Interesting info On Managing AI

How I control my AI wingmen offline or on Coops.

by WWSensei ? Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:39 pm

I see a lot of posts around the net on the various forums about your AI wingmen and controlling them. I'm going to post what I do to use them. They are controllable to some extent and can be surprisingly good if you pay attention. Like any AI you have to learn to recognize their patterns. I'm not saying these techniques are fool proof--but I've played 40+ mission campaigns in DCG, kept most of my wingmen/squadmates alive and had them advance while tearing apart the enemy.

First off, controlling your wingman. First thing I do once I start getting into an area of possible enemy is tell him to Cover Me. He will break off and assume a position approximately 1000 meters back and to the right of you. In this position he will not mysteriously dive off after an enemy you didn't see nor will he cut you off to steal that kill of the aircraft you just flamed.

When you are engaged you wingman will stay behind you covering you up until an enemy aircraft fires at you. As soon as one does he will lock onto that enemy and will not let go until the enemy is dead. The only way to get him back is to issue a Flight->Tactical->Break followed by a Flight-Tactical-Rejoin and then a Wingman->Cover Me. Yes, I did say Flight. Don't ask me why but that seems to work the most consistent.

OK, suppose you want him to attack another aircraft. DON'T USE THE GENERIC ATTACK FIGHTERS/BOMBERS COMMAND. Why? Because he will prioritize them and will almost certainly pick the least important or least threatening enemy. Padlock is your friend here. It's the only place I make extensive use of padlock. Padlock the specific aircraft you wish him to attack and use the Attack My Target command. You will come to appreciate the Attack My Target command especially in ground attacks.

When he has killed his target tell him to cover you again and get him back in position. With a rapid application of padlock and Attack My Target you can even do a Lead and Bracket (ye old Walk The Dog) where you are the bait and the AI wingy is the shooter.

OK, you want him to attack a ground target. The one and only way I have found that consistently works is padlocking the specific target and telling him to attack my target. Ditto that for any other flights or aircraft you control. The other Attack Commands for Flak, Trains etc don't seem to work consistently if at all. Padlocking and telling them to hit your target works 90+% of the time. Granted, they may take their time making the attack but they will do it. Generally, when attacking a flak defended area like a base I will circle, padlocking the AAA and using my AI wingmen as SEAD while I distract the fire. It's very effective.

The only time I've seen this not work is if your AI wingmen is out of ammo that will kill the target. By that I mean if it is a heavy tank and he has no bombs or rockets he won't bother. If he is totally out of ammo he will RTB and ignore you despite acknowledging orders on the radio.

For your wingman or your flight, if you find they will not rejoin you or cover you when ordered do a Break command followed by a rejoin. It usually means they've gotten locked into some sort of loop and you need the break command to cycle them out of it.

How do you keep them from stealing a kill? Took me awhile to figure this one out. Padlock the burning or practically dead enemy and execute a Break command.

How do you keep them from augering in after you land? Tell them to RTB before you land. Be advised, once you tell them RTB you can't get them back again. Even if they acknowledge they won't come.

What does Anybody Help Me do? It tells all flight members not defensive to break and attack the target to your 6. I've yet to determine if this also affects other flights not under your control. I don't think so, but it's hard to say.

How do I use my AI to spring a trap? I've done this a couple of times. I'll get to a waypoint just before an area where I suspect the enemy is hiding and tell them to Loiter Here. They only Loiter at Waypoints. If they go too far tell them to Go To Prev waypoint and then tell them Loiter. Then I go into the area I see enemy, bait them lower and then fly back to the loitering flight. Once I'm close enough I padlock the enemy aircraft and tell my flight to attack my target. Works really well. You can also use loiter at altitude to get them to orbit an area and distract flak.

Now, my personal preference is to use DCG and have 4 flights of 2 members each. That's because you have some commands available to the flight that you don't have to just your wingman. So, my average 4 ship is 2 - 2 ship formations. That lets me address my wingman as a single flight for those commands and also control the second element for separate commands (like loiter for an ambush or SEAD) and still maintain control of all of them via the squadron command. If I have 4 flights of 2 I can control an 8 ship formation fairly well.

Using these commands in the DCG Jasta V Marianas 44 naval campaign as a Hellcat squadron commander I've flown 66 sorties without being killed, only lost 2 wingmen (both to ground flak) and most of my AI squadmates are 50+ mission experienced and have advanced from Rookies to Vets or Aces. The only thing I haven't been able to get them to consistenly due is attack ships and that's because you can't padlock ships. Sometimes they have responded to the Attack Ships command but not often.

Just remember, Flight commands like break or rejoin seem to work better when done from the Flight menu rather than wingman (another reason for the 2 ship flights) and Padlock is your best friend for directing their attention to specific targets.

WWSensei

Found this GEM over at the WING WALKERS SITE while surfing last night;

http://www.wingwalkers.org/Forum/viewtopic...4031&hilit=