Film-Based Drones

[CptTrips]

This would be a half-way point between the circling drones and dynamically reactive AI.

It would leverage the current filming capability.  Using any film, the player can choose to jump into any aircraft or vehicle that is in the recording.  Everything else in the recording would follow it's recorded path.  The player's aircraft or vehicle is allowed to deviate however it chooses.

1.  Practice on a film where a veteran totally out maneuvered you. Try to find out what you should have done to get angles.  Lets you sorta "try again!"

2.  Practice against yourself as the other player.  See from the other view what you did that worked and what didn't. 

3.  Adds the possibility of recording canned maneuvers more realistic and complex than AI can realistically perform and use these as training aids.  Maybe in training arenas, these recorded-drones can be playing their maneuvers in a perpetual loop.  Maybe these recorded-drones  are scattered around in different areas, each one performing a series of maneuvers.  You fly over and jump in at whatever point in it's cycle and if you shoot it down, it simply re-spawns at the beginning of it's recording and continues to replay.  Maybe some of these recorded maneuvers could be donated by top arena aces. Maybe the icon over the drone memorializes the name of who donated it.


There are probably some issue that would have to be thought through.  Like what if you kill a drone that later in the film went on to kill another plane?  Maybe you just let them blow up for an instant and then reappear and continue their recorded path so continuity would be maintained.

$0.02,
CptTrips

[CptTrips]

As a secondary thought, there could be a special recording mode that an instructor could invoke that would begin recording a maneuver, but at the same time drop a position marker of the aircraft at the point the recording starts.  It would look like a 50% transparency clone of the aircraft stting statically in mid air. 

Then instructor could perform his maneuvers and then work his way back around and try to collide back into the start marker.  At film stop, the recorder would find the final position closest to the start marker, and then perform an interpolation to create a continuous maneuver playback loop.


Maybe I've had too much coffee this morning. 

[Shuffler]

As a secondary thought, there could be a special recording mode that an instructor could invoke that would begin recording a maneuver, but at the same time drop a position marker of the aircraft at the point the recording starts.  It would look like a 50% transparency clone of the aircraft stting statically in mid air. 

Then instructor could perform his maneuvers and then work his way back around and try to collide back into the start marker.  At film stop, the recorder would find the final position closest to the start marker, and then perform an interpolation to create a continuous maneuver playback loop.


Maybe I've had too much coffee this morning. 

I'll put on another pot....   

[ccvi]

As rarely as this is in games it's probably patented by someone.

[CptTrips]

As rarely as this is in games it's probably patented by someone.

Or maybe it needs to be. 

[lunaticfringe]

  wha'd he say?

[stealth]

Reminds me slightly of what the latest Forza racing games have. They got a system where the AI mimics a certain players racing characteristics, and then you can race against your friends or even your own AI that's reacting based off of the players reactions.

[Wiley]

While slightly neat, would it really provide an incredible amount of benefit?  Once you took control, the bandit would not be reacting to you but just following the track he took.

About the only thing I can see it gaining is seeing if "If I'd done this turn better I could've gotten inside him." was true.

Wiley.

[Shuffler]

While slightly neat, would it really provide an incredible amount of benefit?  Once you took control, the bandit would not be reacting to you but just following the track he took.

About the only thing I can see it gaining is seeing if "If I'd done this turn better I could've gotten inside him." was true.

Wiley.

....and we have the reason that nothing will replace stick time.