AI captains cannot fight effectively, especially using railguns

[Gorbald]

A ship with AI captain that has railguns, when ordered to attack enemies, fails to hit any enemy ships for a long time and flies in a stupid way.

It would take long to explain so I've made a video:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7cblfa1upzsqaqb/stupidShip3.mkv?dl=0

I have also attached the turret I'm using. The ship had 3 of them.

 

Steps to reproduce:

1. Build the attached ship

2. Add 3 identical railguns (not independent targeting, not burst fire) in front (no other turrets), crew, captain, generator upgrade (ship design requires it to work)

3. Fly to a sector with many enemies (for example "distress call" mission)

4. Press F9

5. Order the ship to either "attack enemies" or attack a particular enemy by right clicking it

6. Observe what the ship does for a minute or two

 

Actual behaviour:

Ship flies wildly and almost never shoots. If it does shoot (once per minute or so), it does so from a weird angle and it misses, despite the turrets' high accuracy.

 

Expected behaviour:

Ship chooses an enemy and tries to keep the part with the most high-damage turrets (front in this case) pointed towards the enemy, so that it can shoot at it most of the time. It shoots as much as it can.

 

 

If the ship is equipped with  teslas instead, it becomes a little bit less stupid. It stills manoeuvrers and flies wildly, but quite often it actually shoots at enemies and hits. Still I have never seen it shoot at something continuously for more than 2 seconds (the turrets don't overheat that fast).

 

Is it possible that this wild manoeuvres are meant to escape enemy fire? If so, then I think this strategy should not be chosen when the ship is at full or almost full hull and shields. It should focus on hitting enemies instead.

 

 

 

shipForCaptains.zip

[Gorbald]

By the way it was a level 3 captain, in case it matters

[Gorbald]

I just tested it with more turrets, also indepent targeting ones. I think I know what is the problem!

 

The ship moves all the time, so it has no time to aim! The turrets don't turn fast enough to catch up with the ship's movement.

 

If the AI-controlled  ship stopped for 2 seconds once in a while, it could aim and shoot at an enemy. And I think it would be best if it didn't start moving faster than the turret can turn when it is shooting.

[Eruner]

When attacked by pirates, try setting railguns to Defensive stance and task captained ship to mine/salvage instead of "attack enemies"  ;)

[WSY]

Gorbald,

 

Your observations coincides with my own, and while the new ai can be useful for chasing down players, EVERY ship thinking it's a tie interceptor  does not mesh well. Different ships need to be given different AI options in my honest opinion. With NPC ships being given the assigned behavior based on it's category/function.

 

Long range weapons and large ships, stay at range fire -no afterburning around like a dragonfly on crack-  shorter range faster ships, use the current iteration of AI.