Carrier AI

Stupid Fighters?

I noticed while implementing a Heavy Carrier into my Director plug that the AI was content to allow me to pummel it with long-range missiles without ever sending its fighters after me. Is there a reason for that/way around it? Cause seriously, that seems like the logical thing for a carrier to do.

I don't suppose that checking the "ship swarms" box on the Carrier itself would do anything, would it?

If it's not launching fighters at all, check to see if the weapons/outfits are all pointing to the correct resources. The weapon's 'AmmoType' should be the RID of the fighter's Ship resource.

If it is launching fighters, but not throwing them at you, it's an AI bug/feature. After taking a certain amount of damage, I've seen carriers set their fighters to 'Defense.' The thinking is probably that an enemy would have expended its ammunitioned long-range weapons early in the fight, and need to close in for the kill.

If it is holding its fighters back for this, you could put simple point defense turrets on the fighters, and they'll try to shoot at any missiles headed for the carrier. (The formations used in Nova hobble this though, with the Carrier at the foremost point, and the fighters behind in a 'V' formation. Any fighter-based Point Defenses would have to have a longer range than the size of their carrier just to have a chance of being helpful.)

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This post has been edited by Eugene Chin : 18 July 2007 - 06:35 PM

I agree with what Eugene said, but I'll add this too:
Make sure the fighter bays aren't set to "AI won't use"
And note that AI ship behavior, or escort type will affect how launched fighters behave. I can't remember which one does it, however. But either "trader" in the case of default ship behavior, or "escort" in the case of escort type will cause fighters to be launched but stay in formation.

OK, I guess it's a feature then.

They are launching, just not doing anything for the most part. That's kindof a bummer since the heavy carrier's a bit like the UE Cruiser (if you play as the Voinians) in that it's super-ship that gets thrown at you late in the game to make life hell on a stick. But, since the fighters seem to attack you when the mothership goes down, I can just give it a long death delay so that you have to survive X amount of time before it counts as a kill.

Or, I suppose I could be a huge bitch and give it something like 4 PD CPL turrets. Ohhhh, I kind of like that idea :evil grin:

Seriously, check the fighter AI type and/or escort type.

Well it actually only uses one type of fighter that isn't in the stock nova, the others are 3 T-Heads, 6 Phoenixes, and 4 Mantas. So I suppose I'll copy them into my plug and play around with them.

Desprez is actually right about checking the Fighter's AI type. Fighters with an inherent AI of '1' (Wimpy Trader) will always behave as you have described. Try setting it to '2,' '3' or '4' (Brave Trader, Warship and Interceptor, respectively.).

This post has been edited by Eugene Chin : 19 July 2007 - 09:38 PM