AI Pilots

[Greebo]

I've been thinking a bit about how this could work.

Lets say every 30 minutes or so a bombing raid spawns at one of the three uncapturable airfields and heads for a random strat target, raid targets alternating between the other two countries. A message appears on the opposing country's "HQ" radio channel i.e.:- "Intelligence reports Knight bombing raid heading from A6 to our radar factory at 10,6,1, ETA 27 minutes". These messages get updated periodically with the raid's position and ETA, how often could be down to the state of the country's HQ. Ten minutes later a raid spawns at one of the other two countries and so on. Air spawns are not really going to work in the MA due to the risk of a raid spawning around a player just as he was flying past (imagine the whining!).

The makeup of each raid would be down to the numbers of players online at the time the raid spawns. For instance lets say currently Bish have 100 players, Knits have 50 and Rook 25. In this setup a Rook raid might have B-29s or B-17s escorted by P-51s or similar, the Knits might get Lancs escorted by Spit 9s and the Bish might only have G4Ms escorted by Zeroes. Similarly AI player quality might drop as a country's player numbers increase, so in this instance the Bish raid might be mostly AI rookies and the Rook mostly AI aces. Perhaps the Knit raid might climb to a higher altitude and have more aircraft than the other two as well. Think of it as each country's resources being spread between all its aircraft, both AI and human. So less human players means more resources can go to the AI raids. This might give players an incentive to switch to the less populated countries so they can attack the easier raids.

The AI fighters would be mostly close escorts who break off to stick with the bombers if an attacker dives away, with a couple of detached escorts who don't. Those players who consider AI raids in the MA to be the spawn of the Devil or some kind of Commie plot can simply turn off the HQ channel and ignore them. The AI fighters wouldn't attack until well inside icon range so if you run into a raid by accident simply turn around and fly away.

I can't think of anything else which would bring players back to the game outside of US peak hours more than this. I would much rather fight humans than AI, but AI is better than nothing and that is currently my only option. The ability to either intercept or escort such raids would make them focal points for other A2A combat oriented players as well, so human v human fighter combat becomes more likely, not less, with this addition.

Lastly I am not sure the option of being able to jump into an AI bomber's gun position is such a good idea. I can see this being gamed, with a player using a second account to shut down the bombers' defensive guns as he attacks.

[popeye]

<snip>

The makeup of each raid would be down to the numbers of players online at the time the raid spawns. For instance lets say currently Bish have 100 players, Knits have 50 and Rook 25.

I can't think of anything else which would bring players back to the game outside of US peak hours more than this. I would much rather fight humans than AI, but AI is better than nothing and that is currently my only option. The ability to either intercept or escort such raids would make them focal points for other A2A combat oriented players as well, so human v human fighter combat becomes more likely, not less, with this addition.

<snip>

So, there aren't enough players on at Euro times to find a human to fight, but there are enough players to combat AI raids and resupply strats damaged by those raids?

[nrshida]

So, there aren't enough players on at Euro times to find a human to fight, but there are enough players to combat AI raids and resupply strats damaged by those raids?

One was proposed to attract the other.

[atlau]

Ok I could see some AI bombers on teams that are sorely outnumbered hitting towns to prep them. But I'd even make them low/ungunned so a raid is easily defeated

[hazmatt]

I've seen AI attack planes/bombers integrated in other games and it worked well. For the most part they didn't affect game play at the beginning of the game but over time they had more influence as they destroyed targets.

[Greebo]

My idea is to have the raids directed at strat targets only (HQ, ord, fuel, radar, AA etc.) and not interfere directly with the field capture game. That way players who don't want to interact with AI pilots can avoid doing so and those who care about field capture won't get mad about it.

The main idea of the raids is to bring fighter pilots back to the game in off peak hours by giving them something to do, even if no other fighter pilot players are online. Currently they log on, take one look at the empty map and just log off. Why bother upping to intercept a single contact when, more often than not, they are just going to run away or even log off? Why fly to a field under attack to either be ganged, or if you succeed, have the attacking force of stat warriors switch to the other front to avoid you? Intercepting an AI raid would be interesting enough to make it worth the time to do so and would be a focal point for other similarly minded pilots from both sides. Hopefully having a few more pilots upping rather than logging would snowball into a more populated arena.

 The AI raids would also have a secondary side balancing effect. A force of B-29s with good AI pilots from a low player count side is going to do a lot more damage to an opposing strat than a force of G4Ms or He 111s with rookie AI pilots from a high player count side, even assuming all of the weaker bombers get through. Strats are easy enough to resupply that it wouldn't have a major effect on the war though.

[popeye]

Resupply is the perfect application for AI, it is the most boring aspect of the game.  Have the trains and convoys actively resupply strats and fields.  If you want to maximize the downtime after an attack, you have to kill the resupply trains.  That would bring attackers low and provide opportunities for combat with defenders.

[Banshee7]

Resupply is the perfect application for AI, it is the most boring aspect of the game.  Have the trains and convoys actively resupply strats and fields.  If you want to maximize the downtime after an attack, you have to kill the resupply trains.  That would bring attackers low and provide opportunities for combat with defenders.

Wasn't it kind of like this in AH2? I seem to remember attacking trains, convoys, and barges, and that affected down times.

[Dadtallica]

My idea is to have the raids directed at strat targets only (HQ, ord, fuel, radar, AA etc.) and not interfere directly with the field capture game. That way players who don't want to interact with AI pilots can avoid doing so and those who care about field capture won't get mad about it.

The main idea of the raids is to bring fighter pilots back to the game in off peak hours by giving them something to do, even if no other fighter pilot players are online. Currently they log on, take one look at the empty map and just log off. Why bother upping to intercept a single contact when, more often than not, they are just going to run away or even log off? Why fly to a field under attack to either be ganged, or if you succeed, have the attacking force of stat warriors switch to the other front to avoid you? Intercepting an AI raid would be interesting enough to make it worth the time to do so and would be a focal point for other similarly minded pilots from both sides. Hopefully having a few more pilots upping rather than logging would snowball into a more populated arena.

 The AI raids would also have a secondary side balancing effect. A force of B-29s with good AI pilots from a low player count side is going to do a lot more damage to an opposing strat than a force of G4Ms or He 111s with rookie AI pilots from a high player count side, even assuming all of the weaker bombers get through. Strats are easy enough to resupply that it wouldn't have a major effect on the war though.

But Strat raids directly affect the capture game.

[popeye]

Wasn't it kind of like this in AH2? I seem to remember attacking trains, convoys, and barges, and that affected down times.

As I understand it, destroying the trains, etc. extended down times.  What I am suggesting is that the trains, convoys, and barges directly resupply the base, just as player-controlled assets do now.  Each train that reaches the field or strat would reduce the down time (by 10 min?).  Trains would spawn at regular intervals so that resupply would be complete in some defined time.  Maybe add an extra train track for each field, town and strat so it would be hard to camp with a single tank.

Trains, convoys, and barges are already in the game and are already AI so it would just require a change in their function.

[JimmyD3]

Resupply is the perfect application for AI, it is the most boring aspect of the game.  Have the trains and convoys actively resupply strats and fields.  If you want to maximize the downtime after an attack, you have to kill the resupply trains.  That would bring attackers low and provide opportunities for combat with defenders.

According to my last talk with Hitech, this has been fixed. So we should see the destruction of the convoys, trains and Tug/barges, impact the affected base/strat down time. Hopefully we will see it in the next update. 

[AKKuya]

According to my last talk with Hitech, this has been fixed. So we should see the destruction of the convoys, trains and Tug/barges, impact the affected base/strat down time. Hopefully we will see it in the next update. 

It's time to place railroad crossing at all the roads where the tracks cross with gate arms going up and down.  They should be manned by an AI worker in the booth to the side.  While you're waiting in your GV at the crossing, the AI attendant comes out and brings you coffee and donuts.

[AKIron]

Obviously you can't manufacture live players to play when you want so complaining about numbers but deriding AI is just.... AI could fill any role in this game a live person can (except pay the subscription fee). People have played in air combat sims against AI for decades. To believe no one wants to do that is just willfully ignorant. 

[JimmyD3]

Will then call me ignorant, I don't care for AI in the MA either. With that said, I have no intention of "rage quitting" if it happens either. Not my call, that is up to Hitech.

[AKIron]

Will then call me ignorant, I don't care for AI in the MA either. With that said, I have no intention of "rage quitting" if it happens either. Not my call, that is up to Hitech.

I didn't say everyone likes to fight against or with AI. I said many have and they liked it. A ranking system that would allow live players to direct whatever AI is available might actually make a ranking system viable. No live person is going to bow to the whims of another live person because they managed to score more points in the season.