Adjusting AI Maneuvering

[Caesar 305]

'Evening all,

 

It'll be about two weeks until I get back to be able to get in the saddle again, but I had a question about adjusting parameters for AI aircraft to make certain airframes less easy to kill because of stupid things they are prone to do. Specifically, I've noticed that the AI F-5A/E and F-14A's defensive maneuvering leaves something to be desired:

 

Every time I get behind the opposing Tiger/Tomcat's 3/9 line, they will start to burn energy (okay, that happens), until they reach a point where the AI pilot begins bucking the plane violently nose up, nose down, nose up, nose down in what seems to be an attempt at a low-speed, high-alpha pull, but which results in the AI unloading once they are about to stall, rather than press through the maneuver, then pull again, unload, lather, rinse, repeat, until I'm at dead 6 and its too late (GUNS!).

 

I have not noticed this tendency with a lot of the other airframes in the series, from the F-4 to the F-22, nor from most OPFOR aircraft (rarely a MiG-21 or MiG-17 will do it once or twice, but then abandon the loop). What I'm wondering is, if others have found a way to "fix" this issue, or if I should make an AI specific install with a lower max AoA so the AI doesn't try to press as hard into a useless maneuver and actually do something with the plane once I get behind the 3/9 line?

 

Any thoughts, comments, fixes?

Edited April 25, 2011 by Caesar

[Fubar512 1,350]

Any thoughts, comments, fixes?

 

The quickest fix I can think of, is to add these entries to the data.ini, just under the flight control section, and adjust them to suit your tastes.

 

[AIData]

TakeOffRotationAngle=15.0

MaxPitchCombat=22.5 <---------adjust here

MaxPitchForAltitude=15.0 <---------and here

 

Otherwise, the only other fix that comes to mind, is to get C5 to rewrite the FM, or at least to redo the drag/alpha table sections for all the lift surfaces, using 1-degree interpolation (instead of the default 5-degree values).

 

Come to think of it, Caeser, if you have the time, you can create a spreadsheet that will accomplish the same task, using the existing "coarse" values, and interpolating the single degree data points bewteen them.

[Derk 265]

Long time ago there used to be an "UBER_AI_Aircraftobject.ini", designed to get rid of all sorts of impossible manoeuvering by the AI. I combined the lower values of both the modern and the older .ini's and the result was somewhat smoother flying of both friendly and enemy which may also help to solve part of the problem....

Apart from that I completely agree with Fubar on the FM issue on the F5 & F14,

 

Houdoe,

 

Derk

[Caesar 305]

Copy, Fubar, will add/adjust those values when I get back to see what happens! I don't see any issue with the FM itself, seems fine to me, just wanted to see if I could restrict the AI from performing this strange maneuver for the said aircraft since I hadn't seen it very often outside of the Tiger and Turkey. Thanks for the assistance.

[Fubar512 1,350]

Long time ago there used to be an "UBER_AI_Aircraftobject.ini", designed to get rid of all sorts of impossible manoeuvering by the AI. I combined the lower values of both the modern and the older .ini's and the result was somewhat smoother flying of both friendly and enemy which may also help to solve part of the problem....

Apart from that I completely agree with Fubar on the FM issue on the F5 & F14,

 

Houdoe,

 

Derk

 

The "UberAI" mod has been obsolete for some time now. The AI in the '08 patch for SFP1, and the AI in all flavors of SF2, do not require it, and in fact, would be adversely effected by it. Besides, it's possible to tailor each and every FM by adding and editing the various AI sections.

[Derk 265]

The "UberAI" mod has been obsolete for some time now. The AI in the '08 patch for SFP1, and the AI in all flavors of SF2, do not require it, and in fact, would be adversely effected by it. Besides, it's possible to tailor each and every FM by adding and editing the various AI sections.

 

Agreed, did just that, didn't apply it, just took a few values .

 

Houdoe,

 

Derk

[Caesar 305]

Hey, Fubar, it worked! Just got back from TDY, slapped in an AIData section and put in a few numbers (think max pitch and climb of 25.0 and 25.0 and min pitch at -20.0) and my AI Turkeys have stopped doing those strange bucking maneuvers - heck one of 'em did this beautiful snap-turn that forced me to overshoot; never expected something like that to happen! Amazing what a couple of numbers can do.

 

Thanks again for your help!