AI Missions in the MA

[tuton25]

I would like to see AI bomber missions when there are less than 250 people online. These missions would up a sector or two from their selected target, white flag it, then RTB. You could join them as a gunner the same way we would join a real player, but they would be otherwise undefended. They also wouldn't attack hangars, so players would need to do that themselves. This would give some focus when there are only a handful of players online...

[Kodiak]

+1 to ideas like this.  Noobs could join them as a gunner, escort them, attack them or fly another set of buffs with them.  Lots of stuff for a noob to do while acclimating to the MA.

[xPoisonx]

+1

Sounds like fun, but I think they should shoot back a little 

[MrKrabs]

Well...

Would we want them to air-start or take-off from a particular base?

Where would we like them to go? They are good for carpet bombing strats, and however if they're in a attack segment they will shoot back to the dis-may of many people... Each bomber in the formation of AI are actually 3 separate AI just flying together, the AI system doesn't quite have the same formation system live players have... So instead of a convergence of guns like you would normally see, you would have three angry AI's using a lead computing gun-sight nailing ya... But you know what? That would be a good trade-off since they will not be easy kills unless swarmed...

How high would we want them? 20K? The happy medium? And how big would we want the missions to be? A large group of bombers? or a few sporadic spread-out bombers?

And lastly would this promote combat? Would anyone really want to escort bots? Wouldn't this just attract bomber killers to soak up some kills?

[bustr]

Vets would kill these off in moments just to make the "no personal risk gamers" have to fight real players. The other side would be vets would follow these around to pick off the "no personal risk gamers" who don't want to fight in the first place.

The AvA staff is willing to put up AI for the "no personal risk gamers" any time they ask.

Seems half the ideas in the wishlist distill down to changing the MA into a Utopia for the risk averse.

[muzik]

What a novel idea!   


+1

[Tinkles]

I think it would be a decent idea.  Perhaps it would be an automatic mission destined to go after a certain factory. However, it would be announced so all 3 sides are aware of it .  "Attack mission launched from a33 ".  They could climb out to 20k or so like krabby mentioned.  I think the diamond formation would be appropriate, 8 bombers in total. B17s or maybe b29s

Perks would be awarded for killing them, since their aim is quite accurate (it is said they trained 999000).    An 'auto' mission could be launched every 2-3 hours, that would go to a major strategic target. Like the AI would level 20% of an enemy factory if the factories weren't defended.   Each side would have a set of bombers with 2-3 escorts that would take off. So Knight AI to bish, Bish AI to rook, rook AI to knight. Then it would switch each time around. Rook to bish, bish to knight, knight to rook etc.  Every 2-3 or so hours (2-3 is just a number, could be changed to 4-6 or whatever). 

Since there are only a handful of dedicated pilots who are bomber-type, and many of them are spread out across the 3 sides. I think this is a good way to get a nice sided bomber mission going, to get some of that combat that HTC boasts of on the main page.

 Players could then join this auto mission with the AI and defend them to the target, or simply use it as a distraction to attack another base, or completely ignore it and do their own thing entirely. Like frolicking in the dense forests near bases, waiting for m3s to pounce on, or flying up to the moon to see if a cow really did jump over it.

Either way I think this is a good wish and could be used to start combat and give good potential 'burst furballs' that would initiate combat and give something to defend. Then give enough time for things to heal over before starting over again. That way one side isn't bombarded by another via AI.

[Oldman731]

I would like to see AI bomber missions when there are less than 250 people online. These missions would up a sector or two from their selected target, white flag it, then RTB. You could join them as a gunner the same way we would join a real player, but they would be otherwise undefended. They also wouldn't attack hangars, so players would need to do that themselves. This would give some focus when there are only a handful of players online...

Jimson can give you some insight on this.  He and HTC have been working pretty hard to make the AI thing function.

- oldman

[tuton25]

Well...

Would we want them to air-start or take-off from a particular base?
I think they should start from a base so the escorts could help out

Where would we like them to go? They are good for carpet bombing strats, and however if they're in a attack segment they will shoot back to the dis-may of many people... Each bomber in the formation of AI are actually 3 separate AI just flying together, the AI system doesn't quite have the same formation system live players have... So instead of a convergence of guns like you would normally see, you would have three angry AI's using a lead computing gun-sight nailing ya... But you know what? That would be a good trade-off since they will not be easy kills unless swarmed...
I think they should go to a frontline base, with no gunners other than human gunners. I don't know how hard this would be as I am no programmer. I feel as a separate code would need to be written for ever base and a way to select them, but have no idea how it would work....

How high would we want them? 20K?  The happy medium? And how big would we want the missions to be? A large group of bombers? or a few sporadic spread-out bombers? I was thinking of 5 sets of B-26s at 10-12k that would white flag a town....

And lastly would this promote combat? Would anyone really want to escort bots? Wouldn't this just attract bomber killers to soak up some kills?
I think people will want to kill the bomber killers to......

[MrKrabs]

"Frontline" bases are ever-changing and chances are that the bots would bombing a.friendly base for no reason. It would have to be a target that always exists like strats, HQ, or not drop bombs at all and simply fly through their path touring a enemy airspace.

If they do start from a base, those bases would quickly become common knowledge and attract hit'n'run vulchers. This would need to be an airstart... Why? Because the bots would be able to defend themselves no matter what even if someone attempted to patrol the known air-start area...

Then there's another issue that can come up, the crashing of the arena or the reset of the arena tables when the mission is loaded... Even the chance of the mission crashing or the Bots get dysfunctional... As an example the notorious "ghost bots" that more often than not happens when the bots glitch-out and shoot at planes with no tracers or visable aircraft...

[pallero]

Why those AI bomber formations can't be like CV groups? You can take command and drive them to the target like CV. You can add waypoints, and click the map to point bombing target. Target can be what ever you want. And when the formation is on target point, it will do a carpetbombing and go back to the homebase for reload.
And you can allways take command (like in CV) and change the bombing plan.

We have three bases around the HQ, where you can up me163's. Those bases could be AI formations home bases. They take off, and climbing to 20000 ft and after that you can use them and pointing targets. And if you are not using them, they just circle around the home bases.

[Slade]

+1 Great idea!

[muzik]

Hey!!! I want to expand on this question...

Why those AI bomber formations can't be like CV groups?

Why do they have to be AI controlled bomber formations at all?

Why not just make a large 24 bomber formation controlled by a single player instead of the measly 3 plane formation we have now?

Then players can actually participate in the formation instead of just attack it. Bomber dudes can feel all squadron commander-like as they look out over their nicely formed squadron and give orders to change from protective formation to an attack formation or som'n 

This is an APPEALING idea, no wonder it keeps poppin up    lol

[Tinkles]

Hey!!! I want to expand on this question...


Why do they have to be AI controlled bomber formations at all?

Why not just make a large 24 bomber formation controlled by a single player instead of the measly 3 plane formation we have now?

Then players can actually participate in the formation instead of just attack it. Bomber dudes can feel all squadron commander-like as they look out over their nicely formed squadron and give orders to change from protective formation to an attack formation or som'n 

This is an APPEALING idea, no wonder it keeps poppin up    lol

I think it would be best to keep the AI bombers set on a course. Either having them attack an enemy HQ or factories/strats.  Giving the control to the player would only see abuse.  And if it was the 'rank' system that determines who controls the formations, well... nothing good could come out of that.

I could see - if left unwatched - nooblets or even veterans using these formations for bombing cvs. Or attacking towns/bases.  I think it would be best to have these formations be 'wire guided'. As in, these missions launch and have a pre-determined course and target. The players can then choose to gun or fly alongside as an escort to protect these valuable AI.  The enemy could either defend or simply ignore the attackers.

The AI I think should only be able to do 20% damage to any strat. So if it's city for example, after the AI formation flies over, 80% of the city factories remain. Otherwise, players could just leave the AI knowing that the enemy factories/strats would be destroyed in X mins without them having to do anything. And with 24 of them, and that 999000 quality shooting, it would make it quite hard to get within 1.2k let alone get a kill.

I think a set of 8 at the max is good. or 2 sets of 4.

[Someguy63]

This all sounds rather nice.