This update adds a lot of new systems into the game and as such there may be a few bugs!!
1. Using the "Move To" command will make the A.I. settle into a low (10m) hover when they reach their destination.
2. The A.I. now uses a Line of Sight check before firing their weapons. If they can't see the target then they will slowly raise their altitude until they can at which point they will launch their weapon.
3. For Laser/SACLOS guided weapons the A.I. will maintain LOS until impact and, assuming the target is destroyed, they will then return to their low altitude hover stance.
4. A.I. can now use Radar guided Hellfires. These missiles do not require constant LOS so the A.I. will return to their low hover stance as soon as they launch this weapon.
5. A.I. will now fire their turret weapons in short bursts rather than hosing the target continously!
6. All Hellfires now perform a realistic attack profile gaining altitude quickly in a more reliable manner.
7. Added a new command "Attack My Designator". This will make your wingman switch their next Laser Hellfire/APKWS to use your designator code allowing you to guide the weapon to the target. This means your wingman doesn't have to maintain line of sight and so will automatically go back to their 10m hover stance after releasing the weapon.
This command also modifies the A.I. fire control for the Laser Hellfire. As this missiles has Top Down attack capability the A.I. can fire this missile while still behind cover lobbing it over whatever hill, tree etc they are hiding behind.
8. Updated the decision making for selecting canon over missiles. A.I. will now favour canon for softer targets within 2000m but still opt for missiles against tanks - although if they've only got canon left then they will use that.
9. Mission debriefing now takes into account which aircraft destroyed which target and with what weapon so targets hit by your wingman will now show up in the replay and will be added to the total mission score.
10. Your wingman pilot and co-pilot now gain experience. However, the total experience awarded is divided by the number of pilots/co-pilots that took part in the mission. This means if you fly with a wingman with a total of 2 pilots and 2 co-pilots then all pilots & co-pilots will get 1/4 of the total points each - a significant drop over the usual scoring.
This works as an incentive to take on more difficult missions and/or use fewer helicopters on the mission and/or destroy more stuff during the mission!
11. Optmised the A.I. code to be much less resource intensive.
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Unfortunately I didn't have time to build the "Engage at Will" command - but this will be my 1st task next week. The rest of next week will be spent just tidying up the command code and making sure everything works as expected.
I will then be pushing this beta out to the live branch.
The next beta will be the "Game Content" beta which will focus on adding new content to the random mission generator. Having the wingmen is nice but now there needs to be more things for them and you to do such as new transport missions etc and also unlocking some of those drop down options such as weather.
I'll also be looking at adding in the 1st A.I. enemy helicopter (Hind) and 1st A.I. enemy fixed wing (Su-25) to the game to keep you on your toes. This will also require some new weapon systems such as the Stinger and of course updates to the Wingman A.I. so that they can handle new situations as well as bringing in BLUFOR units to make the battlefield a little more interesting.
Once the "Game Content" beta is complete it could well be that I'll come back to the A.I. for an "Advanced A.I." beta which would look at things such as Priority Fire Zones, issuing orders on the main map screen and also increasing the available flights & wingmen.