@another_commander The behaviour of the AI seems better from what I can tell but I did have some crashes using this executable together with the latest nightly.
Are you on NVidia graphics? If yes, disable "Multi-threading Optimizations" in the NVidia control panel.
Edit: Alternatively, check whether your antivirus is interfering and maybe shutting down the game as a result of a false positive.
@another_commander The behaviour of the AI seems better from what I can tell but I did have some crashes using this executable together with the latest nightly.
Are you on NVidia graphics? If yes, disable "Multi-threading Optimizations" in the NVidia control panel.
Edit: Alternatively, check whether your antivirus is interfering and maybe shutting down the game as a result of a false positive.
I am on NVIDIA indeed but the crashes are not happening during the launch, I actually can play the game. I had a couple of crashes when jumping to another system, for instance.
If there are no further comments on this, I am planning to commit it to the repository this evening.
I have made a small change to how the "OMG he's targeting me!!" response works. In the snippet posted at the start of the thread, the AI will try to jink even if the player is looking at it using rear view. I have changed this so that the AI's panic attack happens only if the player faces the AI ship on his front viewscreen. Normally, facing forward and targeting means intention to attack, while facing rear looking at the AI means we are running away from it, so no reason to panic under normal circumstances. Now, if you happen to have a rear laser and know how to use it...
I checked briefly with 1.86 and it looks like it was the same there. Anacondas in flee state did not use their aft lasers, they were just running away. Your idea is very worthy of exploring further, though. Although it would look weird for a trader begging for mercy to fire back with their aft laser, it should not be excluded as a possibility of a panicked reaction.