AI Behavior

[Schlissefahrt 0]

Hello fellow aviators! It has been a while since I have played OFF, I stopped shortly after HiTR was first released. I have tried "the other WWI sim" (name left anonymous to avoid turning this into something negative), and although there are some great things it has to offer, I truly do miss OFF's immersion value. I am back in the saddle so to speak, and will finish up reinstalling all of my OFF files this afternoon after work. I have a couple questions though.

 

Since it has been a while, I would like to know how AI react to certain situations. First question is, when RTBing after a sortie, does the AI accurately land back at their home airfield? I know that is an odd question, but I cannot for the life of me remember how they reacted before, and I can't seem to find any topics on it with the forum search feature.

 

Also, I see it mentioned that AI behavior has been updated since HiTR was released? I dont remember seeing much difference when I first played it, but then again it was a while ago so I probably wont remember too many details. Mind you, I understand the limitations of singleplayer type game styles and the strengths and weaknesses of AI controlled aircraft, but I was just curious how they fare nowadays.

 

Thanks, and sorry if this has been beaten like a dead horse before, I just could not find any topics with the search function relating to my query.

 

Salute!

Edited July 14, 2011 by Schlissefahrt

[Olham 164]

Welcome back, Schlissefahrt!

If you mean your fellow AI flyers: yes, they fly from the last waypoint ca. 2 miles out,

turn, and approach the field from there, where they will attempt to land.

Due to treelines, whole forrests or hilly terrain, they will quite often not succeed.

But when you are flying from a field with clear space after both ends of the runway,

you can see them land . And when they don't run into each other after touching down,

it is one of the most heartwarming moments to witness in OFF - I have several times!

 

I don't think there were AI improvements after "HitR". The last improvements I know of,

where made with the Superpatch + MiniPatch after the release of BHaH.

But I could be wrong.

 

Last point: neither you nor anyone else should excuse for asking questions here - even

if they should have been asked before. No one can be there and read everything all the

time. I bet you'll always get an answer or a guide to a post, that answered it before.

Enjoy OFF!

Edited July 14, 2011 by Olham

[+Polovski 460]

Welcome back - make sure you patch BH&H fully as Olham says, then install HITR and its patch. Then the same excellent AI from BH&H will be available plus other options in Workshop for less aggressive, or a combination of both (random) see the release notes on the download page.

 

Landing is as Olham describes it in Phase 3.

[Schlissefahrt 0]

Welcome back, Schlissefahrt!

If you mean your fellow AI flyers: yes, they fly from the last waypoint ca. 2 miles out,

turn, and approach the field from there, where they will attempt to land.

Due to treelines, whole forrests or hilly terrain, they will quite often not succeed.

But when you are flying from a field with clear space after both ends of the runway,

you can see them land . And when they don't run into each other after touching down,

it is one of the most heartwarming moments to witness in OFF - I have several times!

 

I don't think there were AI improvements after "HitR". The last improvements I know of,

where made with the Superpatch + MiniPatch after the release of BHaH.

But I could be wrong.

 

Last point: neither you nor anyone else should excuse for asking questions here - even

if they should have been asked before. No one can be there and read everything all the

time. I bet you'll always get an answer or a guide to a post, that answered it before.

Enjoy OFF!

 

 

Somehow I figured you would be the first to respond to this Olham! :P Thank you both for your quick replies. I suppose if your fellow AI attempts to land and ends up botching it, they will have ended their career? Itd be a shame for an ace to die this way :P.

 

Also, I seem to remember aces only being in their own flights. Rather, you could never be in the same flight as them. Maybe I just never ranked up enough to find out, but can you ever fly as a wingman to an Ace, or lead a flight with aces in it?

 

Im excited to get back into the OFF campaign. I remember it having its quirks, but nothing beat it in terms of getting involved in the story of what was happening.

 

P.S. is the Eindecker still a death trap to fly in?! :P

Edited July 14, 2011 by Schlissefahrt

[Von Paulus 8]

Landing is as Olham describes it in Phase 3.

 

How will it be in Phase 4?

Edited July 14, 2011 by Von Paulus

[+Winder 32]

How will it be in Phase 4?

 

Very very different....

 

WM

[Olham 164]

Schlissefahrt (where did you find that name - what does it mean?):

 

1. When the AI mess up their landing - aces or not - nothing happens to them.

The OFF Manager politely ignores such lesser deeds. No one dies at landing.

Well, except the human flyer - he might.

 

2. I always fly with the aces, but you can't be an ace's direct wingman.

The OFF Manager may not be able to add you to the same A-flight,

but you can fly the mission with them, with your B-flight.

 

3. The German Eindecker was never a death trap, Sir! That can only be enemy propaganda of the worst! In fact it is rather known as "the Fokker scourge".

Of course it is necessary to learn to fly an aircraft, before you enter it's cockpit.

Immelmann, Boelcke and Berthold scored very well in the E.III, mein Herr!

Deathtrap - tch!

[Schlissefahrt 0]

Schlissefahrt (where did you find that name - what does it mean?):

 

It was a failure of mine. When Silent Hunter III first came out, I adopted it as an avatar name. It is really spelled Schleichfahrt (silent running), but me being the newb to the German language butchered the spelling. It has stuck ever since then :)

 

On the note of the E.III, I just remember being fodder in that thing, guess I'll do some practice, as I love starting campaigns from the beginning.

 

I usually only ever fly German crates anyway...

Edited July 14, 2011 by Schlissefahrt

[Hellshade 110]

Schliss, you can always try Herr Prop Wasche's Ultimate Damage Model and Flight Models too. His latest one has me re-addicted to the sim, so much so that I can't even play The Witcher 2 (which I just got).

 

You can see the Barmy Film Review here:

 

 

 

and me flying an actual in campaign "Scramble" mission here:

 

 

 

 

Hellshade

[Lewie 7]

I have to ask Hellshade how he got the mix of Halberstadts and Albies in the second video's QC scenario, is this something from HiTR?

[Hellshade 110]

I have to ask Hellshade how he got the mix of Halberstadts and Albies in the second video's QC scenario, is this something from HiTR?

 

 

Thats not a Quick Combat video. It's a genuine scramble mission from a Campaign. HitR is well worth the price and more sir.

 

Hellshade

Edited July 15, 2011 by Hellshade

[Olham 164]

Lewie, in QC you can select and mix any aircraft you want to fight each other.

In "Workshops" is the CFS3 QC, where you can even select the aerodrome

and the exact type of weather.

And as Hellshade says: HitR is a great add-on.

[Schlissefahrt 0]

Funny thing Hellshade, when I was going through the process of deciding whether I should come back to OFF, those two videos are two of the first that I watched to get me back in the mood :).

 

I know I should probably start a new thread about it, but I think I know the issue. I started up a pilot in Jasta 11 early war flying the E.III, and with my new rig that I have since the last time I played OFF everything looks so much more gorgeous. However, I got an error twice. At random times, CFS3.exe quits and it boots me out of game. Now I think it is because I think my new rig can handle all settings max, but I suppose it couldnt hurt to turn scenery down one notch as I have heard that it can be a resource hog. Unless there is something else that may have caused the CFS3.exe file to take a dump that others have experienced?

 

BTW, I do intend to get that new damage model addon up and running soon, but I want to hammer out kinks with my stock version of OFF: HiTR first! :)

[Lewie 7]

OK I'm a little confused, is this ability to make your own customized Campaign missions something that HiTR adds to OFF? Why is there still a Mission Builder App from CFS3 still in the executables in OFF BHaH?

 

I can't seem to find how to fly a single mission in OFF..

 

HiTR will have to wait, my Laptop let out it's magic smoke and I think toasted the HDD that had quite a number of unique finished 3D models I had on it. I'm slowly getting over the shock as there's months of work gone.

[Hellshade 110]

It's not a custom campaign mission. It was just a normal mission I got assigned by the OFF campaign manager.

 

Hellshade

[+Polovski 460]

Lewie are you actually launching the OFF Manager and going into "Campaign" ? Something doesn't sound right there. If you haven't flown campaign you are missing out on a huge part of OFF?

[Olham 164]

Lewie, if you want to fly a single mission, you select a pilot in "Pilot Dossiers" in the start screen.

then you click on "Quick Combat" also in the start screen.

You now get a menue, where you can choose aircraft, enemy craft, numbers of pilots and their qualities.

 

If you want to start a Campaign (which is the most immersive in OFF), you select a pilot and click on "Campaign" then.

 

Where and when the Campaign begins, is sorted, when you create the pilot.

Creating one, you can select time and place and squadron etc.

 

Then there is a more detailed way to fly "Quick Combat".

In "Workshops" you find "CFS3 QC" at the bottom.

If you click that, you get a menue, where you can select more detail for creating a single mission.

You can even select from a wide variety of weather.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Welcome back, Schlissefahrt! I don't really have much to add to all the helpful comments already posted here, other than to say that returning OFF flyers buy the drinks!

 

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

.

[Lewie 7]

Lewie are you actually launching the OFF Manager and going into "Campaign" ? Something doesn't sound right there. If you haven't flown campaign you are missing out on a huge part of OFF?

 

No I'm flying Campaigns, I have 12 pilots so far..

What I'm noticing is that in the original and patched versions of CFS3, you have the additional option of creating single episode, Historical or What-If missions using the old CFS3 Mission Builder/Editor. Now the executable for the MB is in the list of programs under OBD's software in XP's Start> Programs list. But, when you make a mission using Mission Builder in OFF, you cant access it through OFF's Quick Combat or Quick Scenario?

 

I also have CFS3's BoB patch and you can create and edit and fly your custom missions until you are blue in the face.

Edited July 16, 2011 by Lewie

[+Polovski 460]

No HITR does not add more Mission building and we don't provide specific support for MB, however yes you can create missions with the MB.

 

Given the OFF Manager generates unique campaign missions every time, there is not a massive call for it. However there is info on the MB in around in other sub forums and threads I think, best to ask someone who made some.

 

To load up missions you have to save into the correct folder for example in OBDSoftware\CFSWW1 Over Flanders Fields\missions\scenarios\Britain etc. (Per your pilot nation).

 

Also you have to set the correct front lines etc by the date in the mission.

 

All this is mentioned in More Help button in the Quick scenarios and also there is a "MissionBuilders Readme.txt" file in the Missions folder if you look too for some hints on making missions using the Mission builder and making them compatible to OFF.

 

As Hellshade said he's flying a standard campaign mission, not one he made. If yours don't seem to be working then hence my question. I asked because you said something like this before and mentioned running CFS3 exe directly or something before.

[Crossbones 1]

I thought Schlissefahrt meant Jingle Bells.

 

Welcome back and please ask more questions. I am becoming more enlightened from all the responses to your post!

 

Crossbones