the following occurs:
- The NPC dies
- You die
- The NPC runs
- You run
31 shots from a Railgun/PA should last longer than the lifespan of an AI instance (not to meantion 105/1500 for the cannons/multis), and only in the rarest of occasions will it not. Therefore ammo usage (and the code to deal with "running out") is one less thing to worry about in the AI code.
(* - note I'm using the word "instance" in the programming sense, not the P2P networking sense)