Fighter AI change working?

thepantsparty · February 2013

The patch notes mention a change to fighter AI so that "all carrier pets will be more intelligent about favoring their forward firing arc, if they are fitted with cannons."

I tested my elite scorpions out in an ISE (or whatever it's called now, The Conduit I think?), and didn't notice anything different in the damage parse. Previously their energy weapon damage breakdown had been 2/3 turrets and 1/3 dual cannons (which would seem backward, and the patch notes suggested was due to them being stupid about their firing arcs), but the breakdown of damage this afternoon was the same - 2/3s of their energy damage was from their turrets, 1/3 was from their dual cannons.

Is the AI change not functioning correctly, or were my fighters just deployed from the short hanger?

theuser2021 · February 2013

I think the pet AI change was directed primarily towards the new Jem'hadar ships.
Both the attack ship and the fighter seemed to have major AI problems.
I'm guessing (and this is just a guess) that the Jem'hadar attack ship was having problems because it was using both cannons and beam weapons. Once the ship was in beam attack angle it wasn't bothering to get into cannon angle.

bi9t · February 2013

It hasnt changed anything damage or numbers wise.

They do look better flying around.

It basically will appease most of the players because it "looks" like they are doing better. But if you run the numbers in a parser, nothing has changed.

If this thread doesnt die, someone will inevitably come in and tell you how great their JHAS pets are, or that their elite scorps totally use their dual cannons more. Its complete nonsense based what they want to believe.

stirling191 · February 2013

bi9t wrote: »

If this thread doesnt die, someone will inevitably come in and tell you how great their JHAS pets are, or that their elite scorps totally use their dual cannons more. Its complete nonsense based what they want to believe.

My elite scorps are still as stupid as they were last week, no matter how much I wished this brain transplant had been successful.

thepantsparty · February 2013

Here's a parse from a few days ago before the patch: http://i.imgur.com/AMQQAZH.png
Here's a parse from earlier today: http://i.imgur.com/LRsv5Kb.png

These are in a Tholian Recluse with elite Romulan scorpions in ISE. The damage is lower in the second, but that's more just a function of having fewer disruptors and APBs in the group to debuff things. Romulan plasma are my weapons, normal plasma is from my fighters. HY torps are all theirs, normal plasma torps are both mine and there's so there's no way to tell those apart. Phasers, quantums, and photons are from photonic fleet.

In the parse from a few days ago, the dual cannons on the fighters make up 35% of their energy damage. In the parse earlier today, the dual cannons on the fighters make up 36% of their damage. They're still doing the majority of their damage with their turrets, which would suggest that they are spending most of their time not facing their target, since, for player weapons, dual cannons have about 90% higher base DPS than turrets.

countesscorvinna · February 2013

Parse wise, nothing has seemed to have changed. So, I decided to do a little test, and actually watch the various pets, and see how they behaved. The patch looks like it has made their circles they fly around an enemy bigger, with some minor variations, to try and give them the room they need to aim toward the target. Problem is...they still don't point toward the target enough. After sending them to attack, they flew toward it, using cannons and torpedos. Once to the target and the circling starts, they seem to only use the turret, torpedos now and then, and rarely will they be lined up to fire the cannons. So it seems to be a combination of the flight path they take, and the small firing arc on the front weapons. I almost think they would deal more damage with regular cannons thanks to the firing arc they have.

If the AI on these pets can't be fixed sufficiently to allow them to use their weapons to their fullest, then perhaps an alternative approach is necessary, one involving adjusting the firing arcs on pet weapons to 180 degrees. It would hardly be OP due to how easy pets are to destroy, and the fact they have no abilities to prolong their lifespan. And this way...perhaps they would function closer to their potential instead of flailing their way through space firing a turret at everything.

EDIT: Also, noticed one other interesting thing...using attack and recall, to try and make them fly straight toward the target yielded some interesting results. Even while flying straight at the target, with the target moving into their firing arc, sometimes they just refuse to use the cannons and occasionally won't even fire the torpedo despite them being in the firing arc for those weapons. Its almost like they can't fire more then one weapon at a time, and with the turret being spammed, they don't use anything else. Not sure if that is accurate, but it looked that way from the testing I did.

Fighter AI change working?

Comments