Post by Dutch Owen on Aug 17, 2019 11:03:27 GMT -5
Right now, this weekend, I'm working on flaws in the ground attack multi-pass logic. Once that's done, and some touchup work is done on the vehicle and weapon editors in the IU, I think at least a "preview" version will be ready for release; so that all of you that are interested can try out and offer your comments and bug reports.
Remember, this is really a co-development effort. We're counting on your feedback. We are all going here where no FSX-P3D simmer has ever gone before - into the realms of air-to-air and air-to-ground combat for AI opponents. These early alpha releases are to find the flaws and add capabilities to the small initial set that's already implemented.
A short list of major things still to be designed and implemented:
- Radar. The only radar we have now is the special-purpose radar on some AAA objects and all that does is allow them to detect and track you BVR and to shoot at you even if they can't see you. The whole concept of ground based early warning and intercept radar and airborne detection and missile guidance radar is not yet implemented. We need to think about how to do this in the FSCAI environment without making it too complex - yet realistic in effect and capabilities.
- Installable RWR (radar warning receiver) gauges in user aircraft. This is tied in with the Radar problem. It's not fair to give radar guided missiles to your opponents without you being able to get warning, like in the real world.
- Defensive ACM. Right now this is only very basic. AI units don't have countermeasures (chaff, flares, jamming) and don't try very hard to get away from you.
- Offensive ACM. AI has only a few basic maneuvers to get on your six. We need more. But it's hard to get civilian-trained AI pilots to execute vertical ACM for example. (If they have all-aspect missiles it's a different story - they are very good at getting the first shot the instant you are within range.)
- An easy-to-use Missions builder. This is crucial. We won't start to build up a big base of good missions until it's easy to do for users. Right now it's hard because the only editor is Notepad!
In regards to the ACM issues I really need some help from professionals or knowledgeable amateurs. I understand air-to-ground combat pretty well, but I can't dogfight worth a damn and never have been able to. I theoretically understand basic ACM but when I try to take on AI pilots in other combat games I get destroyed quickly. And I can't program what I can't really do.
So far I'm the only one to try this in FS, you will be one of the first very soon. We face some serious flaws in the FSX/P3D environment that probably mean that no matter what we do we'll never really get to a top-notch air-to-air combat sim. At least it will be a hell of a challenge. I see two big roadblocks so far:
Problem #1: getting the FS AI to fly combat type maneuvers is very difficult. Right now they are just too slow and leisurely about it - which they are programmed to be in FSX/P3D because it's a civilian sim. I have programmed what I call "assists" which are using SimConnect to force unusual bank and pitch angles on the AI as they turn, climb, and descend. It's even possible to get them to go inverted using those tricks, but they fight against it; always trying to re-establish the safe parameters of "normal flight". This is because of my initial decision to use the Sim's AI. There's another option called "Slew Mode" which lets us completely take over all flight dynamics. That might be the solution but it's also a big challenge in and of itself: being fully responsible for all AI flight dynamics is a very tall order.
Problem #2: the developers of typical AI combat aircraft in FSX/P3D rarely put much effort into accurate realistic flight dynamics in the aircraft.cfg and .air files. They don't have to; it's enough to get them to take off, and fly from point to point at a reasonable speed on a flight plan and land. Of course no one considers the possibily of combat, it has never existed before. Typically, AI for combat aircraft are just copies of generic flight dynamics from already existing airplanes. What this means is that they all basically fly the same except for speed and mass. For just one example; an AI spitfire is no different from an AI ME109 even though in real life they are quite different, each with its own unique advantages and disadvantages which the knowledgeable pilot will try to exploit in his enemy and avoid in his own airplane. A dedicated combat sim will implement these differences but with FSX/P3D all this goes away - they are basically all alike. The only way to fix this is to carefully pay attention to the flight dynamics of AI aircraft and that would be a massive project. (Keep in mind that using "slew mode" to solve problem #1 would make this everything-is-the same problem even worse. We'd then have to have completely new and separate flight dynamics definitions for each AI aircraft.)
Even with these problems having potential single-player AI opponents in the air is a game-changer for FSX/P3D. No longer can you count on perfect safety in enemy airspace until you get near your ground targets. Fighter sweeps and CAPs take on real meaning now. Even if we don't rival dedicated combat sims in the end, it's still worth the effort to try.
Anyway, on to some debugging. I really need to get this out I have other major projects to attend to.
Dutch
