Automated Fire for Player Ships

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

I have added an option for Automated Fire for player ships to v5.0. If you set a ship to automated fire, it will automatically engage any hostile ship targets within range of its weapons. You won't need to set up fire controls and assign missiles as it will handle that by itself. You just click the Auto-fire checkbox on the Ship Window or Battle window, or click the Fleet Auto-Fire button on the Battle window which will set all ships in the fleet to automatic fire. Ships with automated fire will try to coordinate their fire so they don't mob one target and ignore a second. Missile-armed ships using automated fire will determine how many missiles should be fired against one particular target and then will change targets, even before any missiles arrive. In the case of multiple missile ships, each ship will be aware of how many missiles the other ships are directing against each of their possible targets. Automated Fire will be ideal if you are fighting hordes of small ships, such as the Star Swarm, or if you want more automation in large battles.

As an example, here is an excerpt from the next part of the Exodus campaign

"With so many targets to choose from, the senior Colonial officer, Commander Tadeshi Ryokai, orders all four destroyers to switch to automated firing. Their tactical computers will assign targets to fire control systems, engage and destroy those targets and then select new targets, all without the need for further human intervention. The computers of all four ships coordinate their attack and decide that each target will be engaged by a full salvo from two ships. The destroyers open fire, with each subsequent wave of missiles directed against a different pair of alien ships."

To cancel Automated Fire just uncheck the auto-fire checkbox or use the Fleet Cease Fire button on the Battle WIndow.

Steve

[Beersatron]

Sounds great, but, how does it 'know' when to switch targets in a long range missile fight? Does it use the ship intelligence that you have accrued? i.e. known weapon systems and armour depth?

*edit*
I guess what I am asking is, would it be best to control the first stage of combat yourself until you get the needed intelligence and then switch over to automated fire?

[sloanjh]

Different form of same question (I think):  is this using the same AI code as the various NPR use?  I expect an answer of "yes" and see this as a good thing, since people are more likely to notice "stupid NPR targeting tricks" and report them, making the next-generation NPR even tougher  

John

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

It uses the NPR code for selecting targets. That code is changing a lot at the moment as I am trying to improve it. One problem I found when using the auto-targeting against the star swarm is that the Colonial destroyers tried to target the crippled, immobile star swarm as they were easier to hit. I have now improved the decision making so that missile-armed warships are more likely to prioritise enemy ships that can catch them. With beams, the trick is concentration but not overkill. Originally this was a simple case of best chance to hit with larger targets preferred but that can lead to overkill. Then I tried a strategy of randomly dispersing fire against all targets with an equal chance for all possible targets that were equally easy to hit. That leads to not enough fire against each target. I am now looking at maintaining a running tally of likely damage against each target as each ship is assigned a target. Once a target has enough potential damage assigned, it is excluded from the potential target list for ships that have not yet been assigned. It's performance intensive but I don't think that is a major problem in a battle. I haven't got it working properly yet but I am persevering

Steve

[Paul]

Hey, great idea.

Fighting large groups of small ships could get a bit tedious, this should make things way better.

[welchbloke]

It uses the NPR code for selecting targets. That code is changing a lot at the moment as I am trying to improve it. One problem I found when using the auto-targeting against the star swarm is that the Colonial destroyers tried to target the crippled, immobile star swarm as they were easier to hit. I have now improved the decision making so that missile-armed warships are more likely to prioritise enemy ships that can catch them. With beams, the trick is concentration but not overkill. Originally this was a simple case of best chance to hit with larger targets preferred but that can lead to overkill. Then I tried a strategy of randomly dispersing fire against all targets with an equal chance for all possible targets that were equally easy to hit. That leads to not enough fire against each target. I am now looking at maintaining a running tally of likely damage against each target as each ship is assigned a target. Once a target has enough potential damage assigned, it is excluded from the potential target list for ships that have not yet been assigned. It's performance intensive but I don't think that is a major problem in a battle. I haven't got it working properly yet but I am persevering

Steve

Sounds like a good solution.  When you say 'performance intensive' how intensive are we talking? If the NPRs are using the same code will the game slow down significantly during NPRvsNPR battles?

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

It uses the NPR code for selecting targets. That code is changing a lot at the moment as I am trying to improve it. One problem I found when using the auto-targeting against the star swarm is that the Colonial destroyers tried to target the crippled, immobile star swarm as they were easier to hit. I have now improved the decision making so that missile-armed warships are more likely to prioritise enemy ships that can catch them. With beams, the trick is concentration but not overkill. Originally this was a simple case of best chance to hit with larger targets preferred but that can lead to overkill. Then I tried a strategy of randomly dispersing fire against all targets with an equal chance for all possible targets that were equally easy to hit. That leads to not enough fire against each target. I am now looking at maintaining a running tally of likely damage against each target as each ship is assigned a target. Once a target has enough potential damage assigned, it is excluded from the potential target list for ships that have not yet been assigned. It's performance intensive but I don't think that is a major problem in a battle. I haven't got it working properly yet but I am persevering

Steve

Sounds like a good solution.  When you say 'performance intensive' how intensive are we talking? If the NPRs are using the same code will the game slow down significantly during NPRvsNPR battles?

Possibly, although it would only affect beam to beam battles.. I am working on keeping the idea but making it as fast as possible

Steve

[Toloran]

Hey, great idea.

Fighting large groups of small ships could get a bit tedious, this should make things way better.

It should also make fighting WITH large groups of small ships easier too. I haven't used fighters in quite a while simply because I hate assigning them all the time.

[Journier]

does this work with PD firing against missiles?

so say i have a bunch of railguns 10 maybe 2 per fire control, how will the AI handle this in combat? they are set up for short range PD firing.

will that work with the automated firing? or will it put all the guns to 1 fire control?

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

does this work with PD firing against missiles?

so say i have a bunch of railguns 10 maybe 2 per fire control, how will the AI handle this in combat? they are set up for short range PD firing.

will that work with the automated firing? or will it put all the guns to 1 fire control?

Automated fire is for offensive fire only. For automated point defence fire you will need to set the automated point defence modes.

Steve

[georgiaboy1966]

does this work with PD firing against missiles?

so say i have a bunch of railguns 10 maybe 2 per fire control, how will the AI handle this in combat? they are set up for short range PD firing.

will that work with the automated firing? or will it put all the guns to 1 fire control?

Automated fire is for offensive fire only. For automated point defence fire you will need to set the automated point defence modes.

Steve

In my first battle with auto-fire. The auto setting would reset my pd weapons to offensive fire and shut-off the pd fire. Even weapons that did not even have a chance of targeting the other's ships.

Had to turnoff the auto-fire and manually do the battle, so that pd would work. Everytime I tried to use auto-fire, it set all weapons to offensive fire.

[Charlie Beeler]

Steve,

Just putting a few credits worth of opinion in here.  I think there should be an interface for the players to assign some basic threat analysis and targeting protocols for the autofire routines to use.  

It should have a means of assigning specific overrides. Something along the lines of tagging specific ships with a higher targeting priority.  

There functions should be influanced by the task force staff ratings (if available) and the ship commanders ratings.  At the vary least initiative and operations skill ratings should adjust effectiveness of overrides.  

This would lend some real tactical value to the presence, or lack there of, of flag bridges.

[Nabobalis]

Steve,

Just putting a few credits worth of opinion in here.  I think there should be an interface for the players to assign some basic threat analysis and targeting protocols for the autofire routines to use.  

It should have a means of assigning specific overrides. Something along the lines of tagging specific ships with a higher targeting priority.  

There functions should be influanced by the task force staff ratings (if available) and the ship commanders ratings.  At the vary least initiative and operations skill ratings should adjust effectiveness of overrides.  

This would lend some real tactical value to the presence, or lack there of, of flag bridges.

I'm sure one day auto-fire will get to be something like this. But I think for now its something that will have to wait. The whole system would need a massive overhaul. But I love the idea. Maybe even adding new tech for ship computers with AI? Like Mass Effect 2's EDI. They could maybe revolt/take over ships when advanced enough(low probability of it happening though otherwise none would bother with it)

[Nabobalis]

does this work with PD firing against missiles?

so say i have a bunch of railguns 10 maybe 2 per fire control, how will the AI handle this in combat? they are set up for short range PD firing.

will that work with the automated firing? or will it put all the guns to 1 fire control?

Automated fire is for offensive fire only. For automated point defence fire you will need to set the automated point defence modes.

Steve

Maybe for now to add a toggle box for certain fire/missile controls to be left alone while the rest are used by auto-fire?

[Charlie Beeler]

Steve,

Just putting a few credits worth of opinion in here.  I think there should be an interface for the players to assign some basic threat analysis and targeting protocols for the autofire routines to use.  

It should have a means of assigning specific overrides. Something along the lines of tagging specific ships with a higher targeting priority.  

There functions should be influanced by the task force staff ratings (if available) and the ship commanders ratings.  At the vary least initiative and operations skill ratings should adjust effectiveness of overrides.  

This would lend some real tactical value to the presence, or lack there of, of flag bridges.

I'm sure one day auto-fire will get to be something like this. But I think for now its something that will have to wait. The whole system would need a massive overhaul. But I love the idea. Maybe even adding new tech for ship computers with AI? Like Mass Effect 2's EDI. They could maybe revolt/take over ships when advanced enough(low probability of it happening though otherwise none would bother with it)

You'd be surprised what Steve is willing to change...if he see's a benefit to his gaming.     He's surprised me in the past with what aspects of my suggestions he runs with and makes even better.