[TEC] Some aircraft AI tests/questions

kapuhy · 03-14-21, 09:30 AM

Some aircraft AI related tests and questions, in hope they might spark a discussion and lead to somewhat more dangerous planes

1. Aircraft vs flank speed:

I made a little test yesterday, posting the results here in case they might be of interest to other modders on Subsim. In short, I was trying to see how the bomb-armed planes will behave in different conditions. This was done in TWoS 2.2.23 with no other mods.

Starting conditions for this scenario: plane is flying a 500m, starting at 5km distance, directly at submarine from bearing 270. I relaunched this with submarine going at different speeds and that's the result:

I also did test with different aircraft types, and all have trouble with aligning for bomb run against target moving at flank speed, though faster planes (especially Mosquito, Dauntless and Fulmar) tended to do better, often hitting sub in second or third pass.

Level bomber AI does not get into this endless "dry run" loop, though it is far less accurate with its aiming. Still, lacking better options, I'd say a plane that drops bombs all over the place is more credible threat than plane that doesn't drop them at all, so switching worst offenders (like Catalina and Swordfish - both do the endless loop with standard AI and both occasionally hit target with level bomber AI) might be a good idea.

2. MAD ideas?

In SH4, setting visual sensors to negative MinSurface value allowed planes to see submerged U-Boat (this was used in OM for Magnetic Anomaly Detector). Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work in SH5 - I used the same settings as OM and planes just flew over submerged boat without noticing.

I'm looking for a way to simulate MAD in SH5, but so far nothing seems to work (including sonar placed in sensor that is 200 meters under a plane so it can be below water surface). If anyone knows of a way that could work, I'd be happy to try it (one of planes I modeled should have MAD equipped).

EDIT: thanks to Jeff-Groves spotting and correcting my oversight, MAD sensor now is confirmed to work

3. Sinking torpedoes?

I ran the above scenario with torpedo armed Swordfish. It did a perfect torpedo run at low altitude and then dropped a torpedo... which sank to the bottom like a stone. What's the secret behind getting them to work like they did in TDW's screenshots in IRAI thread?

03-14-21, 09:30 AM	#1
kapuhy Grey Wolf Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Poland Posts: 873 Downloads: 72 Uploads: 3	Some aircraft AI tests/questions Some aircraft AI related tests and questions, in hope they might spark a discussion and lead to somewhat more dangerous planes 1. Aircraft vs flank speed: I made a little test yesterday, posting the results here in case they might be of interest to other modders on Subsim. In short, I was trying to see how the bomb-armed planes will behave in different conditions. This was done in TWoS 2.2.23 with no other mods. Starting conditions for this scenario: plane is flying a 500m, starting at 5km distance, directly at submarine from bearing 270. I relaunched this with submarine going at different speeds and that's the result: I also did test with different aircraft types, and all have trouble with aligning for bomb run against target moving at flank speed, though faster planes (especially Mosquito, Dauntless and Fulmar) tended to do better, often hitting sub in second or third pass. Level bomber AI does not get into this endless "dry run" loop, though it is far less accurate with its aiming. Still, lacking better options, I'd say a plane that drops bombs all over the place is more credible threat than plane that doesn't drop them at all, so switching worst offenders (like Catalina and Swordfish - both do the endless loop with standard AI and both occasionally hit target with level bomber AI) might be a good idea. 2. MAD ideas? In SH4, setting visual sensors to negative MinSurface value allowed planes to see submerged U-Boat (this was used in OM for Magnetic Anomaly Detector). Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work in SH5 - I used the same settings as OM and planes just flew over submerged boat without noticing. I'm looking for a way to simulate MAD in SH5, but so far nothing seems to work (including sonar placed in sensor that is 200 meters under a plane so it can be below water surface). If anyone knows of a way that could work, I'd be happy to try it (one of planes I modeled should have MAD equipped). *EDIT: thanks to Jeff-Groves spotting and correcting my oversight, MAD sensor now is confirmed to work* 3. Sinking torpedoes? I ran the above scenario with torpedo armed Swordfish. It did a perfect torpedo run at low altitude and then dropped a torpedo... which sank to the bottom like a stone. What's the secret behind getting them to work like they did in TDW's screenshots in IRAI thread? Last edited by kapuhy; 03-14-21 at 02:58 PM.