Oolite Bulletins

This is my first post here, so I want to first thank all of the developers of Oolite. Like many of you, I am in my late twenties and played Elite for about 2 years on a BBC Electron, then on my 48k+ Spectrum, and again on my Amiga. Then the booze and women started...

Anyway, I have been getting into Oolite loads recently, but I was wondering something about the "AI" level of some craft:

Often I run into a formation, usually a couple of sidewinders, a moray or two, and a central boa or python. Thing is, sometimes I can start taking them out and they just chug along in formation and get murdered.

Is this the height of noble stoicism, or just idiocy?

Welcome, welcome to our hearth!

Now to business:
That's never happened to me. Which ship do you attack first?

AI is close to my heart for a rework.

I started with really simple behaviours - then added the deterministic state-machine AI on top.

Next I want to move to a more fuzzy 'instinct' based system that will allow a more emergent AI.

Instinct based AI will work kind of like this:- each pilot/ship will have a number of instincts, frex:

* avoid hazards

* stay close to my group

* follow the state-machine AI goals

* stay away from threats

Each of these instincts will have a function that determines its current priority (for example the 'avoid hazards' priority will be based on the proximity of things to avoid) and at any given moment the resulting behaviour will be based on the highest priority instinct.

This will allow NPC ships to react more naturally to situations without every situation having to be written into the state-machine AI.

Excellent thought process, what do you determine as a hazard and a threat though?

Hazards are stuff you might collide with. Threats are ships that are (or might be) hostile depending on your sensitivity.

Aegidian,

this is fascinating. In addition, with pirate AI, and various offender/fugitive types: what determine their propensity to attack you? Can they be "put off" if they sense an unfair fight. Plus, will craft that are in a group ever "chicken out" and flee if they have witnessed you murder the crap out of their allies?

Here's another idea, maybe for the long run, and I stole it from Grand Theft Auto - which actually has a lot in common with Oolite. How about a kind of "tribal" system, by which there are a few legiances in the game. This doesn't have to cover all craft, but perhaps if there were groups A, B and C - if you whack some "A"s, then you are likely to get attacked by subsequent "A"s you encounter, but the "B"s - who hate the "A"s, might protect you. My thinking is a coffee short of completion, but you get what I am indicating? It might make you safer in some places, yet screwed in others. Just a long term idea...