Another question for TD..

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by majorfailure

Yeah but that's point-whoring - and because some human ONLINE pilots do it does not excuse the AI. I'd bet that in real life a pilot shooting at a burning plane while there were still plenty of undamaged targets would have had to explain his behaviour to his commander. AI targeting could be at least improved for veteran and ace level. They should know better. There is some more odd behaviour with AI targeting. A nearly undamaged plane with only a dead pilot flying straight and level will not be engaged by anyone -not even FlaK. The AI shouldn't be able to "see" a dead pilot until very close - and maybe even shoot at the plane.

My hypothesis is that humans are humans regardless of the situation be it real life or simulation. When presented with the same basic parameters they will do the same basic things on aggregate. In the heat of combat, target fixation becomes a concern and two guys shooting at the same burning plane can (and did) happen. There's even a gun camera shot that I saw where one Hellcat's gun camera captures another Hellcat fly in front of him while what appears to be a Zero is getting shot at by both. So, while it's less likely that point whoring would go on in real life (at least not like we see it)... target fixation looks fairly similar. At least some of the notorious kill stealing and shoulder shooting is caused by total target fixation. You can watch it happen. They are oblivious to all around them.

The problem with the AI right now is that they have a switch. If the target has bailed out or lost a wing then the aircraft is considered dead. If the plane is burning but still flying then it's considered a viable target. What needs to be programmed is a a greater range of recognition.

For example, the AI should keep firing if it's a plane that they lit on fire because just because it's flaming doesn't mean that it's going down. Maybe it should only do this 75% of the time (roll the dice) and sometimes leave a flaming aircraft alone. The AI should check and see if they lit it on fire... if not then leave it. Perhaps that happens 75% of the time. Or variable ranges depending on Rookie or Ace level.

The biggest problem I have with AI and AI programming, and I know exactly why it happens (CPU resources), is that it's too mechanical. Humans make all kinds of snap micro decisions and they aren't all logical or predictable. The AI, with a basic level of programming, is entirely logical and predictable and obviously that's less desirable.