test content
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc

Pet AI weirdness (Pets... NOT hangar pets)

sayanatinasayanatina Member Posts: 5 Arc User
The pets for the new Jem'Hadar carriet, those for multi-vector assault mode (all three of them), and saucer sections, as well as assorted other pets for ships that separate have AI and pathing issues.

Details:
- They react very quickly to target switching with their fire (ie. If I switch targets they almost immediately fire on the new target) but they react extremely slowly if they need to move to fire on the new target. They seem to stutter, like they aren't sure which direction to turn or move

- This slowness to react is compounded by the fact that these pets are slow. Once the ship is well geared, the pets get left behind in the dust even at normal impulse speeds. This is especially noticeable in queues like The Swarm where I might go between Alpha and Beta often. The pets never make it because they are both slow to react to movement and slow in actual movement. It detracts from both usefulness and appearance for them to be calmly hanging out at Alpha (doing nothing, even if surrounded by enemies) when I am fighting at Beta.

Basically, hangar pets feel like they have a UI and are somewhat intelligent about their actions. Pets that separate from the main ship feel like they use some really old technology and scripting.

My suggestion to fix is:

1 - Do something to scale the pet speed with the main ship. Pets getting lost like this looks bad. This is most important. Even when not using full impulse I can easily end up 12 or so km from my pets.

2 - Update the pet AI to be a little more similar to the hangar pet UI, with an ability to pick their own targets and some scripting of attack runs. Right now the pets only fight if I fight, and only fight my target, which means they spend a lot of time not fighting if they are left behind and thus out of range.

Thanks!

Comments

  • sayanatinasayanatina Member Posts: 5 Arc User
    On testing this on the two ships I have (Vanguard Carrier and Advanced Multi-Vector Assault Escort) , and asking friends who use Saucer separation, our consensus is that the best “easy” fix is to increase the speed of the pets. They seem to operate better before we start getting good mission set items, then they lag horribly behind. This is somewhat less true with the Vanguard Carrier, which seems to be a little more quick than the others. Not sure if that’s actual fact or not, it just feels that way.

    As a little harder fix, the pets need to react more quickly when we fly off. They will literally sit there doing nothing for several seconds as we get further and further away. I’ve also seen this with the Aero shuttle on the science ship. Not sure if that’s related or not.
Sign In or Register to comment.